Annaleigh Ashford on Her Delicious Star Turn in ‘Sweeney Todd’ and Preparing for Tonys Sunday

In Sweeney Todd’s original Broadway production, which premiered in 1979, “Angela created such an incredible roadmap—not just for me on the page, but also physically and spiritually,” Ashford says. “There is something that is undeniably her.” Mrs. Lovett is running a down-and-out pie shop—think shepherd’s, not apple—when Sweeney Todd returns to town from prison to exact revenge on the judge who put him there. A barber by trade, he sets up shop chez Lovett, and when his revenge fantasy devolves into indiscriminate bloodlust, Lovett identifies an opportunity for free pie filling. 

“She is trying to survive, and the only way to do that, in that time and place, is through a man. From the moment he walks in to the moment she departs us, she is trying to get him to stay with her, to love her. Times is hard!” she adds, quoting a lyric from her opening number, “The Worst Pies in London,” which she describes as a “river raft” of a song full of vocal twists and Sondheim’s signature lyrical runs. 

With the long shadow of Lansbury’s portrayal—not to mention Patti LuPone’s, from a 2005 Broadway revival—looming over the production, Ashford makes quick work of making Lovett her own, grounding a role that can tend towards camp and introducing a (subtle) slapstick humor. (A particular mid-act thump down the shop’s stairs brings the house down, among other delightful bits.) Costume designer Emilio Sosa also makes satisfying use of the period’s calico prints and soft cotton textiles for this Lovett, though they appear appropriately disheveled and worn. “I think this was the only skirt she had been able to buy for the last five years. Her undergarments are hanging on by a thread, which I love,” Ashford says.

The Dickensian déshabillé of her wardrobe lends itself to a more sensual and physically amorous Lovett than we are perhaps used to seeing. While it’s always been implied that Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are lovers, here her lust is on full display—which is of a piece with Ashford’s knack for physical comedy. “Sondheim is the same as Shakespeare: You have to go to the text. You mine it for every clue you can possibly have,” she says. “I have a line in ‘By the Sea’ where I say ‘my rumpled bedding legitimized,’ which means they’ve been lovers. We decided to lean into that.”