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Tony and Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone, who will co-star with
Michael Cerveris in the upcoming Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd,
says that the rehearsal process for the Stephen Sondheim musical
is "exciting, enlightening, invigorating, and exhausting."
In a note posted
on her official website, the acclaimed actress writes, "I'm
in rehearsal for Sweeney and I haven't been this creative since
I started to learn how to act, or when I worked with Peter Sellers
on 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' The director of Sweeney, John Doyle,
just knows how to feed actors and what comes out of us, good, bad,
right, wrong, doesn't matter. There's no fear or censure. He opens
up the creative goo and all of the actor vessel stuff. He knows
how to do it. It's just incredible.
"I am so
lucky and I am not saying my performance is going to be something
extraordinary. I'm just saying that I haven't felt this creative
in a long time. The rehearsal process is exciting, enlightening,
invigorating, and exhausting. The company of actor musicians is
among the finest cast I have ever worked with. I hope it works out
and Sweeney runs because I want to be on stage with these guys for
a long time."
Sweeney Todd
— with LuPone as Mrs. Lovett and Cerveris in the title role
— is set to begin previews Oct. 3 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
with an official opening on Nov. 3.
The unique staging
casts actor-musicians to retell the story of the Demon Barber of
Fleet Street and company. A cast of ten (with no ensemble) perform
on various instruments ranging from flute, trumpet and clarinet
to cello, accordion and bass. LuPone will play the tuba.
A Tony Award
winner for her work in Evita, Patti LuPone also earned an Olivier
Award for her performances in the West End productions of Lés
Misérables and The Cradle Will Rock. Her other theatrical
credits include Sunset Boulevard, Anything Goes, Oliver!, Working,
The Old Neighborhood, Master Class and Pal Joey. LuPone also headlined
two solo Broadway concerts, Patti LuPone On Broadway and Matters
of the Heart, and received glowing notices for her performance as
Mrs. Lovett in the Lincoln Center concert version of Stephen Sondheim's
Sweeney Todd.
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