Sweeney Todd -- 1982 telecast -- why no Len Cariou?

So I was re-watching the gem that is Sweeney Todd from 1982 with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn and I was wondering why Len Cariou wasn't in that cast. George Hearn was excellent and I could watch him in that role every day but Len Cariou, who I saw in the original Broadway production when I was a kid, was also excellent. I just thought it was weird that he wasn't in that telecast. Was there any reason for that?

I believe this was a videotape of the LA production. Cariou had left the show by then and Hearn took over the role.

^He was last seen on Broadway in Scandalous almost four years ago.

I don't live in New York, so I wasn't in the city while it was running.

In this recent interview, Cariou said his one regret is that he's not in the taped version of Sweeney Todd. He says, "If I had known that was going to happen, I would have done the tour."

https://www.everythingsondheim.org/2016/05/30/brilliant-stuff-cariou-saw-power-sweeney-todd-day-one/

Wow, interesting! I can't believe critics didn't like the show. It's truly a masterpiece.



Huh? Cariou mentions that the tour was shut down during its San Francisco run due to the critics hating it. The next stop of the tour was Los Angeles, where the video recording was made. He adds that he feels that the video recording suggestion was to entice the cast to return and continue the tour. The critics negative reaction statement is solely referencing the San Francisco critics.

I recall reading an interview way back when, where Angela said that they apparently couldn't separate her from Mame. She was very disappointed. Having seen the original once in previews, twice more after it opened and at least a dozen more times in different versions -- I'm amazed with S.F. I would have thought they had more taste.

Updated On: 7/7/16 at 11:33 AM

I would swear in that video- there are times when they overdub certain lines with the original cast recording, and a few times when Cariou's voice is coming out of Hearn's mouth.

I actually saw Lansbury in Mame on Broadway. She was very different than in Sweeney Todd so I don't understand what the critics were saying. She was great in both shows and neither character reminded me of the other.

I agree with you about Cariou. As frightening as Hearn was, I remember Cariou being even MORE frightening.

YouDon'tClimbTrees? said: "Ah, that makes sense! I thought it would be a more salacious story, like Len Cariou got on Stephen Sondheim's bad side."

Trees - you're watching too much Inside Edition and Access Hollywood. It's not all drama 30 years from now there'll be a story about how Leslie Odom Jr. was kicked out of Hamilton because he got on LMM's nerves. Wish I could have seen Cariou.

The thing that sticks with me still, more than three decades later, is how beautifully that show filled the cavernous Chicago venue where I saw Lansbury and Hearn (who was great) in it. Was is the Arie Crown? I can still hear that whistle blowing and freaking me the heck out.

I've said this before, but since we're on the subject, for me, Cariou played the character as the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" lyrics describe him: "Inconspicuous," "quick," "quiet," "clean," "smooth," "subtle," "a perfect machine." Cariou had a brooding quality, with an element that he could explode at any second. When he finally did, at "Epiphany," and came to the edge of the stage, even in the enormous Uris Theatre, you wanted to draw back from him. It was really terrifying. Hearn is terrific in his own right, but for me, he's really playing the madness from very early on. He seems contemptuous of Anthony in the very first scene, and when reunited with his razors in "My Friends" is screaming in the street. For me, it differs in the concept of a "quiet subtle perfect machine" of a man who has been plotting revenge for 15 years. So, the payoff felt greater to me with Cariou, but Hearn gives such a committed performance, I don't begrudge anyone who has a preference for him in the role.