A Powerful Comedy Coupling

You don’t have to be a radio call-in psychiatrist to observe a few striking personality differences between Kelsey Grammer--star of the hit NBC comedy “Frasier,” now occupying the Thursday night time slot once held by “Seinfeld”--and Christine Baranski, his guest star in an upcoming episode of the show.

At a recent Tuesday night filming with a studio audience at Hollywood’s Paramount Studios, Grammer jokes with the cast, rewrites the script and makes himself right at home. In rehearsal, he is even looser--munching on popcorn, noodling on the piano that is the centerpiece of psychiatrist Frasier Crane’s expensively furnished living room. He also exhibits a sporadic tendency to burst into song.

Baranski, on the other hand, goes about the business of portraying her character of the moment--Dr. Nora, another radio psychiatrist with some deep-seated issues of her own--with an almost Zen-like concentration, almost never interacting with her fellow actors, or even cracking a smile.

It was Joe Keenan, the writer of the “Dr. Nora” episode, who tapped Baranski, an Emmy winner for her role as Maryann, the vindictive ex-trophy wife on the now-defunct sitcom “Cybill,” to guest star on “Frasier.” But Keenan couldn’t have planned things more conveniently if he’d done it on purpose.

Baranski’s weeklong visit in late January to film the episode, which will air April 29, gave the two actors a chance to get reacquainted before beginning the latest chapter in their history of performing together: the 20th anniversary concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd--the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” opening at the Ahmanson Theatre Friday night for five performances through Sunday.

The cast also includes Davis Gaines, Neil Patrick Harris, Dale Kristien and Melissa Manchester, but Grammer and Baranski have the meatiest roles, so to speak. Grammer’s title character in the musical, set in lower-class London in the late 19th century, is a put-upon barber and Mrs. Lovett (Baranski) is the friendly neighbor who gives him the idea to butcher his customers and, at the same time, lend a new flavor to her own business, a meat-pie shop.

It’s not the first time Grammer and Baranski have done Sondheim together. In 1982, the two starred in a workshop production of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical “Sunday in the Park With George,” which went on to Broadway--with Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin instead of Grammer and Baranski--in 1984.

But in “Sunday,” in which the two portrayed characters-come-to-life in the dreamy Seurat painting “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” Grammer and Baranski were side by side in Sondheim, so to speak--performing with little interaction in many scenes.

“You are stuck in a painting together, but you never relate,” Grammer joked in an interview during a “Frasier” rehearsal break. “We were facing front; we never even looked at each other,” said Baranski, via telephone from her Connecticut home. “But I do remember that [Grammer] was absolutely splendid in that role. He had a great singing voice and a great stage presence. He was a total joy to work with, so I’m hoping we just have great rapport. I’m thinking we will.”

Grammer takes credit for suggesting Baranski, a fellow Juilliard graduate (two years apart) for “Sweeney.” “I saw Christine back in New York when I hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ [in October]; she was gracious enough to agree to do one silly skit thing along with Patti LuPone and Hal Linden,” Grammer said. “I mentioned it to [“Sweeney” director] Calvin Remsen, and that met with a lot of approbation and cheers. We said, ‘Cool, OK, let’s do it,’ ” Grammer said.

“Sweeney Todd” is the latest offering of L.A.’s Reprise! Broadway’s Best in Concert Series, opening its third season of presenting American musicals in pared-down form--somewhere between a reading and a full production.

Short-Term Format a Plus for Busy Actors

With its shows thrown together in a maniacal 10 days of rehearsal, the Reprise! series, established by Marcia Seligson, has been popular with Hollywood actors who like the chance to do theater in a short-term format that can be worked into busy shooting schedules.

Grammer is particularly thrilled to have the chance to do theater now because of a recent lost opportunity: the chance to do Yasmina Reza’s three-character play “Art” with “Frasier” co-stars John Mahoney and David Hyde Pierce, on Broadway and in London. Grammer confirmed that he turned down such an offer in order to spend more time with his family.

Rehearsals for “Sweeney Todd” are being held on Soundstage 29 at Paramount to accommodate Grammer’s “Frasier” filming schedule. And Grammer and his family are taking up residence at a downtown hotel while he is doing double-duty to avoid his usual commute from Agoura Hills.

Adopting a tone as wry as that of his character, Frasier Crane, the twice-divorced Grammer, veteran of a few highly publicized brushes with the law over drug and alcohol problems, said he has come to like downtown Los Angeles.

“I’ve been downtown a few times--to court, of course. That’s the big divorce mecca,” he observed, with a huge grin.

While still a “concert” production, “Sweeney Todd” represents the highest stakes yet for Reprise! Instead of being performed at the series’ usual home, UCLA’s 568-seat Freud Playhouse, they’re taking it to the 2,132-seat Ahmanson, with ticket prices ranging from $35 to $75 for regular performances, and $250 for a special opening-night gala performance and party to be attended by Sondheim himself.

If their demeanor on the “Frasier” set is any indication, Grammer’s and Baranski’s approaches to performing are as different as, say, two characters in a painting. Baranski, however, said that her reserve was not characteristic of her as an actor, but appropriate for the hard-edged, rigidly moralistic character she was portraying (both she and Grammer laughingly refuse to confirm any more than coincidental resemblance between Dr. Nora and radio’s queen of scold, Dr. Laura Schlessinger).

“I was sort of in a tunnel, and I think that helped me achieve that character--everyone else feels like they are hitting a brick wall when they deal with her,” Baranski mused. “So that was my process for that week.”

An Amusing Contrast in Work Habits

Grammer also described his approach to performing as situational. “Most people are different from me on the set--most people have at least some sort of professionalism. I have very little of that at this point in my life,” he observed, with the delighted chuckle of an actor who always manages to keep at least himself thoroughly entertained.

“But I don’t approach every job the same way. If I am doing a play, my work ethic changes. We are founded on liberties here [on the “Frasier” set], it’s the way we work. But with ‘Sweeney Todd,’ I want to get the notes right.”

Still, even when she’s not portraying Dr. Nora, Baranski’s approach seems more studied than Grammer’s. “This is really throwing it together, and this is as difficult a theater piece as I’ve ever worked on,” she fretted. “The whole damn thing is pretty daunting.”

Baranski spent her spare time in Los Angeles in constant meetings with her vocal coach, and coaxed “Sweeney Todd” director Calvin Remsberg and musical director Peter Matz to meet with her to block out her movements for at least the first act of the show so she could get a jump-start on rehearsing them.

Meanwhile, Grammer--whose musical theater history is limited to “Sunday” with Baranski and a 10th-grade production of “The Fantasticks”--raised an amused eyebrow when reminded that he had not a mere week, but a full 10 days to rehearse “Sweeney Todd.”

“What, we have a week and a half? Geez, don’t beat it to death!” he exclaimed. “Qualms? I don’t know that I’m healthy enough to have qualms. If I were, then I should probably just say I won’t do it. I think I’m a little reckless, perhaps a little foolhardy.

“That,” he added cheerfully, “is one of my trademarks.”

BE THERE

“Sweeney Todd--the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave. Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets $35 to $75, gala $250. (213) 365-3500, (714) 740-7878.