An oral historical past of Mrs. Lovett, one in all theater’s best, bloodiest roles

Positive, it’s Sweeney’s title within the title. However speak to any actor who has performed his lovesick confederate, and so they’ll finally deliver up the identical level: Mrs. Lovett’s underhanded actions result in many of the present’s slit throats and tickled ribs. Now that Sutton Foster has settled in for the ultimate weeks of the third Broadway revival, we assembled eight members of the Lovett lineage to debate what precisely makes this idiosyncratic character sing.

• Julia McKenzie: The English actor performed the half with vibrant vibrato and a delightfully batty edge in a 1993 revival at London’s Nationwide Theatre.
• Christine Baranski: The “Gilded Age” and “Good Battle” star traded her polished persona for a playfully brassy interpretation in 1999 on the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and 2002 on the Kennedy Heart in Washington.
• Patti LuPone: After starring in live performance performances in 2000 on the New York Philharmonic and 2001 on the San Francisco Symphony, the three-time Tony winner performed the tuba whereas headlining the intimate and edgy 2005 Broadway revival.
• Helena Bonham Carter: The “Battle Membership,” “King’s Speech” and Harry Potter actor performed to the medium with a extra restrained tackle the character within the 2007 movie adaptation directed by her then-partner, Tim Burton.
• Lea Salonga: The “Miss Saigon” star and beloved Disney singer lent the function a mischievous streak throughout 2019 runs on the Theatre at Solaire in Manila and the Sands Theatre in Singapore.
• Bryonha Marie: Taking part in up her character’s malevolence, the Broadway veteran starred in final yr’s manufacturing at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va.
• Annaleigh Ashford: The “Sunday within the Park With George” alum leaned on lust with a gleefully handsy flip to kick off the present scaled-up Broadway revival.
• Sutton Foster: The “Youthful” star and two-time Tony winner took over for Ashford and can keep by the present’s Might 5 closing.

(Responses have been edited for size and readability.)

Lansbury, the stage and display icon who died in 2022 at age 96, initially balked at enjoying second fiddle to Len Cariou’s Sweeney and, in line with theater legend, instructed Sondheim, “Your present just isn’t referred to as ‘Nellie Lovett.’” However the composer performed a few of his rating for Lansbury and satisfied her of the character’s potential. Subsequently, Sondheim usually anointed or authorised the actors enjoying Mrs. Lovett.

LuPone: I noticed the unique and I used to be gobsmacked. I keep in mind crying for a number of causes — the brilliance of it, the worry of it, the unhappiness of it. However after seeing Angela, I simply didn’t think about that anyone would ever think about me for that function. I keep in mind when my agent referred to as and stated that I used to be being supplied Nellie Lovett, and I went, “Does Steve (Sondheim) know?” As a result of I assumed he hated me. He had given his blessing, however I nonetheless don’t perceive how I got here to thoughts.

McKenzie: I needed to play that half greater than something on this planet, and I used to be so grateful that Steve requested me to do it. It’s one of many nice elements for girls in musical theater, little doubt.

In a 1981 interview, Lansbury stated she deliberately introduced her famously bubbly onstage persona to the conniving baker: “I feel that’s one thing that I’ve imbued her with method over and above what was on the printed web page.”

Ashford: I met Angela Lansbury 3 times, and I cried each time. I felt actually linked to her as a result of she was a real character actress, and that’s what I’ve at all times dreamed of being and try to be. She performed ladies who’re dimensional and dynamic, and have been hilarious and heartbreaking on the identical time.

Salonga: I listened to Patti LuPone, I listened to Imelda Staunton, and, in fact, I listened to Angela Lansbury. There have been so some ways to assault it, and none of them was mistaken.

Bonham Carter: I’ve been a fan of the present since I used to be 14, once I first noticed it with Sheila Hancock and Denis Quilley in London. I performed and performed and performed the rating, and I discovered loads of the songs. I simply had by no means heard something fairly so thrilling.

Marie: I had by no means seen a Black Mrs. Lovett, and I stated, “I actually wish to deliver my tradition to it.” Being a Black lady is numerous issues, however one factor about myself is I’m not afraid to step and stand in my very own energy. I’m not afraid to be — and it is a horrible phrase — sassy. In the end, sassy is simply somebody who’s capable of know their price and to talk on it. I needed to deliver that to Mrs. Lovett. It was vital to me for her to be African American. I didn’t wish to mannequin her after older White women who I had watched and admired.

