Broadway veterans Gregg Edleman (City of Angels, 1776) and Liz McCartney (Taboo, The Phantom of the Opera) are getting the chance to tackle two of their dream roles in Drury Lane Theatre current production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Yet both Edleman and McCartney are slightly cowed to respectively follow in the footsteps in Tony Award-winning actors Len Cariou as the revengeful Victorian razor-wielding title character, and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett, the over-resourceful Cockney meat pie maker.
"It's such an iconic role," McCartney said about approaching her first full crack at playing Mrs. Lovett. "Everybody would want to emulate the person who put the role on the map, especially since Angela Lansbury put such an amazing stamp on it."
Throughout rehearsals, McCartney said she started to realize how much she had to bring of herself to the role to put her own stamp on it the role.
"I want to be reverent to Angela Lansbury without mimicking her," McCartney said. "It is her role, I don't care what anyone says, but I want to do the role justice but without going so far that people saying that, 'Oh, she just wanted to be different for difference sake.'"
Sweeney Todd was McCartney's second Broadway show she ever saw, and the classic musical by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Hugh Wheeler left a lasting impression on her. Skokie native Edleman also saw the original 1979 Broadway production, and he also can't escape the effect it had on him.
"I have to say that Len's performance [as Sweeney Todd] has really stuck with me," Edelman said. "It was so powerful and so raw that it sort of stays there."
Edelman is also careful not to copy Cariou's approach to the title role, and to find a way to make it fit for him (and to suit the Drury Lane's tough schedule of performances which feature back-to-back matinee and evening performances three days out of the week).
"It is one of those all-encompassing roles and now here getting the chance to play Sweeney is another one of those total journeys that the actor gets to go on," Edelman said. "It utilizes all of my abilities as an actor and as a singer and it's quite a thrilling challenge to put all those pieces and skills together into one performance."
Along with discovering their roles in Sweeney Todd with Jeff Award-winning director Rachel Rockwell, both McCartney and Edelman have had some extra outside help. McCartney boasted how she got to sing a Sweeney Tood duet with Tony Award-winning star George Hearn (who replaced Cariou in the original Broadway production and is featured on two video and one audio recording of the work), while Edelman has been able to bring questions to Sondheim himself (in part because Edelman worked with the esteemed composer/lyricist while originating a role in his 1994 musical Passion and starring in the 2002 Broadway revival of Into the Woods).
"I did have an opportunity to write to him and tell him that I'll be doing Sweeney and [Sondheim] was so helpful to me," Edelman said. "[Sondheim] said if you have any questions, please tell me, but the one caveat he said was it had to be specific questions."
Edelman made a list of about 10 questions (like Sweeney not having a big commonwealth accent like everyone else) and Sondheim replied with a number of reasons. (Edelman said Sondheim didn't want a thick accent for Sweeney so he wouldn't be colored by class distinctions.)
"He was actually a wonderful resource to be able to call him up and say, 'Why is this this way here and why is this way that way there?'" Edelman said. "He's brilliant and an amazing communicator so he could just clarify problems I had about the character or the score in a second."
This is not only the first time both McCartney and Edelman have worked at Drury Lane, but it's also the first time the two have ever worked together despite the many Broadway credits between them (although McCartney did star on Broadway alongside Edelman's wife, Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello, in Mamma Mia!).
"We're having a hard time not looking at each other," McCartney said, laughing at the fact that she and Edelman were cracking each other up during rehearsals at inopportune moments. "I think it's more that he's cracking up because I'm forgetting my lines. He's been so great and supportive to work with."
"I didn't know what I was in store for with Liz because she has been hysterical. She's so funny and so witty and she has quite a saucy mouth—which is okay for this show," Edelman said. "As Sweeney, I'll have to be on my best behavior around her."
Drury Lane Theatre 's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street continues at 100 Drury Lane, Oak Brook, through Oct. 9. Performances are at 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 1:30 and 8 p.m. Thursdays; 8:30 p.m. Fridays, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 and 6 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $35-$46, with $49.75-$68 lunch and dinner packages, depending on the day of the week. For more information, call 630-530-0111 or visit www.drurylaneoakbrook.com .
