FAREWELL SWEENEY TODD!

[EugLoven]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:00am

The magnificent cast of the revival of Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" directed by John Doyle takes their final bow at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre today, September 3, 2006.

Please use this thread to:
1. Share your appreciation for this one-of-a-kind production
2. Share your experience if you attend the final show
3. Share any other experience you may have had with this show

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:07am

oh dear.

I just might start cryin'

[EugLoven]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:08am

I'll begin.

I first saw the show APRIL 2, 2006 (Matinee) and was moved to tears because I had never in my life felt the emotion I did that night! Life-altering experience, put the world of musical theatre into a completely different perspective. Nothing has yet beat that life moment.

My second time seeing the show was JULY 26, 2006 (Evening)
Documented here:
http://eugloven.livejournal.com/235750.html

I would give anything to be on 49th Avenue tonight to blow a kiss goodbye to the marquee.

Updated On: 9/3/06 at 03:08 AM

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:08am

I honestly can't believe it is closing.

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:12am

I just came back from seeing Sweeney Todd.

I was glad to see a near-full house for one of the final performances. The entire cast was in, and at their best. Definitely a show I will miss.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 3:59am

It was so good the first time I saw it on my nyc trip this summer, that I had to go back one more time before I left. So, instead of seeing something new on my 3 day trip, I picked Sweeney again. It was just soooo amazing.

[tomemiller]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 5:18am

I am leaving Fort Lauderdale, Florida this morning to attend tonight's final performance. This will be my fifth time seeing this magnificant show. Like many others I have seen the origninal production and numerous others throughout the years but sat spellbound when I first saw this show last December. Luckily, I have family on Long Island and have made it a ritual to see the show each time I visited NYC. This cast is unbelievably talented (as showcased at the "Fleet Street on the Bowery" show) and will be missed on the Great Whiteway. Many tears will be shed tonight.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 7:16am

I saw this show July 23rd of this year. I was absolutely dying to see it, but was very afraid my parents wouldnt like it. They loved it a lot, though! My mom and sister even saw it again (I wouldve if I didnt have football practice). But this show was truly incredible. The cast had such a great interraction, and an amazing connection with the audience. It was a chilling, but mind-blowing experience. I cannot say enough about the cast!!! This is definitely one of the best casts ever assembled on Broadway, and I only wish them the best of luck in the future!
But yeah, this ranks up there as my 3rd favorite show I've seen, and one of the best theatre experiences I've ever had!

It will be missed very much.

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 7:56am

I can't be there in person, but i'll be thinking about it tonight. As Michael once put in a signature to me, "All the Bloody Best" to this fantastic cast and crew.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:06am

I first saw this show in Decemeber and was completely amazed with it. Prior to that I had really only seen Broadway shows on occasion but this stunned me. It was so original and amazing. The performances were incredible and the show was flawless. Since then I have had a fever for Broadway, but this is and will always remain my favorite show. When I go to see it for my 6th and final time tonight, It is going to be a very emotional occasion for me. I just want to say thank you to the wonderful show because it has truely changed my life, and Broadway will be a much more empty place without it.

Updated On: 9/3/06 at 08:06 AM

[James885]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:06am

This was truly one of the best theater experiences I have ever had. I had my doubts about the whole actor/musician thing at first, but they were swept away after the first 10 minutes. I was just in total awe how in sync the cast was with each other during the show. The entire cast was stellar, but Michael Cerveris and Patti Lupone absolutly blew me away in their roles. I will really be sad to see this show go and would give an arm and a leg to be at tonight's closing performance. Hopefully the tour will be every bit as good as this production was.

[AElizabeth]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:40am

I'll throw in a little love as well.

