Travelling out of the Opera House after the show, Susi asked Edward, the lift operator, if he'd caught the show. No, he replied, although he'd seen the show "some years ago when they first did it [in Sydney]." He went on to tell us how much he had enjoyed seeing Angela Lansbury sing Mrs Lovett in the original on Broadway. Touche! Tonight, nevertheless, Judi Connelli was brilliant in the role.
Not that I know heaps about music but it does seem to me that only a genius could give us A Little Priest and get away with it, e.g.
LOVETT: (spoken) Now let's see, here... We've got tinker.
TODD: Something... pinker.
LOVETT: Tailor?
TODD: Paler.
LOVETT: Butler?
TODD: Subtler.
LOVETT: Potter?
TODD: Hotter.
LOVETT: Locksmith?
Lovely bit of clerk.
TODD: Maybe for a lark.
LOVETT: Then again there's sweep
If you want it cheap
And you like it dark!
Try the financier,
Peak of his career!
TODD: That looks pretty rank.
LOVETT: Well, he drank,
It's a bank Cashier.
Never really sold.
Maybe it was old.
TODD: Have you any Beadle?
LOVETT: Next week, so I'm told!
Beadle isn't bad till you smell it and
Notice 'ow well it's been greased...
Stick to priest!
Opera Australia
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