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Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia

Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia

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binau
#1Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 2/19/19 at 4:03am

Always has been 1/2 of my dreamcast (with Bernadette being the other). Unfortunately, if it wasn't obvious from my posts I have moved countries so I won't even get to see it!

http://www.playbill.com/article/anthony-warlow-and-gina-riley-will-star-in-stephen-sondheims-sweeney-todd-in-june

Imagine that voice singing "My Friends", "Epiphany" and "Pretty Women"

 


"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022) "Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009) "Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000

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Fan123
#2Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 2/19/19 at 4:36am

Yes, another bit of dreamcasting to scratch off my list as well. I wonder if there's the remotest chance of a cast recording? Probably not.
(A fun fact for those who aren't aware: the Mrs Lovett, Gina Riley, is mother of Maggie McKenna of 'Muriel's Wedding' and 'Dear Evan Hansen'.)

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SweetLips22
#3Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 2/19/19 at 2:23pm

Yes to Anthony but an even bigger Yes to Gina who has a great voice and the comic chops to 'kill' this role---genius casting---can't wait to be chilled and thrilled.

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Fan123
#4Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/22/19 at 11:37pm

Did anyone else here end up seeing this? SweetLips22, if you attended (the tale), what did you think? My thoughts:

The cast: Anthony Warlow sounded amazing as always. He sounded beautiful in songs like 'My Friends', but was willing to have his voice be harsh and unattractive during angry/crazy moments. His 'Epiphany' got a huge reaction. According to my knowledge of Sweeneys, he didn't try for any kind of radical reinterpretation of the role; it was a good, committed, traditional interpretation. Not that I was particularly expecting or hoping for a different type of Sweeney anyway.
Gina Riley has a decent voice IMO, certainly good enough and suitable for Mrs Lovett. (In fact, she may have a nicer voice which, rightly, she didn't use for this role.) I thought she did well with the comedic aspects of the role, playing up the social (not musical) tone-deafness of Mrs Lovett in scenes where she blithely signs her own take on things, without noticing that others aren't on board. This worked well for me in 'My Friends' and 'By The Sea', and moderately well in 'Not While I'm Around'. I would have liked a bit more wariness from her in the latter scene; her suggestion to take Toby down to the bakehouse didn't have any (for example) jovial 'overacting' to show that she was faking it to fool him, or hesitation to show that she was frantically thinking out what to do. It was instead played at the same level as everything prior. Similarly, her style REALLY didn't work for me during her final scene. To me, she again came across as blithely confident that she and Sweeney were on the same page, even before "Mrs Lovett, you're a bloody wonder..." I felt that it undercut the gravity of the scene, especially while Warlow was going for broke with the emotions beside her. If she had wanted to play it as "trying to brazen it out", personally I would again have preferred that we saw some hints of desperation or fear underneath the bluster. (Maybe her performance would have worked better for me if I had been seated closer to the stage? I'm not sure.)
The rest of the cast sounded great vocally; acting-wise I have some (further) nitpicks but generally I thought they were decent to good.

The production: As this was originally promoted as a concert production, I was pleasantly surprised that it was reasonably fully staged. The show was begun with a framing device during the 'Ballad', in which a group of spiritualists gathered to hold a seance in a dilapidated parlour, summoning the spirits of Sweeney et al. The whole show was held within the parlour, with additional setpieces for the various locations. This worked for me for the most part, and led to some nice moments. One moment which did NOT work for me was Sweeney's first appearance, rising up from the spiritualists' table, because they had him stand up beneath the tablecloth for a 'big reveal' by throwing the tablecloth off a moment later. This meant that Sweeney's first appearance made him look like a kid pretending to be a ghost on Halloween. Nope. On the plus side, Johanna's first appearance was done via a parlour wall portrait of a young lady which became transparent and then opened, revealing Johanna framed in her window. The 'Letter' was sung by ensemble members around the spiritualists' table, with one writing and reacting in tandem with Sweeney, as if he were channelling Sweeney's words and emotions.

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SweetLips22
#5Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/23/19 at 12:25am

Unfortunately couldn't get down from Brisbane as I had booked 3 nights in a row--Ruthie Henshall[brilliant], Nancye & Beth[Megan Mullally], had no idea what they were smoking[I left after 40mins and apparently missed the best 10mins at the end of a 90min set] and Megan Hilty who made up for the night before--40 piece orchestra and they all blew the roof off---so Yes-missed Sweeney.

The Sydney review was not very kind. Positive to all the men but negative to the staging[in the Opera house theatre] and very negative to Gina Riley and the other women.

A theatre friend went on Saturday to a sold out performance in Melbourne and had never seen or really knew any of the music of Sweeney.

