Who is your favourite Mrs Lovett? And why?

I've seen three professional productions, and have been fortunate to see Lansbury, LuPone and Staunton in person.

I did not care for the Doyle production at all, and I did not think LuPone enbodied the character as well (too many LuPone-isms). I saw Lansbury and Hearn in 1980 and was blown away. Her Lovett was broad, brash, humorous, and still a monster. She is my favorite Lovett and played very well off Hearn. Fortunately, this pairing was preserved on video (I have the DVD and play it often). I wish I had seen Cariou in the role as well, but that is for another thread.

Staunton was also very good when I saw her perform with Michael Ball on a trip to London last fall. She was a moodier Lovett, and her infatuation with Benjamin Barker/Sweeney was more believable than that of the other two. I did not realize that she was such a tiny person until seeing her onstage. I thought she outperformed Ball as well.

ST is one of my favorite musicals, and the original production remains one of my Top 5 musical theater experiences in 40+ years of Broadway play-going.

Have experienced 4 Mrs Lovetts, prefer them in the following order for both Mrs. Lovetts and overall performance experience (of course imagining what it would have been like to see the original live):

1. Angela Lansbury on DVD of original 1979 Broadway production: for me she had the entire range of emotions from quirky, corney, lovable and vengeful while calculating the return and participation in the plot year before it ever happened.
2. Beth Fowler live in the 1989 Broadway revival: she was a softer Mrs Lovett visually which made her participation in the crime all the more of a contrast in my mind
3. Elaine Paige live in the 2004 NYS Opera House production: while vocally dynamic I was sitting so far away and she is such a tiny woman that I felt she was physically lost on such a large stage and in such a large theatre
4. Patti LuPone live in the 2005 Broadway revival: appreciate her qualities, enjoy her performance but was disappointed that her speech patterns weren't changed from NYC to London accent effectively. It was more like Mrs Lovett doing Patti LuPone than Patti LuPone becoming Mrs Lovett.

The intimacy of the 1989 Broadway revivial at the Circle in the Square had an amazingly scary aspect with the shrill factory whistles screaming over your head, the laundry hanging from the low ceiling and Sweeney within arms reach of slashing your throat!

Edit: Make that 5 I saw the movie with Helena Bonham Carter and forgot I saw it - so I guess that goes to she what I thought of not only her performance but the movie as well!

Updated On: 4/12/13 at 10:14 AM

I've only seen Lansbury's version on tape. So I feel like I can't really make a well-informed opinion...even though she's magnificent in it.

I've seen a number of live performances of the role, but none have come close to Imelda Staunton.

1. Lansbury - Saw the tour and fell in love with her...love.
2. LuPone - I loved the production and her especially. Such an improvement over Lincoln Center. In Doyle's production, I didnt have any problem with her accent...and she was both fun AND scary.
3. Fowler - Terrific, I didn't think anyone could live up to Lansbury at the time. She and Korbich were great.
4. Bonham Carter - I rather liked her for the screen, even with the whispy vocals.

The only one I regret not seeing is McKenzie. That production looks wonderful, even on Youtube.

It's not fair, but I have no desire to see Staunton and Ball. I kind of detest their "Priest" on youtube. I dont read any chemistry between them and it is just humorless, slow and dull. She's never disappointed me before, and recognize it's not fair to judge on one clip.

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I believe I've made this distinction before, but the average stage Lovett is a psychopath- gleefully aware that what she is doing is evil and manipulative, and taking a bizarre joy in it.

Helena Bonham Carter, on screen, seemed more like a sociopath, or even a solipsist. Someone without any evil scheme or inclination to kill a bunch of people; rather, a person who wants one specific thing (Sweeney) and is absolutely unconcerned with anything else- the rest of the world may as well not be real. When she locks Toby away, her demeanor seems to imply less regret and remorse, or "this is all part of my scheme," but almost a feeling of disappointment, as if to say "Such a shame that I have to kill this one. He was nice. Oh well."

Oh...you totally explained it. I was just giving my thoughts having seen it. I saw some video before I saw it and was like, 'Well...hopefully it'll sound good.' And then I was fully blown away by it. Ball was entirely surprising.

I think Lansbury is wonderful on the video. But I just don't know how it played in the theatre, so I always feel like I'm at a disadvantage when discussing the performance.

Patti. Everything about that production worked and Lupone gave her finest performance ever.

Updated On: 4/12/13 at 07:17 PM

I saw Lansbury live many times and it remains one of the great performances I've ever witnessed. She "argued for" Mrs. Lovett so compellingly that the character actually began to seem somewhat reasonable (until "By the Sea" showed her to be even crazier than Sweeney).

But I also enjoyed Beth Fowler in the "Teeny Todd" and Christine Baranski in LA Reprise's production.

Why is Lansbury my favorite? Perhaps because she seemed the most believably English. More likely because she is such a strong musician that even without a "great voice", she still sang it better than the lady who did the role for New York City Opera. The precision of Lansbury's technique coupled with the multiple levels she finds in all her roles made Mrs. Lovett multi-dimensional rather than a mere grotesque.

HATED: the NYC Opera singer (who played attitude ("Aren't I funny?") instead of character), and Helena Bonham Carter, who should really lay off the Xanax when she is playing a character as ambitious as Mrs. L.

IMO, one need only look at the film to see how flat the piece becomes without a very, very strong Mrs. Lovett as Sweeney's foil.

Updated On: 4/12/13 at 08:53 PM

Gav, could not agree with you more about HBC in the movie, and how a weak Lovett dulls the whole impact of the piece.

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The film was so wholly misdirected and misconceived, her performance was just another mistake.

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I couldn't bear to watch it again. ST is one of my favorite works of art. The film was a horrible version of the work. Stripping away all irony, subtlety and subtext. But, that's Burton's fault and his usual result.

Don't mean to jack the thread.

Lansbury. Favorite.

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The intimacy of the 1989 Broadway revivial at the Circle in the Square had an amazingly scary aspect with the shrill factory whistles screaming over your head, the laundry hanging from the low ceiling and Sweeney within arms reach of slashing your throat!

Agreed! That was a really intense production, curiously centered by Fowler's very warm performance. I also remember the first throat slitting..it was like a spray from a drinking fountain..it really startled those us us in the front row!

It was a very well sung production, though I had only recently seen a full-stage SWEENEY by New York City Opera. One other memorable pair: Christine Baranksi and Brian Stokes Mitchell at Kennedy Centre!

I have also seen some terrific community productions locally, but those names obviously wouldn't man anything to anyone here. And I have seen a couple of really terrible productions where the directors felt it necessary ti impose their own concepts..as in one University staging that the director decided takes place in a - not an Iron foundry as on Broadway but in a ghost factory with all the cast wearing white pancake makeup throughout. It was a horror show all right!

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