Sweeney Todd Off Broadway Beggar Woman/Pirelli Question

[Hot Pants]

Posted: 2/3/20 at 2:18am

Im a huge fan of Sweeney Todd, but I havent seen the Off Broadway production. I know they have the actress playing the Beggar Woman double as Pirelli, which I think is a very clever touch. After all, Pirellis a small role, so its nice for his performer to have more to do throughout the show, and hes already been played by women in the past. Outside of the prior ballads in the show, where multiple cast members appear and sing as narrators, at times including principle cast members, and the entire cast, the only time these roles are specifically scripted to appear onstage together is in the finale. In the earlier ballads, with the exception of when it says (and I believe its only for the very beginning) that the entire company should appear, I dont think theres ever any indication that either role must be onstage, much less at the same time. And if they are, neither are required to have a solo. This combined with the fact that they never appear onstage at the same time during the other scenes justifies doubling the roles. But as I said, in the finale, both parts appear and have solos, fairly close to each other. So my question is how did the Off Broadway version tackle this. The Beggar Woman starts this scene already onstage, her solo is before Pirellis, and shes the bigger and more important role, so Im certain they left her solo intact. But did the actress sing Pirellis solo as the Beggar Woman, did they make some kind of incredible quick change and have her do it as Pirelli, or did the Beadles actor do the solo all by himself? Or did they do some entirely different from my predictions?

[Hot Pants]

Posted: 2/4/20 at 11:14am

Bump