Sweeney Todd Original Broadway Production Beggar Woman Question

First of all, spoilers for Sweeney Todd are in this post.
I was rewatching a tape of Sweeney Todds original Broadway production, and I was curious about something in the song Poor Thing. We see an actress portraying Lucy Barker representing the flashbacks that Mrs. Lovetts singing about. As all people whove seen the entire show know, the Beggar Woman is actually Lucy. I know Merle Louise portrayed the Beggar Woman in the original production, but what I want to know is if she also played Lucy during Poor Thing. I could see it going either way. On one hand, it would make perfect sense to have her play Lucy in the past if shes portraying her in the shows current timeline. On the other hand, it would also make sense to have another actress play Lucy so that the audience wouldnt recognize the actress playing her as the same actress playing the Beggar Woman, which would help them figure out the shows big twist. At the same time though, much like most productions, the original had Louise all made up to look uglier and dirtier, so by removing that make up, putting her in a different costume, and changing her to a blonde, they could have convincingly tricked the audience into thinking Louise was a different actress playing a one scene role. So does anyone know who played Lucy during Poor Thing? Merle Louise (and the other actresses who portrayed the Beggar Woman), or an ensemble member?

Thanks for clearing that up, but the video was actually a bootleg of the Broadway production, not the professional video with George Hearn. The video is obviously way worse than the professionally shot tour, but I prefer the Broadway cast that didn’t transfer to the tour than that cast (unfortunately Victor Gerber and Sarah Rice weren’t in that night, so their understudies who played the role on tour appear), and the darker lighting (although occasionally appearing too dark on such an old camera) gives a better, moodier atmosphere.

SoCalDirector said: "...It certainly ranks up there with one of the more unfortunate things that happened during a live performance."

And a lengthy lawsuit ensued. I have no opinion on the merit of the suit (and I don't know how it was finally resolved), but it was claimed that actors had been reporting for some time that the drop down the "slide" was unsafe. (A relative of mine worked at the Prince office during the litigation.)

I know you said "live performance", but I think to the press and public the TWILIGHT ZONE movie set accident--not live, obviously--a year or two later completely overshadowed the SWEENEY accident.

They must have done a great job with the make-up, because I saw the original production at least a dozen times on Broadway--often from the front row--and never noticed that Merle Louise, or her replacements, if any, were NOT playing Lucy in the "Poor Thing" party scene. I don't know why one would sub an ensemble member unless the Beggar Woman can't make the change; I think Sondheim's leitmotif for the character is more likely to give her identity away than her brief appearance for the rape scene.

Updated On: 1/1/20 at 08:55 PM

That is my memory of the lighting, too, Someone. I also saw the show first at an early preview (the Judge's flagellation scene was still in). Obviously, I didn't know Lucy's eventual fate at that point.

But at later performances I DID know the BW and Lucy were one and the same, but the lighting of the rape/ball was so dim I just assumed I was watching the same actress play both.

Baritone, I conclude the opposite from the low lighting: that Prince & Co. did NOT expect us to guess the identity of the Beggar Woman until late in Act II. Though so many of us consider it a work of high art, I think Sweeney was intended to be a popular melodrama, with plenty of thrills, chills and surprises.

Of course, knowing the entire work by heart has never kept me from seeing a production. I'll have to check out "Poor Thing" on the DVD now that you've reminded me to look.

Someone in a Tree2 said: "As I recall in the original production,the masked ballsequence at the Judge's house had the ensemble entirely dressed in black and was chiefly litwith only backlight, no front light.No-one's face was clearly seen there unless they had a follow spot on them. I'm relying on my memory of a preview performance I saw back in 1979, so take thiswith a grain of salt, but it would have been a simple thing to conceal the identity of any actor playing Lucy without giving away that it was (or wasn't) Merle Louise."

Yes, but there's also the earlier part of the flashback where we see Young Lucy rocking her baby in her arms in the upper room and then the Judge and Beadle trying to get her attention.