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actionjaxson91

Judy Kaye as Mrs. Lovett; David Hess as Sweeney Todd

I just recently found out that Judy Kaye and David Hess are going to be in the National Tour of John Doyle's Sweeney Todd. I've never heard of either of them. Are they any good? And is there anywhere that I can get some music of theirs to hear their voices?

www.playbill.com/news/article/107815.html
Sweeney Hyde

Judy Kaye was the original Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera, as well as a member of the original casts of Ragtime and On the Twentieth Century. She filled in for Patti LuPone in Sweeney Todd revival while she was working on Gypsy. It doesn't surprise me that Kaye was chosen for the tour. David Hess was a replacement in the recent revival of Annie Get Your Gun and was standby, I believe, for Sweeney Todd revival. Here's a great source for stuff like that:

www.ibdb.com
The Tink

Re: Judy Kaye as Mrs. Lovett; David Hess as Sweeney Todd

actionjaxson91 wrote:
...Judy Kaye ...any good?


Yes.
what_the_heck013

I think there's a sound recording (no video) on Youtube of Judy Kaye doing Lovett on Broadway.
actionjaxson91

thanks

what_the_heck013 wrote:
I think there's a sound recording (no video) on Youtube of Judy Kaye doing Lovett on Broadway.

good because I'm going to see the show next year for my birthday
Salome

from what ive heard Judy is a wonderful Lovett..not as nuanced as Angie or as sharply evil as Baranski butr she is so much better than LuPone.
actionjaxson91

Salome wrote:
from what ive heard Judy is a wonderful Lovett..not as nuanced as Angie or as sharply evil as Baranski butr she is so much better than LuPone.


No she is not better than LuPone. My friend saw Kaye on Broadway as Mrs. Lovett and said she was good but nothing to write home about.
Salome

and unless your freind is CLive Barnes or Ben Brantley then I wouldnt listen to him.
actionjaxson91

Salome wrote:
and unless your freind is CLive Barnes or Ben Brantley then I wouldnt listen to him.


You are one extremely close-minded person
Salome

no. i'm not. i have seen Patti in 4 different shows.i liked heri n one! she isnt that good na actress..she is a personality..she has stage presence but she isnt a great actress.
actionjaxson91

she graduated from Juiliard. you have to have talent to go there!!! She has acting/singing/dancing talent and she overtakes much of the competetion
Salome

you odnt have ot have talent in everything to go there.

and whatever talent she had early in her career..she doesnt use,lost,or prefers not to use in favor of overacting, being patti and notr the character..and being lazy with her diction.
Sweeney Hyde

Salome wrote:
you odnt have ot have talent in everything to go there...and being lazy with her diction.

I'll have to agree on both counts.
what_the_heck013

Salome wrote:
being patti and notr the character..and being lazy with her diction.
As much as I love her voice, both are so true. She really plays every character as herself, which is fine (for some actors), but it continually becomes Patti LuPone playing Mrs. Lovett as herself and Patti LuPone playing Reno Sweeney as herself, etc. And her diction... eugh! Maybe it's just my ears, but I can never understand Sondheim's wonderful lyrics on the Sweeney revival recording.
actionjaxson91

how so? the revival of Sweeney Todd is a work of pure genius and beautiful music. it's so amazing that the actors can act, sing, and play the instruments on stage!!!
nycbound

Everyone has different tastes. And, it's great that you are such a fan of Patti. She's a talented performer. But, it's important to understand that talent is subjective. It means different things to different people. That's why we have such a wonderfully rich and diverse entertainment industry.

Don't feel that just because someone doesn't agree with you, that you have to jump to the defensive. You love Patti. Own that. Accept that not everyone will.
Salome

actionjaxson91 wrote:
how so? the revival of Sweeney Todd is a work of pure genius and beautiful music. it's so amazing that the actors can act, sing, and play the instruments on stage!!!


the revival was devois of humor, and as inventive as the staging concept was..Doyle proved he is a one trick pony..using the same gimmick with Company,Amadeus and Mack and Mabel.
actionjaxson91

nycbound wrote:
Everyone has different tastes. And, it's great that you are such a fan of Patti. She's a talented performer. But, it's important to understand that talent is subjective. It means different things to different people. That's why we have such a wonderfully rich and diverse entertainment industry.

Don't feel that just because someone doesn't agree with you, that you have to jump to the defensive. You love Patti. Own that. Accept that not everyone will.


I get that. It's just that she can't back up her arguments.
Sweeney Hyde

Salome wrote:
no. i'm not. i have seen Patti in 4 different shows.i liked heri n one! she isnt that good na actress..she is a personality..she has stage presence but she isnt a great actress.


Wasn't this a back up of the arguement?...

I love Patti's voice...I think singing wise she is the best Lovett I have heard...however acting wise I just don't think she matches the performances of several different Lovetts.

BTW...it isn't that difficult to act, play, and sing at the same time...I do it all the time, quite literally, when I practice my voice lesson and play the music along with it...and with half of the people in the revival they couldn't sing and play at the same time, for those that played anything but strings or percussion during a number.

I also think that the new orchestrations for the revival pale in comparison to the grand, full sound produced by a full pit orchestra. The revival was great while it lasted. I have the recording of it...however I fill the sound, musically speaking, is just so much more sophisticated, balanced, and fullfilling than the revival orchestrations.
The REAL Ciaron

actionjaxson91 wrote:
she graduated from Juiliard. you have to have talent to go there!!!


Not then you didn't. She was the first class to go there. Juliard didn't become "Juliard" till years later.

I saw Kaye in Sweeney and she was LIGHT YEARS better than Patti. She is a better actress than Lupone and anyone who had the extreme pleasure of seeing Kaye in POTO can tell you she can sing circles around Lupone.

Lupone ranks as one of the worst Lovetts I have ever seen and I have seen tons of them. She lacks the ability to lose herself in a character. She is always playing Patti Lupone.

Sweeney Hyde wrote:


I love Patti's voice...I think singing wise she is the best Lovett I have heard...


Go get the OBC. You cannot compare Lansbury to Lupone. It's like comparing Meryl Streep with Jenna Jameson.
Mistress

So I take it the tour cast is a good one? I was going to ask about it, but someone beat me nto the punch. So it sounds like Kaye is a good Lovett...but what about Hess, is he going to be a good Sweeney? I want to know becaus the show is coming to Toronto in the fall and I want to see it with my cousin (she's excited about anything Sweeney because she's a total Johnny Depp junky and wants to see the movie)
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