LuPone: I noticed Julia McKenzie play the function in London and I noticed Angie on Broadway. Julia did one thing in “Not Whereas I’m Round” and Angie did one thing (in “The Worst Pies in London”), and Steve tried to get me to do each of these issues. I’ve stated over and over which you can’t get an actor to mimic one other actor. They’ve to seek out it organically. So I might not do both of these issues as a result of they weren’t in my interpretation.

Foster: It was the musical at Carnegie Mellon once I was a freshman, and I’d by no means heard of “Sweeney Todd.” I auditioned for it, however they wanted actually excessive sopranos and I couldn’t sing it, so I ended up working within the costume store and have become obsessive about the story. I additionally had the most important crush on the man who performed (Sweeney’s buddy) Anthony — he would enter from the aisle, and I might get an aisle seat simply so he would stroll previous me. It was ridiculous.

‘The Worst Pies in London’

Audiences are launched to Mrs. Lovett with the sardonic tongue tornado “The Worst Pies in London.” As Sweeney stumbles into her struggling pie store, she rambles about her plight whereas violently pounding dough and squashing bugs. Giving Sweeney a chunk, she defeatedly sings: “Is that simply disgusting?/ It’s important to concede it/ It’s nothing however crusting/ Right here drink this, you’ll want it/ The worst pies in London.”

Baranski: That music, I can say — and I’m positive any singing actress who has tried it will agree — is a freakin’ bitch.

Foster: “The Worst Pies in London” is like being shot out of a cannon. I at all times say, “We’re nonetheless not associates. We’re getting nearer to being associates.” For me, it’s the toughest second within the present. There’s a lot that she’s doing, there’s a lot that she’s saying, there’s a lot that she’s establishing. It’s pleasant, terrifying, and I’m nonetheless in fixed discovery with it.

LuPone: The primary time I did it on the New York Phil, I left my physique. I don’t understand how I received by it. I used to be so scared, so nervous. However it’s a lot enjoyable. It’s so intelligent. It’s Steve at his greatest writing.

Ashford: It’s laid out for you superbly on the web page, so each lyric tells you what to do subsequent bodily. For that cause, I practiced it each single day. I might go in on my own and I might truly watch in entrance of the mirror generally to see what I seemed like. I used to be consistently engaged on it, even until my final present.

Salonga: There are a complete lot of built-in reversals and loopy shifts. And I don’t imply vocal, however moderately the place she goes emotionally. It’s like this lady is the multitasking queen.

Baranski: I labored so laborious to get the musical intervals proper. It’s not simple musically. It’s not simple lyrically. Lyrics matter with Steve Sondheim, and all the bodily enterprise must be syncopated along with your lyrics. It’s splendidly difficult, and when you grasp it, there’s a cause it brings down the home. It virtually seems like the remainder of the present is straightforward.

Bonham Carter: It’s a totally totally different story filming than doing it onstage. You’ve the protection web of a second take, however having stated that, you’ve received different calls for. It’s important to make a pie and sing, and also you’ve received to do it precisely the identical (every take) for continuity. Plus, we prerecorded it earlier than we staged it, so that you’re committing your self to decisions earlier than truly getting onto the bodily set. It’s a little bit of a head f—, to be trustworthy.

Sweeney arrives at Mrs. Lovett’s store recent out of jail, having been despatched away for 15 years by the corrupt Decide Turpin on a bogus cost. By recognizing Sweeney because the barber who as soon as lived above her store, relaying the information of his spouse’s obvious suicide and placing a razor in his hand, Mrs. Lovett units in movement occasions that can finish with a pile of our bodies — and a grotesque reply to her pie store’s meat scarcity.

Baranski: She has an amazing life drive. In fact, she’s a scavenger. There’s a e book I learn for analysis referred to as “London Labour and the London Poor,” which is concerning the underclass in Victorian England. In case you examine it, you realize it was a grisly life — virtually, at instances, bestial. So there was an animalistic high quality to her.

McKenzie: I feel it’s important to, to start with, make a wide selection as as to if you suppose she’s simply completely evil or whether or not you suppose she was dealing with these horrible Victorian instances when everybody was simply combating to stay, actually.

