[dolbinau]

Did you know that Len Cariou did a full concert in 2000? Neither did I. I posted about it on Broadwayworld and received a really, really interesting write up I thought I'd share.

"It wasn't a fringe concert. It was done at Royal Festival Hall. It was a benefit for Crusaid, a British AIDS charity. They brought over Judy Kaye to play Mrs. Lovett. Originally, Philip Quast was to play Sweeney. But when he had to pull out, Judy Kaye suggested Cariou, who's a good friend of hers, and he said OK. Davis Gaines also went over to play Anthony.

The production had a 40-piece orchestra. Unlike most other concert versions, it used as complete a text as possible, only missing the opening section of the "The Contest" (which had also been cut on Broadway). But it had the entire book, the complete organ prelude, the Judge's "Johanna," the tooth-pulling, the complete "Parlor Songs" sequence, and everything else. Everyone was off book and it was fully staged on a very complex set. The orchestra was downstage, with a raised stage behind it and then a much higher level still behind that for the barber shop and some other sequences. I think it was a mistake for the orchestra to be onstage in front of the actors.

Kaye and Cariou agreed to do a special, lower-price preview at 4 p.m., with the concert scheduled for 8 p.m. I wonder if they would have agreed to that if they'd known that the only time they would have in the hall to rehearse on the set was that day. So it turned out that there was a full-out rehearsal starting at 11 a.m. And it did have to be full-out as sound levels had to be set.

The preview didn't start till 4:30 (which leads me to suspect that they were still rehearsing till 4 or so) and ended at about 7:30. Then at 8:15 or so, the official concert happened. A little insane, no? Under the circumstances, it perhaps wasn't too surprising that Cariou had a few brief memory lapses in both the preview and the official concert. Overall, though, he was in excellent voice (though swamped by the orchestra in "Epiphany," which might not have been a problem if they hadn't been onstage in front of the actors) and was quite powerful and authoritative. It was amazing that his energy never seemed to flag and even at the end of the evening he sounded in very good voice.

Kaye was marvelous. She'd already played Lovett in two earlier productions and knew the role well. Gaines gave pretty much the same performance that I didn't like later at the Philharmonic.

The supporting cast was generally solid though not special, except for a great Pirelli from John Owen Jones. I wish they'd gotten an older Beggar Woman than Pia Douwes. If they'd wanted to bring a third person over from the U.S., it might have been good to bring over Merle Louise rather than Gaines. Or they could have cast the excellent Sheila Reid from the National Theatre production. With Cariou as Sweeney, it would have made sense to have a Beggar Woman on the older side.

Conversely, Michael Cantwell was way too old for Toby and though he sang well, I thought he was a poor choice. He'd done the role before but he was past being a good choice for it by that time, especially since it was essentially a full production, not a concert.

A complete cast list can be found at http://www.sondheimguide.com/concerts2.html#ST2000UK

The concert ended up being in some ways a painful experience for the participants. Whether it was because of poor financial planning or that he was just a con man, producer Doug Mayo failed to pay the expenses and fees to those in the cast and crew who were supposed to receive payment. In addition, he never paid the hotel costs for the American cast members and, of course, Crusaid never received any money at all. Kaye and Cariou both found themselves getting bills from the hotel for some time. Many of the participants said they would gladly have donated their services just for expenses had that been what they'd been asked to do. In the end, I think no one got paid. I'm not sure if Mayo was ever arrested."

http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=984493&dt=3&boardid=1

[Dots Parasole]

There is a boot of this out there. I have seen it.

[Sweeney Hyde]

I had heard of this.
I wish there was some sort of official documentation.

[Yakko]

JOJ WAS PIRELLI????? I NEED TO HEAR HIM!!!!!!

[EponineBarker]

[Kragey]