I have been working for a while on the songs that Mrs Lovett sings in Act 1 of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This weekend I got to sing them at a small performance in Tokyo with Body N Voice Studios. There were are few hiccups, as there always are, but it mostly went well. I was a little concerned about having to belt the D5 on the last "London" in "The Worst Pies in London", but I managed to do that during the performance. Having trained as a first soprano there are times, particularly if I am nervous, when I a move too soon into my head voice. This is fine unless I'm singing a mezzo / belter role where I really don't want the head voice sound.
The most challenging thing about "A Little Priest" was remembering the order of the verses and the dialogue that goes between them as the song takes more than 7 minutes to sing. I really enjoyed learning the pieces as Sondheim's music is demanding and it feels like an acheivment to be able to sing them.
