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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2016 20:07:34 GMT
One of my favourite productions -- judging by recordings, bootlegs, video clips, articles, reviews and limited photos -- of Sweeney Todd is the 1993 NT revival with Alun Armstrong and Julia McKenzie. I was wondering can those who saw the production share their memories, I'd love to hear people's opinions! McKenzie seems to me the definitive Mrs. L, and is probably one of the primary reasons the production was so beloved. So… open to the floor!  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2016 21:00:24 GMT
I remember it was very small scale, and very green (lighting) in colour. More or less empty black stage. Julia McKensie was Mrs Lovett and shone in the role, emptying a bucket of blood nonchalantly into a drain at the front of the stage. I saw it twice (two different venues at the NT if memory serves me correctly) and Sweeney was played by two different actors. My previous experience of it had been a huge production at Drury Lane, so it was refreshingly different. Now we have grown used to version after version of it, churned out like the pies! It also featured our first black Anthony (Anthony Hope no less!) in the shape of Adrian Lester, Sheila Reid as Sweeney's wife and Di Botcher as a member of the chorus. (She has been in Stella on TV.)
A great production of this fantastic piece, yes.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2016 21:37:40 GMT
I have also often wondered about this production as I struggle to find a lot of online stuff about it, other than an audio recording of Act Two and the video from the Oliviers (I think?) of The Ballad and The Worst Pies in London. Alun Armstrong sounded great as Sweeney, even though he is being a tenor in what is usually a baritone role (I could be wrong on both of those there, I'm not a vocal expert).
From the stuff I have found about it, I believe it was closer to the chamber/Victorian intimate feel that Stephen Sondheim had originally intended before Harold Prince suggested it had to reflect the class system through the industrial epic space. Personally I think the latter suits Sweeney the best, but I still would have loved to have seen what the National's was like. I can't help thinking if it later transferred to the Lyttleton after the Cottesloe then it surely must have lost some of its intimacy? What exactly was the set like?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2016 23:06:44 GMT
Julia McKenzie brought so much humour to the role of Mrs Lovett. I was front row at the Cottesloe and the drain mentioned above was at my feet! pouring blood (and bones!) with such world weariness. But her eyes crackled with mischeif and you could see her mind turning. Its a performance i will never forget. I still have the programme somewhere. Adrian Lester was a weak link for me, his singing was weak compared to those around him.
I believe the whole show was recorded and broadcast on radio 2. I have it on a file somewhere.
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Post by loureviews on Oct 16, 2016 9:15:22 GMT
The Radio 2 recording - recently repeated on R4 extra - was with Denis Quilley and Julia Mckenzie.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Oct 16, 2016 9:42:38 GMT
I think Denis played the Judge (after originating Sweeney in London) and then replaced Alun Armstrong in the title role.
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Post by brenth on Oct 16, 2016 10:17:46 GMT
I saw the first preview and remember not recognising Julia McKenzie for 20 minutes! I also remember thinking ' I wonder what that drain is for?' and then realising ...Funniest thing was my friend who was obsessed with Sondheim very queenily pushing past a man with a beard as we left with a loud "EXCUSE MEEEE WONT YOU!" I left it for 5 minutes before I explained that he had just shoved Steven Sondheim out of his way...He never lived it down.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 12:53:36 GMT
Yes Quilley played Sweeney in 1980 at Drury Lane, then played the Judge when the NT production first opened, later playing Sweeney when it transferred to the Lyttleton.
From what I gather, the chorus only had about five or six people, and the entire company (probably less than 20 altogether) sang the opening Ballad, and took a full company bow at the end of the production - Armstrong and McKenzie chose not to take separate bows (as did all the principal performers) opting instead to take a bow in unison which I think was very classy.
The orchestration was truncated to a 9 piece arrangement instead of a 20+ piece.
The cast was primarily made up of NT actors and not singers, it really was not presented as a big flashy musical production, it was done (as so many of the NT musicals were) as a play with music. It's for this reason that it appears to be one of the finest productions of the show ever mounted.
It's interesting to note that Alun Armstrong won the Olivier for Best Actor that year beating amongst others Alan Cumming for his Emcee. Cumming would go on several years later to reprise that role on Broadway and win every award going that season. McKenzie also rightfully triumphed as Best Actress beating Patti LuPone who was nommed for her doomed Norma Desmond performance. LuPone actually talks about Julia winning the award in her memoirs, saying she deserved every bit of it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 17:01:53 GMT
I saw this NT production at the New Theatre Cardiff where it played for a week while it was still in rep at the Cottesloe. I think it also played a week somewhere else in the course of its Cottesloe run - maybe Theatre Royal Bath?
It was a Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod show so very Cheek by Jowl in style and was tourable to theatres of different sizes because it focused on the actors and not on a fixed set design.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 19:05:16 GMT
How could I forget Barry James as the Beadle. He was slimey in all the best ways. Such a fantastic character actor.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 20:01:53 GMT
And Nick Holder! So many names in this "lost" production...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 23:47:46 GMT
Yes and Barry James and Adrian Lester both nominated for best supporting performance at that year's Oliviers.
I'm interested to know more about this 'Cheek by Jowl' reference - was this a theatre company…? Known for quirky productions? I think some of the actors came from this company, e.g. Lester…
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 14:41:10 GMT
Cheek by Jowl is a theatre company set up by Declan Donnellan and Nick Oremond, though Sweeney wasn't a Cheek By Jowl production.
I believe Adrian Lester has worked with CbJ before, in their all Male As You Like it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 16:31:59 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 17:55:21 GMT
Saw this on its Lyttelton transfer. I recall that it was very dark (as in dim lighting) and very austere in its production. McKenzie stood out but, whilst not my favourite production (that would be a choice between Prince's original and the John Doyle actor/musician version), it had a similar power to the others I've seen.
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Post by bordeaux on Oct 18, 2016 11:25:43 GMT
Yes, a great production. I saw it in both the Cottesloe and the Lyttelton; incredibly powerful (and funny) in both places. There is a little footage of them performing the opening at the Olivier awards here:
Don't know who the guy playing Sweeney is; it's neither Armstrong nor Quilley.
Incidentally my favourite rendition of Priest, though, is from the Sondheim's 80th Gala in NY with Patti Lupone and two Sweeneys.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 11:45:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2016 13:31:39 GMT
I think the above is perhaps the most chilling and disturbing account of the opening Ballad I've ever seen. Everyone standing still, vacant expressions… Perfection.
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