Patti Lupone as Mrs. Lovett...I am still upset. Is anyone else?

[shermanslave]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:19am

I just finished watching the PBS broadcast of Candide with LuPone as Old Woman and I just cannot get into seeing her do Sweeney. I saw her do the concert version of it on PBS and it seeemd the same as her Old Lady. I just wanted to see Cyndi Lauper do it. Or Ann Heradda even. Anyone.

Anyone else still upset about that?
my show closes this week. Come see it?

Updated On: 6/11/05 at 12:19 AM

[Mythus]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:22am

I am too, but there's nothing I can do about it. Sigh. Patti LuPone is a great singer, she's just not suited for Mrs. Lovett at all.

[shermanslave]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:36am

blech!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:40am

Well, at least we get to see a real legend on bway again.

[PJ]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 12:43am

Amen to that. But I just have a feeling that she'll end up not doing it for some reason. Her casting was never "officially" announced, which makes you wonder. Everyone else has signed and been confirmed.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 1:00am

Have they PJ? Last I heard no one had been officially signed and Equity was still negotiating with the musicians union. It's been a long time since the cast was announced and I too wonder how many will actually do the production. Supposedly Donna Lynne Champlin was mulling an offer to do DR. SEX off Broadway instead.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 1:14am

How can u complain if you haven't seen her in the role?

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 1:15am

Though..... I am tryin really hard to imagine her.....

[PJ]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 1:17am

Miss LuPone has done the role several times in staged concerts of the show. One of which is available on DVD. So many have seen her do this particular role before.

[Mythus]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 1:22am

During rehearsal for the concert, Sondheim asked LuPone if she could just sing the notes in God, That's Good. LuPone asked if he was bullsh*tting her. Ugh. I really don't want her to be Mrs. Lovett. And I wanted to kick her, when she messes up George Hearn on the concert DVD. On the line "Could that thing have cared for you like me?", she holds "me" longer than it's written, so George Hearn starts too late and has to catch up.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:04am

I think she'll be fine...Patti can do madness well, and Mrs. Lovett is the epitome.

Yeah, the concert is pooey, but those are so quickly thrown together, and that was one of her first concerts (just think of how good she was in "Candide".) I'm sure with all the time she'll have rehearsing, she'll do fine.

Hopefully she won't let her reputation get in her way. Let's hope she and michael get along, because if they don't, she'll do what ever a Diva must to prove they are the star, which will kill the show.

But yeah, she'll do fine. I have faith.

[roquat]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:12am

I don't think you're supposed to cheer when Mrs. Lovett gets thrown into the oven at the end.

[roquat]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:12am

I don't think you're supposed to cheer when Mrs. Lovett gets thrown into the oven.

[jim coleman]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:18am

Patti is good in many things--I conducted her in ANYTHING GOES--but Mrs. Lovett is not her cup of tea. She screams the whole role and there is no subtlety in her character. And it is true that Stephen Sondheim asked her to sing the written notes in GOD THAT'S GOOD. I thought she was OK in PASSION, though.

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:36am

Well, all I can say is "Let's see you do better." haha

[Che2be]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:38am

Wow- I cannot believe how many of you didn't like her... I actually loved her as Mrs. Lovett... she is a far far far better singer than Angela Lansbury... I thought she did some fantastic things with that role and made it her own... And to those SWEENEY purists- is there anyone whom you guys have seen who HAS pleased you?

Robert

[luvliza89]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:48am

Being a better singer, doesn't make her better in the role, it's what Angela brings to the role, which is tons of nuance and a keen interpertation of the character.

Is it just me or would Judy Garland have made an amazing Ms. Lovett? I wish she had done Broadway. BUT enough threadjacking.

[magruder]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 2:53am

Yeah - Lansbury. Sorry, Che, she gave one of the greatest live performances I've ever seen. Patti may have the better vocal chops, but Lansbury created the role and went out on a limb with a performance that is the standard by which all others are judged.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 5:23am

Patti is my favorite musical theater actress EVER and I agree that she should NOT be Mrs. Lovett. I saw the performance on DVD that she did a few years ago and I have the CD from it. She was horrible with the accent for starters. She's way too old to play Mrs. Lovett, especially up against Michael Cerveris. I looked it up, he is (noticably) 10 years younger than her. It just looks silly. Patti, I love ya to death, but this role ain't for you, not now. There are so many young, fresh women who could tackle, and I mean tackle, this role ferociously, the way it should be. Oy, the whole thing's a disaster, I hope she ends up not doing it.

Updated On: 6/11/05 at 05:23 AM

[Roger-the-Cabin-Boy]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 6:38am

I love Patti too, and I gotta agree with the naysayers on Mrs. Lovett. I don't see her having the right nuanced madness to do the role justice.

[442namffug]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 8:29am

cyndi lauper!?!? Who ARE you?????

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 8:42am

I love LuPone but I'll never get Lansbury out of my head.

[Mythus]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 8:44am

I'm sure with all the time she'll have rehearsing, she'll do fine.

Patti took a year to prepare "emotionally and vocally" for the role in the concert, says she in an issue of The Sondheim Review. If that's the product of a year's work, I shudder to think of how she'd be in the Broadway production.

[Elizabeth_DeBris]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 9:54am

I made the mistake of seeing the concert before I saw the Hal Prince "Sweeney Todd," so I actually really liked Patti LuPone (feel free to stone me). No, she's not Angela Lansbury, but who is?

I just hope she'll be working with a dialect coach...

[alphieboy]

Posted: 6/11/05 at 11:02am

Yes, there were many better options. And I am not a huge Patti fan nontheless.