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Murderous mayhem clearly agrees with the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.
He has been lauded all over the world as the homicidal Don Giovanni and celebrated as the tormented killer Wotan in the Royal Opera's Ring Cycle in London. Now he is adding cannibalism to his list of operatic pleasures, with the first of four semi-staged performances of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd taking place in the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall later today.
A commanding presence both vocally and physically -- he has a rugby player's build and stands 6 foot 4 inches (1.93 meters) -- the 41-year-old singer is guaranteed to get box-office tills ringing wherever he goes. I caught up with the friendly star, dressed casually in jeans and sweater, during rehearsals in a south London studio to ask him about the challenges of working in music theater rather than opera.
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There are a number of great West End stars in the cast, including Maria Friedman as Mrs. Lovett and Philip Quast as Judge Turpin. Terfel has found some differences in the way music-theater performers work compared with opera singers.
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