The Man Who Sings "Johanna"
Plus, more from this week's interview, a body part-themed Sondheim crossword, and more
In this week’s Inside the Role feature, we looked at Anthony Hope as more than just the young man who brings light into the darkness of Sweeney Todd. We explored him as a figure of innocence, obsession, rescue, entitlement, and loss.
Now, let’s dive deeper into one particular aspect of the role: what Anthony’s music reveals about him, and what it asks of the performer…
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Anthony sounds, as well as seems, deceptively straightforward.
He does not have Sweeney’s thunder, Lovett’s manic velocity, or Johanna’s caged-bird flights into the upper reaches. His most famous song is one of the most immediately “beautiful” melodies in the score: ardent, repetitive, apparently direct. Quinn Welder put it plainly: “‘Johanna’, Anthony’s most famous song, is quite vocally simple, especially by Sondheim’s standards.”
But, as so often with Sondheim, there is more here than meets the eye…