Video: SWEENEY TODD Opening Night Brings Out Lin-Manuel Miranda, Len Cariou And More!
May 17, 2024
See video from inside opening night below as original Sweeney, Len Cariou, Tony-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, Norm Lewis, Lea Salonga turn out to celebrate the Sondheim classic!
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World, Steven Sondheim, and U. Wheeler's musical masterpiece, Sweeney Todd is back
0:06
Under the direction of Thomas Cale, he welcomes back to Broadway, Josh Grobin and Annalie Ashford, and we're here to celebrate with the first-nighters
0:15
You must have so many incredible memories. Would you share a wonderful memory of doing the original production of Sweeney Todd
0:22
It was a wonderful opening night, and a lot of people didn't think that it was ever going to have
0:29
So when it did, we blew the roof off the place. And it was history-making
0:42
And that's really what I remember more than anything. And it was, you know, I was in it for a year
0:49
And Angela and I were very proud to have done it for that long
0:54
Just his history. Yes, right here. We're still here. We're still here
0:58
God damn it. His fondest memories were of the original. Victor, what are yours of the original production of playing Antony
1:05
I can tell you, walking onto the set, as he was doing, these are my friends, and I interrupted him
1:15
And it was one of the most, and I never, every time I was down there, I thought, that is the most terrifying man I've ever seen in my life
1:24
And I love him so much, and I just think he is
1:30
you know, the greatest. Because he was just saying nobody knew what Sweeney Todd was going to be
1:35
until that incredible opening night you all had at the Uris Theater. That's right
1:39
It was it was we didn nobody knew I mean we all believed that we had something remarkable But until I mean when we first heard the score
1:51
when Steve played it the first time for all of us, and we were just like, oh my God
1:56
And then, and then we had to do it. That was the other thing
2:00
So, no, it was, you know, as I describe it as the, you know
2:04
it was life-changing for all of us, I think. For sure. Sharing the stage with Angela Lansbury
2:11
I asked him how wonderful that was for both of you. You know, it's almost too hard to talk about
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Because they led the company. I learned everything I ever needed to know about how to lead a company from these two
2:29
And Angela and Lenn were the most welcoming. There was never, it was a really, I can say this without any equivocation
2:38
It was one of them happiest groups of people in one of the darkest comedies, musical comedies ever written
2:44
But we had a ball, didn't we? Yeah, we did. We did
2:48
How excited are you to be here tonight for your friends in this tonight, working on this
2:53
I'm excited for Tommy and Lack, obviously. I'm excited for Steve Sondheim
2:59
to hear his original orchestrations and Jonathan Tunex, incredible orchestrations over again
3:03
And I'm excited for a new generation of theatergoers to fall in love with Sweeney
3:08
I was here Friday night to watch Alex Lackamore raise his baton for the 26-piece orchestra with Jonathan Tunis orchestrations
3:16
first time heard on Broadway since 1979. You're going to make me cry in this interview, but yeah, it's amazing
3:24
And you know this was one of the last shows Steve gave his blessing to You know I remember Tommy talking to him and then him getting their blessing to do this production We saw a reading of this the week after Steve passed
3:38
And so it just feels like another fulfillment of his incredible legacy
3:42
I love this. Look at you. This is what I was waiting on. I was like, this came in the mail just now
3:48
Come into the door. It's like freshly wet. That is the outfit of the eye
3:53
I had to. I had to. Come on. I have a history with this show. so I was like, I got to show my support in some way
3:59
Okay. What is it like singing the role of Sweeney Tard? It is one of the most demanding roles ever
4:05
But I always call it, like, Sondheim is the Shakespeare or musical theater
4:09
and I feel like this is like the hamlet of musical theater. And all the baritones always want to do this show
4:15
so I can't wait to hear Josh Grobin's voice in this music
4:19
Annelia, Ashford. Annalie, I mean... Annalie, Annalee. Oh, man. It's going to be such a great show. Yeah
4:24
I'm so excited. I love him. a Broadway opening, and it's so lovely to come and support people
4:29
And also, like, this incredible show we're hearing. It's full orchestra for the first time since the premiere
4:37
I think it's so exciting. When I was 18 years old, one of my early jobs in New York
4:42
I was a bartender at the Uris Theater, which is now the Gershwin
4:45
I started when the King and I was there with Ull Brenner and Consist Towers. That left, and Sweeney Todd came in
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And I saw every single performance of Sweeney Todd, including when Angela left and Dorothy Laughan
4:56
to go for us. That's right. Well, you know, I'm a huge
5:00
Sondheim fan. I've been lucky enough to to work with him, you know, a couple
5:04
times and Into the Woods and Sano and Sondheim, but also I've seen, I saw Norm when he was Sweeney and it's just his, one of
5:12
his best pieces of course I think Into the Woods is my fave but one of his best pieces and it just a pleasure to see it come back again with all the energy as usual How excited are you two to be here tonight
5:25
I can't wait. I've been looking forward to this forever. And I'm so excited to see Josh and the whole company. Yeah. Yeah
5:32
My, you know, my ex-husband now. Can't wait. Can't wait to see him
5:35
What's it like living in the world of Sontai and singing his scores
5:40
I feel like one of the most fortunate and blessed human beings. human beings that I've gotten to be in two Sondheim shows so far in my career
5:49
And that I'm going off to London very soon to do old friends, which is all Sondheim
5:55
wall to wall with Bernadette Peters and directed by Matthew Bourne and Julian McKenzie
6:02
So it's going to be a major Sondheim autumn for me. So I'm really looking forward to it
6:10
I am so excited. This has been so long and coming, and we've been working on this so hard
6:15
and this is the most amazing team of people. This is my producing partner, Benji Leon
6:19
and we couldn't be more happy to be here celebrating with everybody. I am beyond excited because I've come full circle
6:26
I actually was a marketing assistant on the original in 1979. So to come back as part of the producing team
6:32
is just unbelievably surreal. So when you found out that you were going to musical stage this show
6:38
like what went through your mind? It's going to be tricky. It's a song time
6:43
He doesn't give you a dance break and it's tight, structured stuff and if you throw something
6:48
at it, it just slides off. So you've got to be clever and subtle and figure it out
6:53
It's like a puzzle. Yeah. So it takes a while, but once you've lined it up, he gives you all the tools you need
7:01
So yeah, hard and then simple
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