Sweeney Todd In Concert -- WTF George Hearn???

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:21pm

Through the godliness of Netflix I am now watching SWEENEY TODD IN CONCERT for the first time and at the moment I am 20 minutes in and "My Friend" just started.

Is it just me, or is George Hearn giving the most half-assed, DREADFUL acting performance of his career? I have seen him on the full-production DVD and he was just fine! Here, he hasn't found ANY depth to the character. This is especially evident when Mrs. Lovett (LuPone) says "So it is you, Benjamin Barker!" Hearn shows no surprise she knows who he is and quickly snaps back "Not Barker, it's Todd now." He is almost SMILING and saying it as if it were a friendly correction!!

Just me?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:27pm

George Hearn truly sucks in the Concert DVD. It's a real shame that both the officially filmed stage productions star him, as I think he's by far the weakest of the major Sweneys. He just screamed his way through the performance in the first one, and the second one he does that AND camps it up. Too bad.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:27pm

I have a strange relationship with that DVD. on the one hand, it's probably how I'd introduce someone to Sweeney Todd, and on the other, it's kind of a big lolfest. I do love it though. (no Lovett cracks, please)

that being said, that particular moment never stuck out for me, but looking back, it is a strange acting choice. it also contrasts so much with how Michael Cerveris delivered that line, lunging at Mrs. Lovett and practically strangling her.

I need to watch that DVD again. between the faces both George Hearn and Patti LuPone make, and Davis Gaines being the most jowly Anthony ever, it's a good time. oh! and how could I forget Victoria Clark! one of my favorite Beggar Women. (Womans?)

Updated On: 8/6/09 at 10:27 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:29pm

This is a concert presentation of the show and the score. Its not intended to be a serious and by-the-book interpretation. There are lots of little personal touches by the performers and *winks* to the show itself as those performing it are enjoying the bliss that is SWEENEY TODD. I'd hate to read why you had to say about the Lincoln Center's concert staging of CANDIDE where EVERYONE was enjoying themselves (and adding their own personal touches throughout). Almost like 'inside jokes' between the audience and performer, if you will.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:32pm

I love the concert staging of Candide. I've read that so many stagings make the show more serious and almost preachy; I honestly can't understand why they can't all have fun like they do in the Lincoln Center concert! Even Marin Alsop is having a grand old time. "Stark naked?!"

[fgreene1938]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:33pm

By that point, George Hearn had performed the role so many times his boredom with it was palpable. "Going through the motions" comes to mind. I'll also say, he's a generally hammy actor so his choices rarely come from any depth of feeling and are usually full of overacted effects. I saw Len Cariou in 1979 and Hearn in 1980 and there was no comparison. Cariou all the way.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:39pm

Brody...it being a concert version is absolutely no excuse. It makes it different from a full production, yes, but the performers still need to do something called 'acting the song.' They still represent the characters. And it's absolutely ZERO excuse for Hearn who has played the character before and has already done the research.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:41pm

Len Cariou was so amazing as Todd. George Hearn was just as cheap in the national tour taping as he was in the concert. Lots of bluster and florid stuff that had nothing to do with the writing or original direction.

And his vibrato bears an uncanny resemblance to Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion. Please tell me I'm wrong. It's not a good interpretation of the part.


Updated On: 8/6/09 at 10:41 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:43pm

I'm glad to see so many people agree, I always feel like the lone asshole saying that Hearn was a terrible Sweeney when I'm in a room full of theatre people.

I wish I could have seen Cariou...the surviving terrible-quality video of his Epiphany is truly frightening.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:48pm

Hmm, I always had an affinity for that recording and his performance. I agree it's a bit hammy at times and misses some important points.

However, that concert performance of "Epiphany" is by far my favorite, and probably my favorite performance of any song in Sweeney. Every other performance, including Cariou's, feels awkward or out of place or lacks intensity at times (just my opinion). Hearn's feels crazed, passionate, and makes sense more than any other interpretation I've heard.

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:59pm

Well Sondheim says, Carious is an actor. Hearn is a singer. PERIOD

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 10:59pm

Well Sondheim says, Carious is an actor. Hearn is a singer. PERIOD

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 11:04pm

I don't think that the original idea of Barker/Todd was that he was transformed Frankenstein style into a monster. The reason that Cariou was so fantastic was that the sensitivity of Barker's character was still there from Todd's epiphany to the end of the second act.

Depp's performance in the movie was actually closer to the original conception of the role than anything I've seen. At times it seems he's channeling Cariou.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 11:10pm

I actually really like George Hearn in the concert version. Especially during "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest". The concert was my first exposure to the show and he's still one of my favorite Sweeneys. I agree that it's a slightly hammy performance, but I prefer it that way so there you go.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 11:59pm

"I love the concert staging of Candide. I've read that so many stagings make the show more serious and almost preachy; I honestly can't understand why they can't all have fun like they do in the Lincoln Center concert! Even Marin Alsop is having a grand old time. "Stark naked?!" "

Wave your arms! Wave your arms!

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 12:04am

I used to have an amazing screencap of Patti's face after she says that. I'll see if I can track it down. maybe it'll replace my S. Pal quitter avatar.

[ravnquest1]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 12:20am

Updated On: 6/17/17 at 12:20 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 12:44am

the 1982 DVD was really my first exposure to the show, so as much as I laugh at the wigs and Betsy Joslyn's eyes, I really do love it. It's just amazing and wonderful to have Angela Lansbury's performance filmed, since I was obviously not around to see her live.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 8:33am

I think folks are getting two version of Sweeney Todd mixed up. I believe the original post refers to Sweeney in concert, the version with Hearn, LuPone, Neil Patrick Harris, Victoria Clark and others. In that version, LuPone is so awful as Lovett that I found it hard to notice anyone else.

[sparrman]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 8:57am

Haven't seen the concert DVD, but I think Hearn is great in the tour DVD and was also great live at Paper Mill. My favorite Sweeney. Perhaps he embraced the "Grand Guignol" concept more firmly than did Cariou, and perhaps you might disagree with that choice, but it was definitely part of Prince's direction.

I've heard Sondheim say Hearn was a "more accurate" singer than Cariou, but I truly doubt he would ever reduce either performer with the simple labels of "actor" or "singer". They're both both.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 9:10am

How can you notice Hearn's "hammy" performance while La LuPone is busy gobbling up the orchestra and the surrounding curtains?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 9:30am

One of Angela Lansbury's MANY Emmy losses was to Hearn in that 1982 Sweeney broadcast. I certainly wont bash his Sweeney, although I do think that Cariou was better. I am still stunned that he won the Emmy, however, over Lansbury.

[lovinlovett]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 10:32am

As this was my first exposure to Sweeney, I do love this version! That being said, I haven't seen a version that I don't like really. They are all different and I appreciate different things about them. I thought George Hearn was a fierce Sweeney in that concert and, though it was over-the-top at at times, it still has my favorite "A Little Priest", "Green Finch", "Johanna (judge's song), "The Contest", "Ah, Miss", "Pirelli's Miracle Elixer" and "Pretty Women".

I particularly enjoy "A Little Priest" as they look like they are having so much fun!

I think a lot of it is what a person was exposed to - and fell in love with - first.




Updated On: 8/7/09 at 10:32 AM