Salonga: Given the time interval wherein she is current, it’s like, “In fact she would determine a solution to off folks and make cash off of that.” It’s not even, “However how are you going to kill folks?” It’s easy — you’re determined and also you want cash and also you’ll do something. How does she justify homicide? Properly, prosperity is on the different facet of it. It makes her scary.

Bonham Carter: I keep in mind assembly Sondheim, who’s a god and was a god to me, and I had this concept that perhaps Mrs. Lovett was a little bit of a prostitute initially as a result of she had actually hit laborious instances. He was horrified. He stated, “That’s not a nasty concept — it’s a false concept.” I then received actually pissed off with him (laughs). However he ended up being my ally, which was simply so nice. That was most likely one of many riskiest elements I’ve performed, and essentially the most demanding and essentially the most scary and most fulfilling.

Marie: My Mrs. Lovett is somewhat bit edgy, and he or she’s actually harmful. Angela Lansbury is unimaginable — I feel she’s cute as a button, although. I wasn’t tremendous afraid of her. I used to be way more afraid of Sweeney in that manufacturing. However after we actually seemed on the textual content, it appeared that Mrs. Lovett was the one behind all of the concepts. So I actually ran with that.

LuPone: She’s a manipulator, and he or she’s the villain of the piece.

Mrs. Lovett sees alternative in Sweeney’s nihilism. As she vegetation the thought of murdering the barber’s prospects and grinding their corpses into meat, the duo launch into the music “A Little Priest” and giddily cycle by the totally different flavors for his or her menu. For instance: “It’s fop/ Most interesting within the store/ And we have now some shepherd’s pie peppered/ With precise shepherd on prime.”

Foster: The music actually is about these two folks attempting to prime one another with their wit. I really feel like that’s actually when Mrs. Lovett turns into unhinged or unleashed.

LuPone: The 2 characters are having a lot enjoyable. Is that this the primary time we see Sweeney snicker? He’s simply declared that he could have vengeance. After which it’s “A Little Priest”! It’s macabre and depraved and wickedly humorous.

Ashford: “A Little Priest” was like being inside a puzzle that’s Stephen Sondheim and his lyrics each night time. All of these jokes and rhymes attending to play out in a music is so uncommon.

Baranski: It’s received to be the showstopping first-act variety of all time. The viewers is virtually, actually consuming out of the palm of your hand with all of these witty lyrics.

Bonham Carter: We filmed “A Little Priest” the day I found I used to be pregnant, and I used to be in actual morning illness. There’s a kind of waltz on the finish and Tim, who was in truth the daddy of the little embryo inside me, put me on a spinning machine and I simply thought, “I’m going to throw up at any level.” My daughter known as Nellie Burton, so she will thank Mrs. Lovett for her first title.

Though the unabashedly amoral Mrs. Lovett generates many of the comedy in “Sweeney Todd,” there are various opinions on how broadly an actor ought to play her sillier scenes.

Baranski: You may get limitless laughs within the first act as Mrs. Lovett. I imply, it’s virtually comedic gold. However I used to be cautious to not lean an excessive amount of into her comedic facet as a result of it’s important to earn the ultimate act of “Sweeney,” which turns actually darkish and tragic. It’s important to be invested sufficient within the seriousness of the piece to be genuinely horrified and surprised and shaken by the violence. So watch out.

Salonga: With loads of Sondheim musicals, if he intends for one thing to be humorous, it will likely be written humorous. There’s little or no that any actor actually must attempt to push as a result of it’s already there.

Bonham Carter: In entrance of an viewers, you most likely find yourself being a lot broader since you play as much as them, however Tim just isn’t into broad comedy. All the things must be held again. Generally it was irritating as a result of I needed to be larger. It’s innately humorous, however we didn’t play it for laughs.

Ashford: If comedy is sweet, it’s trustworthy. So I needed to make it possible for Mrs. Lovett actually was grounded in honesty, regardless that her physicality was kind of wild and zany.

Marie: I really like “Sweeney Todd,” nevertheless it’s lengthy and it’s arduous. To me, any time you may flip it and provides absolute prime comedy or foolish takes, so long as they’re rooted in the actual factor that’s occurring onstage within the textual content, I feel it’s all honest recreation.

