Margo on Sweeney Todd -- First Preview — Page 2

My theater teachers always stress the fact that every action on stage should be justified. My question is, how does one justify their character playing tuba while someone else is singing? Or when they're playing the instruments are they part of the "orchestra" and aren't really in scene?

Because its a whole reimagining of the show and the way its done. Whether its artistic purpose is justified or anything, I dont really find reason to complain in a piece that should be open to different takes on it. I dont know how much you can beat the original staging into the ground, but I can say Im happier it was done this way than previous outings

---

I'm a little confused why some people seem a little turned off by the lack of sets and the simple feel the show will have.

Chicago proved that a show can be a huge hit and can be a powerful experience with no sets. It's the most successful revival in history, so that says something right there.

I think this revival of Sweeney will work and be a success with the "simple" feel it has.

Updated On: 10/4/05 at 11:48 PM

Points well taken, MichaelBennett. Prince infamously makes his own concepts stand out in bas relief (EVITA more about media than Eva per se, etc., as he stated in interviews). You're right about the layers of thematic elements. No one is reporting that the performers seem (unfairly) taxed -- that their singing or acting suffer to accommodate the music -- so perhaps I'm being presumptuously protective of them. (And without seeing it yet!) I am delighted to hear more about it, before hand. Maybe this is one case where the thread helps me KEEP and open mind.

---

But the point that is being made is that it's not simple -- there's too much going on. It doesn't seem as if "simple" is what they were going for.

My use of simple insinuates the lack of set.

She plays it at least four times. She plays it during Pirelli's Miracle Elixer, the Contest, during the Judge's "Johanna," and during "God that's Good." She also plays a lot of the shows percussion.

And don't feel bad for these actors. I don't think playing the piano during a show is any more taxing then dancing a Jerome Robbins production, plus they are receiving two salaries (one for acting, one for playing)

Updated On: 10/4/05 at 11:58 PM

I must start by saying that I have always enjoyed your intelligent and cool-headed messages on the board and your opinions usually come from a very nice, experienced perspective. not to mention, your opinions are usually very similar to mine - which certainly doesn't hurt in getting me to like your thoughts. :o)

i have tickets to the show shortly following opening, so i don't respond to your thoughts as someone who has seen the production, obviously.

i do question, fundamentally and theoretically, whether a production must have a concept that is organic to the setting of the story. furthermore, why must a production even be most concerned with always servicing story, specifically the ability to transport on audience to the setting of a story?

i'm not challenging you and certainly i understand that these are principal goals in mainstream western theatre today. indeed, i worry how successful this production will be on such a mainstream platform such as broadway, where half the audiences are tourists, probably half of which are buying tickets to theatre, desiring theme park rides.

as a director, though, sometimes for a production I find it interesting to merely taking an audience on a journey, through something that may be linear or literal, but possibly merely a collection of images, moods, experiences that can move a receptive audience. again, i do also understand that such theatre is not ideal for broadway audiences and is best seen in other parts of manhattan, or brooklyn.

do you think the show succeeds on these standards? i'm merely curious because you have seen it and are someone I understand to be experienced enough to perhaps also attend such theatrical works.

thank you. i appreciate it.

great review Margo! i never was to thrilled about the concept of the intstruments from the beginging...after hearing your review i think it would really distract me as well form the story even tho i know it very well..i'd still go see the show tho cause i love the score and because it sounds like the cast is very talented.

I posted this somewhere else -- but Pirelli is played by a woman because in London, they couldnt find a man to play the accordian, but then they realized that you really need an additional female voice for balance. If you are doing the show with only ten people, 3 women to 7 men is not a good mix.

A semi concert staging sure didn't hurt the CHICAGO production any. And I wouldn't exactly say that the "no set - modern dance clothes" concept is a particularly appopriate conceit for a musical set in 1920s vaudeville -- but it works.

As long as it takes you on a unique journey, why does theatre have to be realistic? Why does it even have to make logical sense? Part of the problem with whats happened to theatre in the 21st century when the worlds of film and television have taught us that everything needs to be completely naturalistic.

But truly, having IN MY LIFE and SWEENEY start on Broadway in one week is truly remarkable. When was the last time we had to such avant garde musicals running on Broadway at once. A good omen for musical theatre I say.

Updated On: 10/5/05 at 12:23 AM

bennet, i enjoy your remark about the state of musical theatre. television and film do little to change audiences desire for naturalism, or at the very least work that is instantly accessible to a majority of the populace.

while i feel that musical theatre has nearly always been a mainstream in its tastes, i feel that sondheim was one of the few innovators who pulled obscure interests into the mainstream musical theatre scene.

and perhaps it is appropriate that this is controversial production is of a sondheim work.

p.s. i also enjoy your photo.

Updated On: 10/5/05 at 12:46 AM

What about anthony and johanna not becoming part of the many deceased? Plus I must add about the "extensions to character" they are also used symbolically. Toby using the bow of his violin to "grind the meat" was a part of the show as well!

---