Sweeney Todd

[NightScribe]

While surfing the 'net yesterday, I stumbled upon various sites and forums and found some Sweeney stuff I thought I'd pass along to any who may be interested.

According to one site, the song Wait has been cut from the Tim Burton film (with Sondheim's approval). I'm not too pleased with that. The first thing Mrs. Lovett says to Sweeney is "Wait, what's your rush, what's your hurry?" Later, in the actual song Wait, she says, "don't distress yourself, what's your rush?" At the beginning of Epiphany, Sweeney admonishes Lovett, "why did I wait? You told me to wait!" Cutting the song seems to mess up that theme, IMHO.

Also regarding the film; due to the set being shut down for a time when Johnny Depp's daughter was ill, they had to cut the "gentlemen ghosts" who sing the Ballad of Sweeney Todd (including the great Christopher Lee) in order to meet the budget and schedule. A different approach, to be sure, but I kind of like the idea of the Greek chorus made up of victims' spirits. The vocals were recorded, apparently, but not filmed. Bummer.

Randomly, I've found the one performance of the judge's Johanna that I actually like. It's on the ST San Francisco Symphony concert performance (on DVD) from 2001. Tim Nolan (an opera bass-baritone) sang the role of Turpin. Great voice and he sings the number well. I wasn't crazy about Paul Plishka's (another opera singer) version on the 2000 NY Philharmonic concert CD; in fact, I didn't like most of the performances, a lot of the voices seemed wrong for the roles (Patti LuPone, anyone?) And although I liked Edmund Lyndeck as Turpin overall, it's rare that I listen to his Johanna on the OCR; it's my least favorite. It comes across so dissonant and lacking in any discernible melody. Nolan's is truly the best.

One thing I noticed was a lot of younger people have discovered Sweeney through the 2005 revival. I've never heard it. Call me a purist, call me old, but when I read how that revival was staged, I nearly gagged. Orchestra? Gone. The ten performers doubled as the "orchestra." Let's face it, the score is immensely important, to strip it down is pretty much sacrilege. Now, I think it's damned admirable that they play as they sing, but they have to remain kind of static, no? Meaning there's no movement, no action. Pie/barber shop set piece? Gone. Ultra cool barber chair? Nowhere to be found. Set in an asylum and maybe it's Toby telling the story of what really happened, or he's just crazy and imagined it all? WTF? And don't get me started on Sweeney playing guitar (when did he turn into a troubador?) It makes me laugh; Forbidden Broadway says more than once how British directors keep ruining our American masterpieces with their re-envisioned revivals. I have to agree with them, at least on this one.

There's some clips of numbers from the revival over on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Who knows, you may prefer it over the original. ST Revival Clips Since Sweeney's Johanna is one of my favorites (and one of the shorter clips posted) I checked that one out. I stopped halfway through. Although Michael Cerveris has a good voice, (I saw a Passion concert performance he did a while back and thought he was quite good) I didn't think it was deep enough for Sweeney (I'm a sucker for darkly hued, rich and robust baritones).

Okay, I've bored you long enough. Sorry about that, but my Sweeney obsession knows no bounds.

[dazzledfirestar]

You haven't bored me! As for the revival... yeah, I'm with you. It just didn't work for me. And I loved the barber's chair!!! I'd much rather have to original. I first discovered Sweeney when I was in high school in a musical theatre class (I went to a performing arts high school... we were exposed to a bit more than your average drama geeks) and I fell in love with it instantly. It was like nothing else I'd seen or heard and it was dark and perversely funny. What teenager wouldn't love it! It was the catalyst for my worshipping at the alter of Sondheim for the rest of my life. But the revival was just too stripped down, it didn't carry any of the charm the original production had... and I wasn't a fan of the orchestra/cast thing either. But hey, if it turned some youngsters on to musical theatre, fab!

... Am I ranting a bit?

[NightScribe]

It was the catalyst for my worshipping at the alter of Sondheim for the rest of my life.

Yeah, he's kinda good, I guess, if you like that sort of thing. Seriously, I think I could write a dissertation on ST. Maybe I'll post something on my LJ with all my thoughts, but let me throw this one out at you in the meantime.

When Anthony is about to leave to rescue Johanna, Todd gives him a pistol with instructions to kill if he has to. Anthony responds, quite readily and confidently, "I'll kill a dozen jailers if need be." However, once at Fogg's, he can't kill one, it's Johanna who fires the shot. My point is: like father, like daughter(?) I really do need to write out my analysis, but it's such a daunting task, not to mention I'm planning on working a lot of those points into my ST fics.

Speaking of Sondheim, how do you like the song Now from Night Music? I recently bought the OCR and can't get that one out of my head, it's so damn clever, both musically and lyrically. Damn that demigod Sondheim!

Edit: Even more to mull over:

Johanna and Anthony's story mirrors the Barkers; it's history repeating itself. Anthony is young, idealistic, optimistic, and naive, in love with a virtuous, beautiful young woman. Problem is, someone else wants her; the same man who wanted Lucy and for the same reason. Anthony loses his innocence through Turpin, just as Benjamin did. Barker was falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, escaped, and took on a new identity. Johanna is falsely committed to an asylum for an affliction she does not have, escapes, and disguises her identity. It's what I love about this story; it's like a bottomless treasure chest, you just keep discovering new things.

Edited June 24, 2007 by NightScribe