The Act II quantity “By the Sea” arrives when Sweeney is serenely slitting throats, the pie store is flourishing and the couple is having fun with newfound prosperity. Cozying up along with her sociopathic sweetheart, Mrs. Lovett imagines dwelling out their days at a cottage on the coast.

Foster: It’s that traditional second in storytelling the place all the things’s nice. Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney, they’re earning money. They’re planning their retirement. It’s the final reprieve earlier than all of it goes to s—. God bless Aaron Tveit as a result of he’s such a trouper as I simply principally molest him with my toes and my physique throughout that music.

Marie: Sondheim offers you a lot room to simply be foolish and have an creativeness. It’s like an actor’s playground.

Ashford: I used to say it’s her “I need” music, nevertheless it’s late in Act II. It’s a masterpiece, and I simply was delighted to share my goals because the character each night time with my love — Sweeney, who didn’t actually love me again — and the viewers. I actually noticed that home by the ocean each night time. It’s at all times been a love story to me, before everything.

McKenzie: On the prime of the music, (Sondheim) has written “in a single breath.” If I can quote you: “By the ocean, Mr. Todd, that’s the life I covet/ By the ocean, Mr. Todd, oh, I do know you’d find it irresistible/ You and me, Mr. T, we could possibly be alone/ In a home what we’d virtually personal” — first breath — “Down by the ocean.” I assumed, “Why the hell did he do this?” Properly, if she took a breath, Sweeney Todd would say, “No, I’m not going.” However she doesn’t cease — she pushes and pushes and pushes on.

Baranski: Steve truly paid me such a excessive praise as a result of he stated, “I by no means considered that music as a showstopper.” It’s Mrs. Lovett at her happiest and silliest when she goes, “The seagulls squawking, hoo-hoo!” However being a lady in that grisly Victorian period, she would hardly have a notion of romantic bliss with this man who clearly virtually has a demonic power. It’s a longing that they could possibly be collectively and that she might have home respectability.

LuPone: It’s so candy, as if it’s going to occur for them. As if. “Convey alongside your chopper,” the seagulls — what was Steve pondering when he wrote it? The place was he when he wrote it? It’s important to be simply in awe of his creativeness.

Salonga: Probably the most difficult a part of doing “By the Sea” for me was determining that seagull. What does a seagull truly sound like? For this, I didn’t check with anyone. I didn’t take heed to Patti. I didn’t take heed to Angela. I went onto YouTube to seek out seagull sounds. That’s it. It was principally channeling these seagulls in “Discovering Nemo.”

In fact, there isn’t a peaceable retirement for Sweeney Todd and Nellie Lovett. She’s been undermining him all alongside, hiding the reality that his spouse remains to be alive, roaming London as a crazed beggar lady. Though Sweeney dispatches of Decide Turpin, he additionally kills the beggar lady in his haste — solely to belatedly acknowledge her as his spouse. With Mrs. Lovett’s deception uncovered, Sweeney coldly burns her alive within the bakehouse oven. The pie store’s traumatized younger apprentice, Tobias, then cuts the bereft barber’s throat.

LuPone: She lies proper on the prime of the present. She doesn’t inform him, “There’s your spouse.” She’s going to carry on to him. She says, “I at all times had a keenness for you, Mr. Todd,” and he or she manipulates the entire thing. She creates this occasion for him to, in truth, get his revenge. That’s her downfall.

Salonga: Her crimes caught up along with her, and her greed — not only for Sweeney however her greed for cash. And her absence of an ethical spine.

Bonham Carter: There’s an absence of an ethical compass, nevertheless it’s within the title of affection. She was doing all the things to win his coronary heart.

Foster: I really feel sorry for her. She’s so f—ing determined for consideration and love that the thought of self-love simply doesn’t exist for her. Possibly that’s her deadly flaw: She’s unable to like herself. Oh, that makes me unhappy.

Ashford: I’ve at all times been thinking about exploring this lady’s want for survival and the way it sadly performed out by her cooking folks into pies. She’s the most effective characters ever written. It’s so Shakespearean. It’s so broad. It’s so wild. It’s so grounded in actuality in the way in which that every one of us simply wish to be liked and discover safety. , I discover her to be much less Woman M and extra Puck.

Baranski: That function takes you all over the place from almost-vaudeville comedy to grand opera. However the final act, it’s tragic. So it’s true comedy-tragedy.