For all you Sweeny Todd experts

#1

For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:30pm

Hello all, I am buying a copy of Sweeny Todd, but I would like everyone's personal opinion as to which one. If I like it I very well might go out and buy all the versions out there but for now, since I don't know the show at all. Need your expert opionions...

Oh and what are your favorite songs from that show?

#2

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:32pm

I think that the concert version with Patti LuPone and George Hearn is the most complete and the one with the fullest orchestrations. It also includes the "Judge's Song" which is not in the original.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 10:32 PM

#3

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:37pm

Actually, the original Broadway cast CD does contain the Judge's Song.
I prefer first conceptions so I say go for the original cast with Cariou and Lansbury.

#4

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:37pm

I'd recommend the OBC starring Lansbury and Cariou.

By they way, the DVD with Lansbury and George Hearn is quite good, too, if you'd like to see it. It was the National touring company. Lupone and the concert version is quite good as well. My fondness however is for the OBC and I do think it is the closest to how the creators saw the show. It is a shame they cut "The Judge's Song" from that recording.

#5

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:38pm

I opted for the filmed stage version that was recently released. It does not include the Judges Song "Johanna" but it is the stage version. I listen to the soundtrack and can hear Johanna. And who can beat Angela Lansbury?!!

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Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

#6

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:39pm

OBC!

I personally can't stand Patti LuPone- Angela Lansbury will always be my Mrs. Lovett. And Len Cariou, though often rejected in favor of George Hearn by many Sweeney fans, is brilliant.

And what "Judge's Song" are you talking about, Eponine? I know that the Judge's "Johanna" isn't on the DVD of the tour with Lansbury and Hearn, but it's definitely in the OBC.

The biggest reason I prefer the OBC to the DVD is because Sarah Rice is a much better Johanna than Betty Joslyn, and I love Victor Garber's Anthony.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 10:39 PM

#7

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:39pm

OBC is my vote. Rent the DVD as well - George Hearn gives quite a performance.

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Everybody goes down well with beer.

#8

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:42pm

OBC all the way! Lansbury is definitive.

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"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#9

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:45pm

OBC most definately. It has the "Judge's Song" which I am not particularly fond of, but still an experience to hear. Lansbury, Cariou, Garber, and Rice all have incredible voices. Also, I forgot his name but the guy who plays Tobias is really good too. I enjoy "Green Finch and linnett Bird", "Worst Pies in London", "Not While I'm Around", Anthony's "Johanna" and Sweeney's "Johanna" the most on it.

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"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 10:45 PM

#10

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:48pm

Without question, the OBC. And I second the DVD - love it!

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"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka

#11

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:49pm

EEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!
I.
HATE.
PATTI LUPONE.
eeesspecciaallyyy as Mrs. Lovett.
UGH!
Original, not a doubt in the world.
-d.b.j-

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Vary My Days.

#12

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:49pm

I think they're all good. I'm more fond of the touring cast because George Hearn was the first Todd I saw and when I heard Cariou on the OBC, I was a little disappointed. I haven't heard the whole concert CD with Lupone and Hearn, but I've heard "A Little Priest" and it's very good.

Some of my favorite songs are "Epiphany," "Johanna (Act II)," "Ladies in their Sensitivities/Kiss Me," "The Worst Pies in London," "By the Sea," and "God, That's Good!"

#13

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:49pm

Isn't there one song by Judge Turpin that was not recorded on the OBC? I need to refresh my memory.

As for Cariou, he is the best Sweeney in my opinion. Great voice, a large dose of sex appeal and menacing, too. One could see why Mrs. Lovett and the sailor and Tobias, et. al., are attracted to Cariou's Sweeney.

#14

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:52pm

No, Judge Turpin sang a version of "Johanna" that was much darker and stranger than Anthony's and Sweeney's. He ended up whipping himself numerously throughout. It was cut during previews but was still recorded on the OBC.

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"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#15

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:52pm

It's about time Judge Turpin's "Johanna" get a little respect. Besides being an important piece of character development, it may go down in the record books as the song with the most consistently awkward audience reaction at song's end. Usually you'll get dead silence except for a few lonely claps and some nervous laughs.

The song is on the Hearn/Lupone concert DVD from the SF Symphony, which I was lucky enough to see live on one of the nights they filmed. I recommend it for the excellent supporting work of Davis Gaines, Lisa Vroman, and Victoria Clark.

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"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers

#16

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:59pm

Oh, Turpin's "Johanna" always gets my respect. It's the single most disturbing musical theater song I've ever heard. Brr.

#17

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:01pm

"and how sweet you look in that white muslin gown..."

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"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 11:01 PM

#18

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:04pm

OK. I had it backwards.

MusicMan and Plum are correct about "Johanna" as sung by Judge Turpin being on the OBC. It comes after the sentencing scene and begins with "Mea culpa..."

The number is deleted from the printed version of the show and in some productions.

BwayMatt's assessment is on the mark. It is a crucial number of character. It was powerfull in the original production and still causes a gasps from the audience as I witnessed in the recent NYCO production.

#19

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:09pm

StickToPriest is going to be furious he hasn't seen this yet!

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"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."

#20

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:16pm

My vote is for the OBC recording as well. And where's SticktoPriest?? :)

Edit to add: and even though I can't single out a song from Sweeney Todd as my favorite, Johanna is one of the most beatiful songs ever written. Not the judge's version, though. The judge's version is just creepy.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 11:16 PM

#21

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:21pm

It seems like Johanna is really the popular song.

#22

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:25pm

Uh, I like the big 4-part "Johanna" in Act II. :)

#23

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:30pm

Jose, FYI, the Judge's Song is printed out-of-sequence as an addenda at the very end of the score. Its inclusion is optional.

#24

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/21/04 at 11:48pm

Just listened to the end of "Ladies in Their Sensitivities." That is Sondheim at his absolute finest. So. Good.

-Plum, being pointless

#25

re: For all you Sweeny Todd experts

Posted: 8/22/04 at 12:13am

Thanks MusicMan. Now I do recall that it is at the back of the book.

By coincidence we've been watching the Lansbury-Hearn production on DVD this week.