Let’s start with SWEENEY TODD. What was the initial audience reaction to the show? Were people put off by the violence and subject matter?

As Joanna in SWEENEY TODD performing "Greenfinch and Linnet Bird"

The initial reaction by many people to Sweeney Todd was that I think they weren't quite sure what it was and that it was magnificent but on the cold side (this was the gist of the original reviews). I never felt that way because to me it had the grand intense emotions of an opera. The story line felt very close to Rigoletto where he ends up destroying what he loves most because he gets caught up in revenge (having played the daughter in both). Some people were put off by the violence and subject matter, but others were blown away by it and loved it. Our favorite audiences were the Sunday matinee audiences, because they really got it - a very intelligent crowd. The matinee ladies during the week weren't quite sure. Before we opened, we didn't know if we had a bomb or a hit. It has been interesting to see people's reactions through the years as the show has had time to marinate in people's minds through all those different productions. The general consensus now, I think, is that it is one of Stephen Sondheim's masterpieces. I am so lucky to have even been a small part of it.

I met my idol Barbara Cook soon after the original Broadway production of SWEENEY had opened and she told me that she didn't like SWEENEY TODD very much. She was disturbed by the dark subject matter and she found it cold. Years later in her 80^th birthday concert with the New York Philharmonic she called SWEENEY one of Stephen Sondheim's masterworks. I smiled when I heard her say that.

Even the fact that the opera houses have embraced it, is wonderful. Thank you Beverly Sills for being such a visionary.

SWEENEY TODD group photo by Richard Avedon.  Left to right: Jack Eric Williams (Beadle), Ken Jennings (Toby), Edmund Lyndeck (Judge Turpin), Merle Louise (Beggar Woman), Joaquin Romaguera (Pirelli), Len Cariou (Sweeney), Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Lovett), Victor Garber (Anthony), and Sarah (Joanna).

Were any interesting songs or scenes cut from SWEENEY during the rehearsal and preview process?

Well, interesting to me anyway. The Judge's flagellation song while he looks through a transom at Johanna innocently needlepointing, and the following scene where he proposes marriage to her, which totally surprises and distresses her (as he had always been a rather benign father figure - she had always been treated kindly by him up to this point, even if she was sequestered, many young upper class ladies of the era were) and she cleverly steals the key to her locked rooms to escape - was cut early in previews. (It was put back in the John Doyle production and others) I think I remember Hal and Stephen felt the audience wasn't ready to be able to take that song - it was too shockingly disturbing and that it took too much focus and time away from Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. So the scene following the song got cut in the process as well. All that was left of that whole scene was the line "Dear father, I hope always to be obedient to your will" or something like that, which was put into Johanna's first scene where she is caught by the Judge for going outside when she meets Anthony for the first time. Obviously, up to that point as well, she was not locked in. The whole key sequence was reduced to one line from Anthony explaining to Todd how he got the key from Johanna.

There was also a scene towards the end where Todd almost kills me, instead of my just running out, throws me down the chute to deal with me later and then Anthony rescues me in the nick of time from Todd killing me in the basement by hearing me shriek "Greenfinch and Linnet Bird" over and over. That got cut pretty early in rehearsal.

What few real scenes I had that fleshed out the character, were cut or telescoped to one line, and it was frustrating from my character's point of view as I had to play whole scenes reduced to one line in some other scene which made Johanna much more of a cypher to the audience. I was so happy for Lauren in the John Doyle production when that scene was put back and that she was also able to react through her cello playing, being a constant presence onstage, because you understood so much more who this person was and you could care for her. In the early drafts of the script Johanna was more of a clever spunky heroine with more to do with the plot than the doll like, somewhat passive being she became. That part of the process was frustrating for me. Hal and Stephen were trying to balance the right amount of Grand Gignol, telling a good story and not alienating too many people. They were always trying to balance as well, Angela and Len being too funny and endearing and too menacing and harsh and still have the audience care for them.

I think Hal and Stephen made the right choices for the show, but of course from my point of view I wanted more to do emotionally and be more present as a character. Also I was playing information that the audience would no longer have any way of knowing. I was playing the pre "Sweeney Todd", daughter of the normal, benign and sane Benjamin and Lucy Barker, who has some extraordinary things happen to her along the way and has to rise to the occasion, but is basically OK, as opposed to the angry post-Sweeney Todd, crazy Lucy, daughter. I always felt that if Lucy and Benjamin Barker had been allowed to live their lives in peace they would have been your most normal working class couple. It was outside circumstances that made them the way they were, not because they were intrinsically crazy. I thought it was interesting that Tim Burton made the same choice with his Johanna to be a true young innocent. That is what Hal and Stephen were looking for in the character and I guess why I was cast.

