| re: a few actress I wonder about for Lovett at the time | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:04 pm EST 12/20/22 | |
| In reply to: a few actress I wonder about for Lovett at the time - Chazwaza 11:18 pm EST 12/19/22 | |
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| I have read that Verdon disliked Prince. Eventually, they reconciled (when Nicole Fosse was cast in Phantom), but I think I have read that she felt that Prince had tried to take advantage of Fosse's heart attack to take over Chicago when it seems that Prince had just said that he would be willing if they wanted him to take over. I think that by 1980 she could not have sung Lovett without significant changes made. By that time, her upper range was very limited. She's an interesting idea, but for those reasons alone, she would have been unlikely. Glenn Close did not become well-known until The World According to Garp in 1982. Remember Sweeney Todd closed in 1980, when she was appearing in a supporting role in Barnum. So not exactly a name. Dench was virtually unknown in the U.S. Millicent Martin would probably have been an excellent Lovett but she was less of a name in the U.S. than any of the women mentioned in my earlier post, and less of a name than Loudon in the U.S. I thought this was about possible Lovetts who would have been bigger names than Loudon, not just women who might have been good in the role. Martin would have been about zero draw. Mary Tyler Moore was reportedly approached about replacing Diana Rigg in Follies in London, a role for which she would have been right, but I don't see her as being at all right for Mrs. Lovett. She also may have been approached about being a replacement Witch, but according to Liz Smith, she went to see it while Betsy Joslyn was playing the role and thought that Joslyn was so good and it was implied that she may have been intimidated by the role's demands. She had a limited singing voice. Would have been fine for Phyllis but not fine for the Witch. And I think singing Lovett would have been a real stretch for her and possibly not a very successful one. MacLaine and Hawn (the latter way too young and I think wrong for the role even when older) had distinctly limited stage-acting experience, and I can't imagine that either (especially Hawn) would have been interested. I have doubts about MacLaine singing the role, even if she had been interested. Carol Kane was never a star name with any draw, and she was much less of a name than Loudon in 1979 when they were looking for a replacement. Also, she was 27. Just two years earlier, she had played high-school student Tillie in the revival of The Effect of Gamma Rays. Her first appearance on Taxi was in January 1980. Hester Street had been in 1975, but although she and the film received acclaim and attention, it didn't make her a draw. Midler is a character actress and as such probably could have gotten away with playing the role in terms of age, but I think she had zero interest in returning to Broadway in a musical for an extended run or she would have done it. Her salary demands would have been huge, although she might well have drawn enough to justify it. I just think she would have had no interest, and as with Burnett, her simple presence would have thrown things off, if only because of audience expectations. Petula Clark seems to have never been much of an actress. In 1981, she starred as Maria in The Sound of Music in London. So despite her actual age, her image was that of someone younger. She was older than Mary Martin when she played Maria. Andrews was another who simply was not interested in returning to Broadway in a musical for an extended run. If she had been interested, she would have done it. Can't see her replacing anyone. Streep was mentioned in the press as a possibility for On the Twentieth Century, which I am guessing was Prince's idea, but the authors wanted Kahn. Anyway, she would have been too young and although she did the Alice musical around this time, as you say she was so in demand in film that she very clearly was not interested in doing a long run of a show. Not sure Redgrave would have been right for the role. I think she might have managed to sing it, but although she can do almost anything, she doesn't seem to me a natural for the role. And if anything, they would have asked her for London. |
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