Groban & Ashford in SWEENEY TODD On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread — Page 44

WOW! What an amazing show, what an amazing production.

We are going to have a real race for Best Revival.

Adding my (lengthy) 2 cents to the wildly divisive responses here:

• Really loved the production overall. Despite others saying it was lifeless, I thought it was actually a nice blend of sultriness, darkness and campiness.

• From mid-orchestra, I had absolutely 0 issues with sound. In fact, while I can't advise on what the effect like is from any other part of the theater, but from my seats the orchestra was super full and luscious. Especially key songs like the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" it was entrancing to hear it in full effect versus the previous productions I had seen.

• Annaleigh Ashford was a fantastic Ms Lovett. My foremost judge for a Ms Lovett is "Worst Pies in London" (one of my favorite musical songs ever), and I thought she nailed it. No issues with diction other than on Poor Thing, but luckily I went on an Open Caption night and my partner who is unfamiliar with the musical said they just read along. I think I could have probably done without the spinning on the floor in Little Priest, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed her physicality; to me it added to her desperateness to just make Sweeney like her which was a different approach than some past productions. She is a less crazed, more rabbity version of Ms Lovett.

• Josh Groban sounded amazing, and I thought he was a bit more dark than some of these reviews would lead on. Yes, definitely nowhere near the menacing nature of seeing this at Barrow Street with Norm Lewis, but I could at least see Groban's passion in the performance. Emphasized morose over menace. But his delivery of the songs was fantastic.

• Gaten stood out the most of the rest of the ensemble, and "Not While I'm Around" was surely a highlight. However, I did actually have the most trouble with his sound of anybody (surprisingly because I went in thinking I wouldn't be able to understand a word of AA based off posts in this board). Jordan Fisher was serviceable; not bad by any means but not my favorite Anthony I've ever heard. Ruthie and Maria were good too but I'd say their performances stood out the least to me.

• Lighting design was some of the best I've seen on Broadway. Amazing lighting, and definitely elevated the otherwise fairly simple set (which I thought served its purpose well enough; I can't really imagine the show with an elaborate set anyways). Costume design on the other hand was... forgettable.

• All technical aspects went smooth when I saw it. The barber chair/blood was working as expected, and the ending throwing Ms Lovett in the oven also was smooth. However the moments after that (Tobias with the dead bodies) felt a little off and awkward to me. Again, this could be because I was having a lot of trouble hearing Gaten.

• Finally, I actually really enjoyed the choreography. The manic nature of it especially in "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" was fitting and I thought elevated it beyond the sometimes stoic delivery of the songs in previous productions. The only time I actually didn't like the choreo was when Anthony is rescuing Johanna from the asylum; looked out of place to me.

• Overall, I had a fantastic evening. I think newcomers to Sweeney Todd will especially love this show. As someone very familiar with the show, I still loved it despite how different tonally it was from past productions.

Updated On: 4/9/23 at 11:21 AM

Nope

Was anyone at this afternoon's performance and notice a set piece malfunction?

I personally loved every minute of this production and can't wait to go back (once I save my pennies, because ouch those prices)!

I'd just like to give a shout out to the ensemble - they've got to be the most vocally impressive ensemble I've heard in quite a while.

I hate to say it but I found last Thursday's performance to be very lackluster. I don't see what all of the hype is about. I was disappointed in nearly everything -- the direction, the performances, the design...it was bland and uninteresting.

All the actors are pushing and don't seem to trust the material. It's getting them nowhere. Annaleigh was desperate for laughs to the point where I felt embarrassed for her. Groban has a great voice but could not be less threatening and his performance lacks depth. The lovers brought nothing to their roles and seemed lost. Matarazzo was fine but doing his same schtick.

The design felt cheap. Natasha must have passed this one off to an intern because the lighting did not suggest mood or place. I was pretty saddened to see how heavily she relied on spotlights. The stage itself felt empty and unused. I couldn't believe a Mimi Lien set was this boring.

Lastly, the direction was just missing. Characters would wander the empty stage during their songs with no apparent motivation for doing so. It looked like they were filling space. I've never been impressed with Thomas Kail and found his last musical to be really bad. I think he's sailed on Miranda's brilliance because when Miranda isn't at his side you see Kail's talent for what it really is. The choreography could have all been cut. It was distracting and a bit foolish which was sad because I've loved Hoggert's work on other shows such as "American Idiot" and "Black Watch".

In the opening number, someone dropped a line. It was obvious and audience members around me noticed. The person sitting next to me went "OOF". That set the tone for the whole evening and I wish I could say it got better from there but it never did.

Sorry to be such a bummer but I thought folks may want to know that not everyone is raving about this. If you can only see one show, make it "Kimberly Akimbo" and skip this.

theatregoer3 said: "All the actors are pushing and don't seem to trust the material."

I really appreciate this observation, and I think it's both a good encapsulation of what's wrong with this production and a sign of weak direction.

In the opening number, someone dropped a line. It was obvious and audience members around me noticed. The person sitting next to me went "OOF". That set the tone for the whole evening and I wish I could say it got better from there but it never did."

That's pretty wild. Rare to see that in any Broadway show, let alone one this high-profile, this fresh off of opening, or this central to the canon. Certainly feels emblematic of how slipshod the whole outing feels.

I guess I've only seen positive reviews and I'm glad to see that others on this board feel the same way. It really bummed me out to leave a production of Sweeney feeling so disappointed. It's also interesting because all of my friends really want to go see this -- there's strong word of mouth on this one.

I had seen the original back in 1979 Summer, 2001 SF Symphony Concert with Lupone/Hearn and 2005 Broadway Revival.

