Long Live Nellie-Benjamin/Sweeney!

Hello everyone! I am busy, busy, busy, so if my stories take a while, PLEASE be understanding. As you can tell by my first name, I adore Sweeney Todd and as far as my opinions are for the rumored movie-musical version: They better get one heck of a Mrs. Lovett because while Johnny Depp is amazing, versital, and goregous, I just don't see him as my Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd.

I'm a Patti LuPone fan, because unlike a lot of current Broadway stars, she has a solid foundation of first-class quality acting and then the coolest voice you'll ever here on top of that. I am undecided as to which of her Mrs. Lovett's interpretations I like more: the revival (which I have only heard, not seen :( ) or the 2001 concert w/ George Hearn (which is how I discovered our fav. demon barber to begin with!). Those of you who have seen both will agree: there IS a diffrence.

I'm new to Sweeney's world as far as writing goes, so please be gentle. I'm hoping to get a few pointers from yall because all of the Sweeney fic. here is amazing!

In case I forget: Steven Sondheim wrote Sweeney Todd and I do not own him in any way, shape, or form, though I sincerely wish I did. And I do not own Phantom of the Opera, and I especally don't own Erik, (as much as I really wish I did) Lloyd-Webber does, and Leroux does.

My other interests include writing memiors, and non-fan plays, and non-fan fiction, as well as acting. If I'm lucky, I'll be as skilled as LuPone, though that might be asking for too much, eh?

Some quotes from the play I think every theatre student (whether it be opera, play, or musical) should read, 'Master Class' by Terrence McNally:

"Singing is first of all about projection. So is speech. People are forgetting how to listesn. They want everything blasted at them. Listening takes concentration. If you can't hear me, it's your fault. You're not concentrating. I don't get any louder than this. So come down closer or leave."

“This is not a film studio where anyone can get up there and act. I hate that word. Act. No! Feel. Be. That’s what we’re doing here. ‘This is hard’. I’ll tell you what’s hard. What’s hard is listening to you make a mockery of this work of art. I’m not getting any juice from you, Sophie. I want juice. I want passion. I want you.”

“...Sooner or later you’ll catch on to my sense of humor. Or you won’t. Some people think I don’t have one. Only let’s get down to business at hand. We’ll save the jokes for out there. The real world. Whatever that means. Brutal expression. Brutal place. At least here we know where we are. We know where we stand.”

And my personal favorite. It's long, but so beautiful and if you take out singing, and put in what ever it is that you want/need to do in life (ESPECALLY if its artistic. Every artist, no matter what medium, acting, singing, dancing, who cares, you HAVE to read this if you're an artist), it is even more beautiful:

"The sun will not fall down from the sky if there are no more Traviatas. The world can and will go on without us but I have to think that we have made this world a better place. That we have left it richer, wiser than had we not chosen the way or not. The older I get, the less I know but I am certain that what we do matters. If I didn't believe that. You must know what you want to do in life. You must decide, for we cannot do everything. Do not think singing is an easy career, it is a lifetime's work; it does not stop here. Whether I continue singing or not doesn't matter. What matters is that you use whatever you have learned wisely. Think of the expression of words, of good diction, and of your own deep feelings. The only thanks I ask is that you sing properly and honestly. If you do this I will feel repaid."

Thanks for stopping by!