Mostly the other things that were cut were trimming verses of songs that remained in the show - just shorter. The show didn't really change as much as some original musicals do.

Were you disappointed that the Touring Cast got videotaped for distribution, allowing Betsy Joslyn to be the "official" home video Johanna and not yourself?

Of course! I loved playing the part with Cris Groenendaal – he just makes me laugh and laugh and I adore his singing voice. And I love Betsy. Even though there were some people who preferred Betsy's interpretation to mine - we made very different choices as we are very different personalities. We have all remained friends and I still do concerts with Cris. Betsy and I also sort of followed each other as the Girl in THE FANTASTICKS so I was very OK with different interpretations of "my" roles. I have never been proprietary about roles. I think there is room for everyone. I just want there to be room for me too!

But at the time SWEENEY went on tour I wasn't ready to leave the city and my studies for a year. I just couldn't be gone that long away from a voice teacher without destroying myself vocally at that point. I was very young and just starting to learn.

It was among the first of these tapings of Broadway shows outside of the Lincoln Center archives. I wish they had taped the Broadway production for broadcast as they did with SUNDAY IN THE PARK. The frustrating thing for me too, is that we never had an anniversary concert production with the original cast reuniting the way they have with other Sondheim shows. Every time they have done a concert version of SWEENEY they didn't want the original cast. Except for the Barbara and Scott Siegel's Broadway Originals Series at Town Hall - where I got very nice reviews for it, so I guess I don't sing it too badly, they tend to use someone different. I even offered to sing it for the many Sondheim 75th birthday celebrations, but nobody bit. I still sing "Greenfinch" in concert and am very proud I got to originate the song..

Have you seen the Tim Burton film? Any thoughts?

I have only seen film clips so far. I have the DVD and just have not had a chance to see it all the way through yet. I am looking forward to it though.

I loved the fact that it is Tim Burton's interpretation and his own universe and I am of course, a huge Johhny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter fan. I think they do their own thing with it, which will open up interpretations for other people to do all these roles, without having to do a cover of Angela or Len (or George). I also liked the John Doyle production for being its own thing and reinterpreting and reinventing a powerful score and book. It seemed to me that so may productions of it were Hal Prince-lite and Doyle and Burton came along and made it in their own visions.

I think it reinvigorates it. That is not to take any thing away from the original production, which was a life force of talent and vision from Hal and Stephen through Angela and Len through the entire amazingly talented cast including the entire ensemble of uniquely talented individuals. Angela and Len used to call the chorus the "backbone" of the show and everyone was their own fully-developed character and incredibly talented. The wonderful thing about that original production was we all had a unity of vision (Hal and Stephen's) and you become familiar with it a way no one else can really ever do afterwards because we are there when it was born and the emotional investments each person contributes over a very long period of time. The cloth of the show is cut, so to speak, on each individual person in an original production.

What is your favorite role you've played in your repertoire?

As The Girl in THE FANTASTICKS with David Brummel (El Gallo) and Ralph Bruneau (The Boy)

THE FANTASTICKS, Cunegonde in CANDIDE and Marie in DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT Kathy in THE STUDENT PRINCE, Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Rosina etc - it's so hard to choose because they are all wonderful roles for different reasons! They are all favorites but the most magical time for me was doing the Girl in the original production of THE FANTASTICKS - it ran for 42 years and I was in it, in the middle somewhere! Not only is the role one of the best ever for a young ingenue, but Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt and Lore Noto all were like kind, adopted uncles to me. They all made me feel very special and valued and to get input from them and Word Baker the original director, about a role I had dreamed about playing and to do it where the show was born was a dream come true to me. They even changed the role vocally a little for me. It was my first professional job and I got my Equity card with it. Tom and Harvey used to take us out for Italian food in Little Italy after rehearsal and actually talk to me like I was this clever wonderful person, instead of the dorky little greenhorn kid, fresh off the boat from Arizona, I actually was. We have remained friendly and supportive of each other throughout the years. I treasure Tom and Harvey for their kindness to me and their astounding talent. I also love Lore Noto for the love he had for that show.

Are there are "dream roles" that you’d like to perform?

Lucia & Zerbanetta, before I get to old to do them. In really good productions.

Sarah as...

Christine in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Cunegonde in CANDIDE

Marie in THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT with Carolyn James as Feldmarchellin

Anne in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Leila Martin as Charlotte

How do you choose your numbers for a cabaret act? What are your personal criteria?

