Timothy Nolen | |
---|---|
Born | Rotan, Texas, U.S. | July 9, 1941
Died | August 31, 2023 82) | (aged
Occupation(s) | Actor, singer |
Known for | The Phantom of the Opera , Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
Timothy Nolen (July 9, 1941 – August 31, 2023) was an American actor and baritone who had an active career in operas, musicals, concerts, plays, and on television for over four decades. He was the second actor to play the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway replacing Michael Crawford in October 1988.
Nolen notably portrayed the title role in the first operatic presentation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Houston Grand Opera in 1984 [1] and the role of Judge Turpin in a concert version of Sweeney Todd broadcast on PBS's Great Performances in 2001.
Timothy Nolen was born in Rotan, Texas, and began his career appearing in small supporting roles with opera companies in the United States during the 1960s.
Nolen made his debut at the San Francisco Opera as the Officer in the United States premiere of Darius Milhaud's Christophe Colomb on October 5, 1968. He appeared in several supporting roles with the company through 1973, including Gregorio in Roméo et Juliette , Marullo in Rigoletto , Montano in Otello , Morales in Carmen , Ned Keene in Peter Grimes , Schaunard in La Bohème , Sciarrone in Tosca , and the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos among others. He then portrayed leading roles at the SFO like Figaro in The Barber of Seville (1976, with Frederica von Stade as Rosina), Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale (1980, with Geraint Evans in the title role), and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus (1990, with Patricia Racette as Rosalinde). [2]
Nolen portrayed the title role in the first operatic presentations of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Houston Grand Opera and New York City Opera in 1984. [3]
Nolen made his Broadway debut in 1985 as Doyle in the original production of Larry Grossman's Grind ; a portrayal for which he received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical nomination.
On 10 October 1988, he returned to Broadway to portray the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera . He was the second actor to portray the role on Broadway since he took it over from the original star Michael Crawford. He left the production in March 1989 being replaced by operatic tenor and fellow Sweeney Todd and Phantom star Cris Groenendaal.
Nolen reprised the title role in Sweeney Todd at Chicago's Marriott Theatre in 1993, receiving a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for his portrayal. He has since played Sweeney Todd in numerous productions, including at the Goodspeed Opera House.
Nolen played the Comte de Guiche in Cyrano: The Musical (1994) on Broadway and later took over the role of Cyrano.
In 2001, Nolen performed the role of Judge Turpin in a concert version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with the New York Philharmonic. The production was broadcast on PBS's Great Performances. Starring opposite him were George Hearn as Todd, Patti LuPone as Lovett, Davis Gaines as Anthony, and Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias. He reprised the role later that year in a production at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He most recently played Turpin in 2012 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
In 2004, he returned to the title role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the New York City Opera opposite Elaine Paige as Mrs. Lovett.
His television appearances include guest star appearances in The Sopranos , Wildfire , and Guiding Light .
Nolen made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on October 1, 1996 as Krusina in Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride under the baton of James Levine. He has since returned to that house as Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow (2000–2001, with Plácido Domingo as Count Danilovich) and the One-Eyed Man in Die Frau ohne Schatten (2001–2002, with Deborah Voigt as the Empress). [4]
Nolen died on August 31, 2023, at the age of 82. [5]
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Street, Todd murders his customers with a straight razor and gives their corpses to Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, who bakes their flesh into meat pies. The tale has been retold many times since in various media.
Hugh Panaro is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway stage musicals, most well known for his role in The Phantom of the Opera being in over 2,000 performances in the Broadway production.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Tobias Ragg is a fictional character who appears in various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. The character is apprentice to the abusive barber Pirelli, until Pirelli is murdered by Todd. Toby proceeds to stay with Todd and Mrs. Lovett, helping the latter out in her meat pie shop. Later, Tobias discovers that they have a joint venture to cook the men Todd shaves into meat pies. He ultimately kills Todd after Todd kills Lovett and Lucy Barker, along with multiple others.
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Alexander Cesare Gemignani is a Broadway actor, tenor, musician, and conductor.
Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989–1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013).
Mark Jacoby is an American musical theatre performer who has had leading roles on Broadway in Show Boat, The Phantom of the Opera and Ragtime, among others. He has also performed widely in national tours, regional theatre and Off-Broadway.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies.
John Doyle is a Scottish stage director of musicals and plays, as well as operas. He served as artistic director at several regional theatres in the United Kingdom, where he staged more than 200 professional productions during his career spanning over 40 years.
Edmund Lyndeck was an American actor and musical theatre performer. He is best known for originating the roles of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Cinderella’s Father in Into the Woods.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.
Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.
Johanna is a fictional character appearing in the story of Sweeney Todd. In the original version of the tale, the penny dreadful The String of Pearls (1846–7), her name is Johanna Oakley and she is no relation of Todd. In the popular musical adaptation by Stephen Sondheim, inspired by Christopher Bond's play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1973), she is the daughter of Benjamin Barker and his wife, Lucy. In this version she is the ward of Judge Turpin, the man who falsely convicted her father and raped her mother.
Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd. Lucy is the wife of barber Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by Judge Turpin, who wants Lucy for himself. After Turpin sexually abuses her, Lucy attempts suicide with poison, but survives and goes insane. Years later, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself "Sweeney Todd", returns to London and his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd about Lucy poisoning herself, but leaves out that Lucy lived. He later finds Lucy as a beggar woman; not recognizing her, he slits her throat, before killing Mrs. Lovett.
Judge Turpin is a fictional character in Christopher Bond's 1973 play of the story of Sweeney Todd, as well as later adaptations. He is the main antagonist, a cruel and corrupt judge who imprisons Benjamin Barker on false charges, rapes Barker's wife Lucy, and takes Barker's daughter Johanna in as his ward.
Davis Gaines is an American stage actor and baritone. He has performed as The Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera over 2,000 times, on Broadway, on tour, in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco. In the last location, he won the Bay Area Critics' Award for Best Actor. He performed the role for a Phantom segment for the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994.
"Not While I'm Around" is a song from the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It is a duet between Tobias Ragg and Mrs. Lovett that first appeared on Broadway in 1979. A screen adaptation for the 2007 film of the same name features Edward Sanders as Tobias and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. In the 2023 revival, it is sung by Gaten Matarazzo and Annaleigh Ashford. Josh Groban, who played the Barber in the 2023 production, has also released his own version.
Cris Groenendaal is a retired American musical theatre actor and opera singer. He has performed in the original Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sunday in the Park with George, The Phantom of the Opera and Passion, as well as appearing in the original cast of the 1996 Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Ted Keegan is an American musical theatre actor who is most well known for playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera all over the United States for over 25 years.