Angela Lansbury, the legendary star of movie, stage, and tv, handed away final Tuesday. She would have turned 97 on October 16.
Starting within the Nineteen Forties, the Irish-British-American actress earned acclaim on the silver display screen with outstanding roles in movies which included Gaslight (1944), Nationwide Velvet (1944), The Image of Dorian Grey (1945), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Between 1984 and 2003, she starred within the well-liked CBS tv collection, Homicide, She Wrote. Lansbury’s Broadway musical debut got here in 1964 with Stephen Sondheim’s Anybody Can Whistle. The present closed after a run of 12 previews and 9 performances; but for Angela Lansbury it opened the door to a major Broadway profession. Her look within the lead position of Jerry Herman’s Mame (1966) catapulted Lansbury to celebrity standing. Later, she appeared as Rose within the 1973 London manufacturing of Gypsy. Her celebrated look as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Avenue got here in 1979.
Angela Lansbury’s legacy is preserved on quite a few recordings. Listed here are 4:
Mame: “It’s Right now,” “Open a New Window” (music and lyrics by Jerry Herman)
In interviews, Angela Lansbury described the method of “taking stage.” By all accounts, she was an electrifying presence. Early within the first act of Mame, the highflying character of the present’s title character is established with the music, It’s Right now, adopted by the spirited march, Open a New Window. The jazzy brilliance of the Sixties Broadway pit orchestra is on full show:
Expensive World: “And I Was Stunning” (music and lyrics by Jerry Herman)
Angela Lansbury gained a Tony Award for her efficiency in Jerry Herman’s Expensive World, a short-lived musical which ran for 132 performances in 1969. The bittersweet ballad, And I Was Stunning, comes from the present’s second act:
Sweeney Todd: “The Worst Pies in London,” “Poor Factor” (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
As an actress, Angela Lansbury was a grasp of the villainous character. Sweeney Todd mixes comedy with grizzly terror. With The Worst Pies in London, we’re launched to Mrs. Lovett and the questionable hygiene of her meat pie store. In Poor Factor, the musical quantity which follows, Mrs. Lovett’s story units the drama in movement.
A Little Evening Music: “Liaisons” (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)
On the age of 85, Angela Lansbury gave this efficiency honoring Stephen Sondheim on the 2011 Olivier Awards:
“Magnificence and the Beast” (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman)
Angela Lansbury carried out the voice position of Mrs. Potts, the teapot, in Disney’s 1991 animated musical romantic fantasy, Magnificence and the Beast. Famously, she recorded the title music in a single take. She had arrived late to the New York session following a harrowing delayed flight from Los Angeles.
It has been stated that Frank Sinatra’s sense of phrasing influenced quite a few instrumental musicians. This magical efficiency offers an identical research in timing, notice grouping, phrasing, and textual content coloring:
Recordings
- Mame (authentic Broadway solid recording) Amazon
- Expensive World (authentic Broadway solid recording) Amazon
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Avenue (authentic Broadway solid recording) Amazon
- Magnificence and the Beast (Walt Disney Data) Amazon
Featured Picture: Angela Lansbury in “Mame”