I planned a trip to see this show and was already fully expecting to love it. I was still stunned by how powerful the experience was for me. I find it difficult to describe to people (or to articulate here!) exactly what made this production astonishing for me, but I hope that the cast and crew and creative team for this show have some sense of how rich and breathtaking this show is for the audience. I am grateful to have seen it.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:41am

My Sweeney Todd experience started after I became a fanatic of Sondheim and watched the DVD of the OBC. Soon after, I became aware of the upcoming revival and thus started my fasination with the show! The minute tickets went on sale, I purchased one for the 1st preview. I knew I couldn't miss thismind-blowing event. The show and cast has never ceased to amaze me since. Seeing it tonight will be my 10th time. I have been fortunate enough to have seen it that many times and I thank and the cast and crew for always making that experience an amazing one.

I also feel like I'd like to highlight some cast members who might have been overshadowed by the brillant Michael and Patti. Specifically, Donna Lynne and Diana DiMarzio. Those two completly reinvented the roles and whenever I had seen the show, Diana is always doing something new and brillant. Donna Lynne, well she's Donna Lynne and has been amazing in practically conducting the show. She and John Arbo really are the backbone to the orchastrations.

Good luck to those in the cast and much success in the future! I know I'll be keeping an eye out for them.

[iridescent_bomb]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:05am

I went to see this show in July.

From the moment it started out, with the nearly bare stage and Manoel sitting in a straight jacket before he gets handed his violin to begin "The Ballad"... I was engrossed in this beautiful and dark world of "Sweeney Todd."

The way the cast worked so well together, how they were their own orchestra, the lack of elaborate sets, the dark humor, the acting, the singing, it was all wonderful. Such talented people! Every one of them!

After "City on Fire" ended, my eyes were wide and my mouth was hanging open. By the end when Tobias leaped across the stage madly singing "Patty cake patty cake" it was so quiet, like the rest of New York had dissapeared. And when the door slammed after the final Ballad... I sat their stunned. I could hardly manage to applaud.

I went away that night thinking, "Wow. That was really good." The next day, I continued to think... "Wow... That really was good!" And by the end of the week, I was thinking, "What is it about this show? Why can't I get it out of my mind?" It's not a show you enjoy for a couple of hours and forget. It's haunting and it stays with you.

This is what theatre everywhere should strive to be. I cannot say this enough; wonderful, magnificent show.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:07am

I first saw this show in early July. After the Tonys, I just had to see why everyone loved it so much. It was so amazing - I never ever cry at shows, I'm just not an easy crier, but this show made me cry. It was truly, truly amazing. I saw it three times this past summer. I took my family, and they didn't like it .

Wearing my Sweeney shirt today in honor of the show. Wish I could be there!

[iridescent_bomb]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:13am

^ Ah, I didn't cry, but I know what you mean. It made me feel overwhelmingly sad, and to that I am greatful, because there aren't many shows that make me feel like that.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:57am

The cast, the vision, the uniqueness of the staging and the concept of the actors/actresses playing the instruments was so captivating. It brought a whole new feeling and dimension to an already wonderful work of art.

Something truly magic happened on that stage.

It should have had the revial Tony Award.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 10:10am

I went to the show this summer in July with my mother and could not wait for her to fall in love with it like I was/am. We were sitting front row orchestra and it was AMAZING. There was SO much thought put into it, it was entrancing. After the show my mother had two things to say to me, they were: that guy that played Sweeney scared the crap out of me and you do have this CD to this right? to with I answered yes and she replied, good I'm putting it on my Ipod when we get home. I got to go backstage after the performance with Donna Lynne Champlin, which is something I have always wanted to do, and it was such a great experience. I am so glad that I got to discover the talents of Lauren Molina and Manoel Felciano through the show.
I'LL MISS YOU SWEENEY!!!!!

[chealion313]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 10:17am

I had seen this show for the first time the day before the Tonys at the recommendation of a friend. I wasn't too sure if I'd like it, but within minutes of watching, I was floored by how amazingly talented this cast is--easily the most talented I've ever seen in a show. By the end of the show, I just sat there stunned, thinking "wow" and that feeling was with me for the next few days.