I saw the show 4/1 Evening. Sat in Mid Mezz C 117 (in line with stairs so that was good for viewing) but would not sit higher than Row C.

I really liked the production. The Musicality of Groban and Ashford makes the score so lush and melodic.

the only number that was hard to decipher was Ashford on God that's Good. Thought volume and punctuation was fine.

It does lack a little on the sinister and evil but was passable. Ashford gets most of the love and laughs.

The supporting cast is strong. I will go back and see this in the fall.

Ashford is so woefully miscast and so poorly directed I honestly feel gaslit by the reviews.

I feel compelled to make some sort of response to the general tenor of this thread in contrast to my very different feelings about the revival. Please move past this post if you don’t want to read my ramblings, and don’t berate me for taking up too much space. That’s what a scrolling thumb is for! Good evening:


This has all gotten pretty ridiculous. A show with glowing reviews and sold out performances is getting trounced on by an insider group of social media posters who turned negative early in previews and made up their minds that their ST was being mishandled and would be properly dismissed upon its opening. That it’s become the biggest hit of the season has seemingly brought out the worst in every MFA certain that they alone have a grasp of Sweeney Todd and what it should be. There’s even a guy who thinks he’s reinvented it and his vision is being squelched by people who simply won’t listen. I advise him to get hooked on Assassins as I’m sure he’ll relate to many of the characters.

Well kids, here I am, your worst nightmare. Many of you got hooked by theater during the past several years and have had that head shaking life changing show that turned an interest into a passion. So did I. Many years ago my life changed when I attended the first post opening Saturday night performance of Sweeney Todd following its previous Sunday opening.

In those days a full page ad of a show that received rave reviews appeared two days after opening night in the NYT. And Sweeney needed those reviews. It played to 50% capacity during previews and 20% of those walked out after intermission.

I saw the show at least 20 times from every part of the then Uris theater. This epic preamble is by way of responding to the many negative posts above, and contrasting the original production that’s been branded on my brain for decades with what I - given the reports here - walked into last Saturday night with great trepidation. Fortunately I was quickly won over and had a mostly ecstatic evening that was matched by an audience on their feet cheering before the first ensemble members appeared for their curtain call.

As there are so many perturbing posts here, I will respond numerically to what I have read versus what I actually saw and heard:

1. Unless fmezz 101-102 are magical seats, the much maligned sound design was perfect for me. Every instrument was both distinct and at a proper natural volume that approximated the acoustic unamplified sound of a classic chamber orchestra. By the way, this horrible first row railing that seems to render some attendees view completely obstructed not only had no negative impact on me, but also none on the two 8 year old boys a couple seats down from me.

2. Sweeney Todd is not Moulin Rouge or Wicked, tenant by the way of the theater where ST originally played. The sound design with those was created to most resemble wearing earbuds at full volume. There’s a very simple reason why ST can’t do that. The minute you mix the orchestra above a naturalistic level, Joanna’s voice on Green Finch and Linnet Bird would have to be amplified to a degree that would make the lyric soprano’s voice gratingly unlistenable. And this applies to many of the cast and their voices and the intimacy of their material.

3. Josh Groban is not an accomplished actor. He is also not an amateur. His vocal accomplishment with the role is unmatched by anyone I have seen in the role, and that is where his talent triumphs. Len Cariou was absolutely genius in the role, and to this day my favorite. But his voice always became tight and strained in its upper range and by the middle of the run his voice was shredded by the vocal demands and screaming through Epiphany! George Hearn followed him with a ham fisted portrayal and a voice with a wobble you could drive a train through. He always reminded me of Bert Lahr’s cowardly lion. The opera singers I have seen in various productions over sing the role, and are often saddled with short rehearsal periods and stilted direction.

4. Mrs. Lovett. Angela Lansbury mugged with the best of them, as attested by her original reviews. Annaleigh Ashford basically gives the same kind of performance, amped up a bit. Yes there’s more physicality, but none of it interferes with the pacing of her scenes or songs. And everything she does is verified in the text. There isn’t any coming out of nowhere schtick.

5. Sound again. While it may come as a surprise, ST was more difficult to hear at the Uris than the new one is at the Lunt Fontaine. I remember the first time I saw the original from the middle of the mezzanine. You could hear the laughter and applause coming from downstairs while everyone in the rear mezz were sitting on their hands. It was eerie and seemingly a metaphor for the whole show.

6. Design and direction. While impressive that Eugene Lee transported an iron foundry to NYC and ripped the proscenium off the Uris stage, there was a catch. While fascinating to look at as you entered the theater, when the lights went down all you had was a square spinning pie shop, a ladder and a bridge. Period. And while Hal Prince did a great job with pacing and transitions, his insistence on shoving constant metaphors about the Industrial Revolution and its dehumanizing outcomes became largely irrelevant. Why? Because Stephen Sondheim absorbed and reinterpreted everybody’s ideas during the writing process. Everything that Prince chose to dramatize was already taken care of in the libretto and score. That’s why no factory whistle now. Redundant.

So that’s where I stand. Having seen the original many times, all the revivals and many regional and opera productions, this is the one that comes closest to my experience in 1979 when I was a very young and very impressionable theatergoer. And lastly, for everyone claiming they can’t hear what people are saying from the stage, take Sondheim’s advice. Listen.


Oh, and for everyone saying that this Mrs. Lovett is vulgar and much too much, she wasn’t nearly as wild eyed and tremulous of voice as Dorothy Louden, and more importantly, doesn’t play the tuba.

It was a cheap trick. It wasn’t the fault of the tuba or the performer. Blame the director.