All tagged Michael Cerveris
The Broadway musical Fun Home closed a few days ago after a successful run that resulted in a Tony-win for Best Musical. I wish it had run longer, much longer, because it is such a heartfelt musical without easy answers and simple conclusions. Fun Home came closer that any Broadway musical has ever come to balancing the darkness and the light of growing up in a real family. We are all complicated in our own right, but throw our relationships with our parents into the mix, and many of us can have our neurosis exponentially charged.
I am a little late coming to the table at Fun Home. Complications of time, money and geography made it impossible for me to see it any sooner, though I have listened to the Broadway cast recording, again and again, in anticipation of what turned out to be a very unique show that deeply affected me when, and only when, I was able to witness it in the round, live, at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
I was sitting the other night, catching up on this season of Orange is the New Black, and I was struck by just how terrific an actress Annie Golden is on the program. What makes her all-the-more special is the fact that her character doesn’t speak, but says so much with her eyes and her facial expressions. In one particularly thoughtful moment I found myself asking “Has she ever played Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd?” I think this would be an inspired casting choice, and Golden is no stranger to Broadway musicals or playing psychotic Sondheim characters, having originated the role of Squeaky Fromme in the original Playwrights Horizon’s production of Assassins (1990).
This got me thinking: If I could cast some roles in Sondheim musicals, who would I choose and why? We all love a little speculative casting, so why not play that game right here. Today’s blog features some of my favorite choices for people I would cast in Sondheim roles.
