George Hearn and Angela Lansbury in the Original Broadway production. Originally posted 08/17/09.
I saw this show in previews, and it was just magical. This was back in 1979, and I was already a fan of composer Stephen Sondheim, one of the most brilliant minds the theater has known. I went with a college theater group I was part of, and we went for a four-day trip, seeing 6 shows in that time. It was an insane schedule, but also amazing, seeing Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Back then, when I was working in the theater, there were basically two camps when it came to musical theater - you were a fan of Sondheim, or you loved Andrew Lloyd Webber - and never the twain shall meet. We Sondheim fans believed the Webber fans were just populist, non-thinking idiots who went for spectacle over content. Webber fans thought we Sondheim fans were intellectual elitists, and I think both groups were correct.
A variety of people have played in Sweeney Todd, from famous to not-so-much.
If you saw the movie with Johnny Depp, it was well done, but the Broadway show was oh so much better. I remember sitting in the audience that first time [I saw it more than once], and the orchestra started playing...
That damn factory whistle nearly had me jumping out of my skin. That opening created a tension that held fast throughout the show. Later in the show, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett had to figure out what do do with the dead bodies, since leaving them lay around wouldn't be good as she ran a meat-pie shoppe. So here is Angela Lansbury and George Hearn coming up with a solution in A Little Priest.
The show was just brilliant.
This is such a great soundtrack!
ReplyDeleteI saw the revival here in Los Angeles (2008) with Judy Kaye and David Hess in John Doyle's minimalist version - the actors doubled as the orchestra! Adjectives like thrilling, magnificent, ambitious, and deliciously wicked only scratch the surface of what this show is about. I wish I had seen the original B'way show; but the modern updated version was so cool.
ReplyDeleteMeat pie, anyone?
Michael, yes, it is a great one!
ReplyDeleteBehr, I missed that production in NYC, but would have liked to have seen it. Such a fantastic show.
What a great show.
ReplyDeleteA Little Priest kills me.
I saw the original in NYC also. Then and even still today, it ranks as the finest overall production I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteBob, too true. So much amazing music in it.
ReplyDeleteQueer Heaven, I have to agree. It was just a magical production.
A fun, quirky show with with a brilliant cast and amazing music and song.
ReplyDeleteKyle, so right. Just brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen...I went to the original Broadway cast too, Howard...I also admired John Boyles' Patti LuPone/Michael Cerveris minimalist production too. Both versions were magnificent in their own ways.
ReplyDeleteFunny you mentioned the Sondheim/Webber dichotomy. I was more in the former camp, but enjoyed a Webber show now and then too.
Jeffrey, I agree about it being a great show. I didn't, however, get a chance to see the revival, so I missed out on that one.
ReplyDelete