I let songs marinate, keep working on them vocally-technically, emotionally, musically, arrangements etc and the songs I am particularly drawn to at any given time, my life circumstances at the moment, my mood, the time of year and what draws me irrevocably are the ones that surface to the top and become a program. What I must express emotionally at any given time are what I choose to sing, whether it is pop, musical theater, American or European song book, operetta, lieder, chanson, melodie or classical. It's all fair game to me. I have used some classical music in a cabaret setting and people come up to me and tell me how they thought they hated classical, or opera or whatever, but because I communicated what it was about to them they understood it and loved it. That thrills me. I think communication is everything.

When my beloved little cat died after a long serious illness, all I wanted to sing were sad French songs of loss in a minor key. Of course, one cannot make an evening of only this kind of music but it sure was a part of the concert. Then I used the comedy numbers to be able to set up the real pain in the sad songs that came later.

I love songs in different languages and styles. I feel they are just different paint brushes and paints of the many colors of the human condition. My grandmother was right when she said that human nature doesn't change much. I feel so lucky to be able to explore the many sides of human nature and experience through my prism and voice and the different composer's takes on this. I was working on a Poulenc song called "Sanglots" (tears) which is about how people go off to fight for ideals and come back with their broken hearts in their hands and that we must hide our tears. He wrote it late in the same year Paris was occupied in WW2. An extraordinary, beautiful song. How can you not want to sing that and share it with people? When I am working on a duet it will change drastically dramatically depending on who I am singing with. Kind of like mental tennis.

I feel if I am truthfully emotionally invested in a song, people will share in that - whatever the style of song. Barbara Cook, Julie Wilson and Natalie Dessay are performers I worship for their ability to do bring an audience into their emotional world.

When my husband and I started Broadway Concerts Direct, we wanted to have a place for singers (myself included) to sing the songs they love - not what they were told to sing. The singers all pick their own material in our concerts and we found that if you let people sing what they truly love, they invest the song with everything they have to offer and the results are astounding. Our only rule is they must love the song they sing or they shouldn't sing it. It makes for a powerful performance.

Does your performance style and work ethic differ when traveling back and forth from musical theater to opera to television roles?

Work ethic is the same, I always try to do my best and be prepared technically so that I can concentrate on the acting.

For opera I learn and coach the music far in advance, because I am generally singing the vocal olympics of difficulty in a foreign language so I have to start way more ahead of time. I generally show up for the first day of rehearsal with my music pretty much learned. It's too hard otherwise and rehearsal is usually for blocking, acting and production purposes, not for learning the music. I also have to really be sure to breathe and support to be able to project over an orchestra. I am such a light voice in the opera world that singing musical theater or opera is pretty much the same technique for the roles I do. I don't belt.

If I am working on a new musical theater piece and the music isn't written yet or the script is constantly changing, of course, one cannot know it ahead of time, but I think the people who are quick on their feet and quick to memorize are the ones who survive the best. Singing with a mic is weird to me and I don't do it very well. It is a technique I have to learn, I guess.

Television is a lot of hurry up and wait and be sure to hit your mark on that exact spot and look like you are doing nothing, or you are doing too much. I am a face dancer by nature and I think television and film are the hardest for me. I always look like I am doing too much.

Any plans to return to the Broadway musical stage?

One never knows. It would depend on the role and the production. There is a production we have been working on for a very long time and I cannot talk about it at this time, but hopefully you will be hearing about it when it comes to fruition.

Any upcoming projects you’d like to announce?

I have several concerts we are in the process of booking around mostly out of town for the next few months. Our schedule is at www.bwaydirect.com.

One is SARAH & ROBARE, THE WORLD TOUR, with Rob Gardner and me. We try to evoke the elegant music salons of a bygone era (think Gosford Park or the films of Merchant Ivory), through the exquisitely lovely music of Ivor Novello, the bittersweet charm of Noel Coward, the sparkling wit of Cole Porter, the sheer delight of Victor Herbert and many other burnished gems.

Another one is a concert I do with Leona Mitchell. We call it LEONA & SARAH, SONGS FOR THE HEART AND SOUL. Two friends joining our voices in an evening of songs, melodie, chanson and an aria or two, with a little gospel / inspirational thrown in for good measure, to uplift the heart and warm the spirit.

There are others around as well with varying themes. They are all on the Broadway Concerts Direct schedule. If anyone would like to come, I would be thrilled.

Find out more about Sarah Rice at her official website: www.sarahrice.com.

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