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Angela Lansbury

 Despite continued awfulness in America, we're allowed to acknowledge a positive story: Angela Lansbury will be winning an honorary Tony Award.


It's amazing to me that Lansbury is alive and well, and that she had a major role in "Gaslight." I know the Tony doesn't acknowledge "Gaslight"--but, still! Lansbury made a big entrance in that movie; she was ferocious.

In her second act--her second act!--Lansbury wandered over to Broadway and became a muse for Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim. She is the only person in history to have attained two "Herman" Tony Awards ("Mame," "Dear World") PLUS two Sondheim Tony Awards ("Gypsy," "Sweeney Todd"). Though Ethel Merman couldn't secure a Tony for the first version of "Gypsy," Lansbury completed the task in the revival.

In a third act, Lansbury inspired Howard Ashman, and she did iconic work in "Beauty and the Beast." Unbelievable.

Marc asked about my favorite Lansbury role--and it has to be Mrs. Lovett, in "Sweeney Todd." Sondheim and Lansbury worked together to create a smart, desperate villain. She first appears with a rolling pin, and she uses the pin as a percussive instrument while also squashing the bugs that have invaded her kitchen. Her opening lines are scatter-brained and hungry and cunning (and they're the stuff of legend):

Wait! What's your rush? What's your hurry?
You gave me such a fright...
Half a minute...
Can't you sit? Sit ye down...Sit!
All I meant is that I haven't seen a customer for weeks.....

So excited for this great artist. She has made a mark on my life.

P.S. It's interesting that Lovett's first sung word is "Wait." She will later get an entire song called "Wait" --! Being out-of-sync is a major part of the Lovett/Sweeney relationship. (Also, Sondheim just seems amused by the thought of one lover speeding ahead of another. Think of "Night Music." A young woman: "Soon, I promise....Soon....I won't shy away......")
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