Groban & Ashford in SWEENEY TODD On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread- Page 8

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 2:55pm

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Updated On: 1/12/23 at 02:55 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 3:00pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "I'm trying, but there's just nothing to hold onto. Got anything I can grab hold of, sugar?"

Nothing to hold onto, just like your claims that this production was stolen from you. 

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 3:03pm

Here is the full uncropped image, from the photographer's instagram (@franzszony).

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 3:06pm

Kad said: "g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "I'm trying, but there's just nothing to hold onto. Got anything I can grab hold of, sugar?"

Nothing to hold onto, just like your claims that this production was stolen from you."

The production as it now stands? No, I will fully concede that it is not stolen from me. You're right about that. But the initial concept they abandoned, and the opportunity in general? I think I've got a(n admittedly circumstantial) claim, not that I would pursue it, beyond having written about it so it was documented somewhere. Life's too short.

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 6:19pm

They updated the website with the new art and I'm 100% loving it now.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 6:44pm

FANtomFollies said: "They updated the website with the new art and I'm 100% loving it now."

https://sweeneytoddbroadway.com/

[Robbie2]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 6:48pm

[binau]

Posted: 1/12/23 at 8:18pm

I’m excited that they probably will be able to bring the sexual chemistry/appeal to the production, which is something I always thought Bernadette would bring to the role. Ashford looks stunning! 

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 1:00pm

Sweeney's instagram account posted some rehearsal photos and you can just barely make out renderings of the set design behind the cast.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 2:05pm

Looks great from what we can see, and appears to pay a lot of homage to the original set. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 2:41pm

That’s exciting! Between this and - I assume - Camelot being a bring production, this will be an exciting spring season! 

[Chase Miller]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 4:56pm

Anneleigh Ashford really has climbed the Broadway ladder. What a talent. I'm not a Josh Groban fan but I'm excited for this!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 5:30pm

A rounded proscenium is just one of those things that makes a design like 10% more interesting than a standard picture-frame proscenium. Excited to see the actual design.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 7:04pm

I suspect they won't, but I would love it if they restored Turpin's "Johanna (Mea Culpa)". It has been done in concert performances.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 7:14pm

Why would you suspect they won't

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/14/23 at 7:23pm

It's one of the most frequent reinsertions; I highly doubt they wouldn't.

(Me, I want to see if they put back the tooth-pulling or not. I would assume not.)

[east side story]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 9:43am

Finally bought tickets for early April.  I saw the Doyle revival 3 times, loved it, but I am so excited to hear this score played by 26 pieces.

[Dolly80]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 10:43am

That’s some bad photoshop there.

Are AA and Josh G scheduled to do all 8 shows? Can’t wait for this and don’t want to miss either of them.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 2:01pm

It's only scheduled for 7 performances a week. It's unknown if and when they'd add an 8th performance. 

[JoeW4]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 2:15pm

If we're talking optional material, I really hope they include the Beggar Woman's extra lullaby section (to the melody of "Poor Thing" in the final sequence.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 2:43pm

My guess is we'll get the Judge's "Joanna" and "Beggar Woman's Lullaby." 

Also potentially up in the air:  the full "Contest" and full "Parlor Songs." I could do without the full version of the former, and my guess is we'll get the full "Parlor Songs."

My biggest hope is that we get the full organ "Prelude." It could be heard in full in the original Philharmonic concert, and a good portion of it is included on the 2012 London cast recording. It is such a perfectly creepy way to open the show. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 3:02pm

The extended Contest sequence and Parlor Songs are something that I enjoy on an album, but for a narrative musical that’s trying to move along the plot, I think they’re better off cut. We get Pirelli’s deal after the shave sequence, and it’s not like the show is lacking humor elsewhere.

The Judge’s flogging scene adds a great deal to the show and ups the stakes of Johanna’s escape. 

[Jeff Tupolski]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 3:48pm

I hope that the tooth pulling is included. It may seem unimportant, but it really highlights how abusive Pirelli is towards Toby, which helps show why he becomes so devoted to Lovett’s simple kindness later on.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/15/23 at 4:24pm

Further, the tooth pulling, properly done, is the kind of dark comedy that elicits a sort of guilty laughter, and in a show packed with tension, it's important by whatever means necessary to leaven it by lightening up the mood for variety.

Besides, personally speaking, I wouldn't ask for the full "Contest" as most people know it anyway. I'd be advocating going back to what they did on Broadway originally: cut everything Pirelli sings before the first "To shave-a da face..."* Plenty of time for the tooth pulling then.

* (Despite what both Sondheim and Prince have said over the years, the tooth-pulling sequence was not cut from the original production in previews, borne out by a widely circulated bootleg video of Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury; what was gone by opening night was the "Now, Signorini, Signori..." section. Later productions, including the first national tour and the original London run, made the now-standard cut and restored half of "Now, Signorini, Signori...", with a small lyric adjustment that kept the Pope and dropped the Queen of Poland and her swollen tooth. The change was made early and became standard quickly, so we can forgive them for being confused.)

Updated On: 1/15/23 at 04:24 PM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 1/16/23 at 9:20am

If we’re talking “cut” material that we’d like to see restored for this production (“cut” in quotes, since we’ve seen almost all of the original material in some combination over the years in other major productions), the only two to me that add story without spinning wheels are “Johanna (Mea Culpa)” and “Beggar Woman’s Lullaby”. I do love all of Pirelli’s contest material and the Beadle’s extended “Parlour Songs” (especially in the Doyle revival, I thought it was thrilling and wonderfully orchestrated), but they slow those moments waaay down in an already lengthy show.