I had figured that it would be open for a long time, so I'd have plenty of time to go back again. As soon as the closing was announced, I knew I had to start going back. I had a trip planned for this weekend, and I'd miss the closing show, but when I went back for the second time, at the end, I said "I HAVE to be back for the last show." I cancelled my weekend trip and got a ticket, but also decided that I had to see it as much as possible before I couldn't see it any longer, so I've gone three times in the last two weeks, tonight being my fifth time total. Each time I've seen it, I've watched and appreciated new things that each cast member does and am just amazed by their performances.

It almost makes me angry that such an incredible show is closing, while others that just aren't that appealing (at least to me) go on for years and years.

I wish I could just personally thank each and every member of the cast and crew for putting on an amazing production that I'm sure never to forget.

[Luvinbroadway]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 10:36am

In over 25 years of going to Broadway...the ONLY show I felt compelled to see more than once...the grand total: 6 times....and everytime it was more powerful and yet more nuanced at the same. Cheers to all involved! An incredible cast! A brilliant composer! An innovative director! (and smart producers: a rare early profit, comparatively cheap to put up and run!).

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 11:11am

It's honestly not that often where you see a revival of show that doesn't just copy what worked from the original. Revivals of shows that I've seen before were wonderful, yes, but none really got me to look at the show in a different way... to consider a different aspect, to challenge my preconcieved notions, the way Sweeney did.

The actor/musician aspect was not only fascinating to watch (I loved to see the seemless transitions whenever one person switched with another on the piano, how the first person's fingers never faltered while getting up) but the scaled down orchestrations put the lyrics and the story up front in a way that could not be possible with a skyscraper set and a large orchestra. Things, lyrics that I had never caught before (particularly all of Kiss Me and the Quartet, where I had only been able to understand snippets of words before) I heard perfectly.

And the cast... I think it's already been beat to death around here that the cast is phenomenal but it needs to be said again. The cast is phenomenal. Particularly, for me, Patti, Michael, and Lauren. Lauren made Johanna real in a way that I haven't seen before, made her a real girl instead of the ditzy ingenue. I was worried that I would hate Patti because I was never really fond of her Lovett in concert but this was a completely different Lovett... one that new what she wanted from the start. The chemistry she had with Michael was amazing. And Michael... Michael. The one thing that has stayed with me about seeing this show more than anything else is Michael's line: "Oh look, Johanna, a star!" That line nearly brought me to tears, the passion he had throughout the entire show was extraordinary.

So, I've really rambled more than I intended to, but... farewell, Sweeney Todd, and the best of luck to the cast in whatever your next endeavor turns out to be. Thanks for a wonderful show.

[jacobp]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 11:21am

Words cannot even describe how much this production means to me....I would have to say this is my favorite show and to see it close makes me cry. I mean for Christ sake Broadway is being taken over by freakin Mamma Mia. Unfortunately I am not seeing the show tonight so instead throughout the day Dirty rotten And Sweeney will be playing....Two of the best shows currently on Broadway. Sweeney was so powerful and so amazing. The cast was amazing, Patti was genius and Michael was brilliant.....Everytime I think of it ACTUALLY closing, I do get a little teary eyed.

"Rest now my friends....."
"It was a Ball It was a Blast And It's a Shame it couldn't Last"

[coolkid11776]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 11:23am

I saw the show on Augest 16th 8:00 and it was amazing. I'm so sad to see it go. The only good side is my school can do it as a musicial. I wish the cast all well. I hope Patti comes back to do the revival of EVITA.

[mijofly19]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 11:41am

I saw the show for the second, and final, time last night. It was even more memorable and amazing than the last time I saw it.

One great thing last night was coming back from intermission, during "God, That's Good," there was a man in the second row, dead center, coming back late. Patti saw him as he was making his way through the aisle, and bent over the audience and started blowing the tuba right into his ear. One of the funniest things I've ever seen on stage.

I wish the best of luck to the incredibly talented cast, though I have no doubts that they will all find new work in the near future.

[Attendthetale331]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 11:49am

I saw the show three times and everytime was like the first time. It is an amazing show with amazing energy. The show kept my heart pounding until the curtain closed. It was an amazing experience.