She is more of a 42nd Street gal. but LOVED it all. Raved about everything, Anthony, Gina[said the crowd loved her] ensemble. I thought that she would hate it but proves the power of good music lyrics and performance--a winning trifecta.

Gina Rileys daughter is no longer Muriel

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Fan123
#6Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/23/19 at 3:25am

Well, if you have to miss Sweeney Todd, that's the way to do it smiley I'm glad to hear your friend enjoyed it, including Gina. I'll admit my audience seemed to have no complaints with her.
And yes, you're right about Maggie; to be more precise than my first post, she's formerly of Muriel's Wedding and currently of the DEH US tour I believe.

StephieElise
#7Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/23/19 at 3:57am

I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it! I wasn’t planning to go but it popped up on Lasttix. I had previously seen the Victorian Opera production so it was interesting to compare the two.

Warlow was brilliant, as to be expected, and it was nice to be able to actually understand the lyrics (anyone who has seen Teddy Tahu Rhodes will understand).

There was a stark difference in the Mrs Lovetts - I felt Gina Riley was very strong comedically, whereas the opera singer I saw previously (I can’t recall her name) was miles ahead vocally. Then again, I did think Gina was better vocally in a Production Company show I’ve seen her in (Nice Work If You Can Get It, perhaps?), so it may have been an intentional choice. I do think the comments about her acting in less comedic moments are valid too.

Genevieve Kingsford made a beautiful Johanna, although I hope she can branch out into some more varied roles soon (having seen her in Light In The Piazza and Gentleman’s Guide before). The young men playing Antony and Toby were both very good, although I think Ross Hannaford captured Toby’s innocence better. We didn’t see Michael Falzon as he was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer during the week, but Tod Strike did a fantastic job as Pirelli. I thought Debra Byrne was, unfortunately, the weak link in this production, both acting-wise and vocally.

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rosscoe(au)
#8Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/23/19 at 11:36am

Saw it on Thursday night , while not as perfect that I hoped it would be. Warlow was magnificent and really should have been in a fully fledged production way before now. Gina Riley was the biggest surprise of the night ( having seen her years ago as the Bakers Wife ) she brought a brilliantly hilarious tone to Ms Lovett that just got darker and more evil desperation to get Sweeney to love her. It really was a pitch perfect casting of both Warlow and Riley.

The rest of the cast made it an enjoyable night, sadly the staging could have been better, but than again it was a semi staged 40th Anniversary production.

One strange thing was a couple of cuts to the score that took place in Act Two, that maybe reduced the running time by about ten minutes.

Lets hope that somewhere both Warlow and Riley get to star in full production.

 

A side note later this year in Melbourne Australia, Anthony Warlow along with Jemma Rix will star in a semi staged production of Jekyll and Hyde, the first time Anthony will perform the role since the concept album.


Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist. Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino. This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more. Tazber's: Reply to Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian

ActorGuyIL
#9Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/24/19 at 12:24pm

Australian radio programme featuring Anthony Warlow singing a bit of My Friends. Also a good discussion of Sondheim and the productions of Sweeney and Night Music in Melbourne.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-stage-show/sondheims-musical-reinventions-return-to-the-stage/11176418?fbclid=IwAR0d0Cz0tb34XiZxkJchp4IGWl6SuTcqd1bK_wGhRXvdiFvBLnFcVoeIzOA

JennH
#10Anthony Warlow to play Sweeney Todd in Australia
Posted: 6/24/19 at 12:44pm

rosscoe(au) said: "Saw it on Thursday night , while not as perfect that I hoped it would be. Warlow was magnificent and really should have been in a fully fledged production way before now. Gina Riley was the biggest surprise of the night ( having seen her years ago as the Bakers Wife ) she brought a brilliantly hilarious tone to Ms Lovett that just got darker and more evil desperation to get Sweeney to love her. It really was a pitch perfect casting of both Warlow and Riley.

The rest of the cast made it an enjoyable night, sadly the staging could have been better, but than again it was a semi staged 40th Anniversary production.

One strange thing was a couple of cuts to the score that took place in Act Two, that maybe reduced the running time by about ten minutes.

Lets hope that somewhere both Warlow and Riley get to star in full production.



A side note later this year in Melbourne Australia, Anthony Warlow along with Jemma Rix will star in a semi staged production of Jekyll and Hyde, the first time Anthony will perform the role since the concept album.
"

About J and H, what happened to the 25th Anniversary production he was supposed to do with Jackie Burns back in 2015/2016?? Fizzled out? Cancelled??

Either way, I just need more than air for him to bring this concert or just do the full damn role in a production anywhere near to NYC...RC may be the Broadway original, but Warlow is the definitive. I will never understand how the hell he's never done the full role, he's just TOO good, and I would sell my soul to see him do it...there's many things I'd like to see in this life, but this is arguably my absolute #1 DREAM of all dreams to be a witness to.