My "Sweeney Todd" thoughts

I saw "Sweeney Todd" about a week ago. It was the first time I've seen a Broadway show that I liked...and hated. Let me say that I LOVE new visions of shows. I LOVED the "Cabaret" and "Carousel" revials.

Here are some of my thoughts on "Sweeney." Some spoilers included.

• I liked the creativity of the cast playing instruments….but also found it distracting at times. Maybe because it was performed in such a small space it seemed to distract me. Plus…I’m not sure I see in the director’s concept that having the actors play instruments makes sense….other then just doing it to be different.

• I wish there were a few more ensemble members. At least 4 more. They could have lent their singing voices for a more powerful sound and played additional instruments in the shadows so the leads didn’t have to play while speaking/singing. That was the distracting part for me.

• I guess the director’s concept was that the whole show was in the mind of “Tobias” and the action took place inside of an insane asylum…. I wish there was more to book end this concept. It’s there, but I wanted more. I also thought the blood soaked lab coats were going to play into a thrilling finale sequence. Like the straight jacket boy (“Tobias”) went on a crazy rampage in the asylum and envisioned himself as “Sweeney.” At the end, you’d discover him among all these dead doctors and orderlies just crazed and rambling to himself. I could also see police bursting in (but modern day) as the curtain was coming in.

• I didn’t feel the character relationships were developed as in past productions. Maybe that was the director’s concept to keep everyone’s relationships sparse?

• I did like the usage of the few furniture items denoting the different locations….like the coffin becoming the boat for Sweeney and later the Judge’s pulpit.

• I like Patti LuPone in this version. I found her Lovett kind of sexy which was good for her manipulation. I liked Michael Cerveris but would like to see more…. Also with this new concept…why the random costuming? I don’t need period clothing but some were in it while others weren’t……..

• I think I would have liked to see what Sam Mendes would have done with this show…. I heard he’s doing the movie version. Yahoo!

• What (and why?) was that little coffin Sweeney was clutching in Act II?

• I had heard Hal Prince was in the audience for a performance and when someone asked him what he thought he replied “Well, I like the material.” (LOL)

That's it folks... What did you think of "Sweeney?"

• I guess the director’s concept was that the whole show was in the mind of “Tobias” and the action took place inside of an insane asylum…. I wish there was more to book end this concept. It’s there, but I wanted more. I also thought the blood soaked lab coats were going to play into a thrilling finale sequence. Like the straight jacket boy (“Tobias”) went on a crazy rampage in the asylum and envisioned himself as “Sweeney.”

I expected this also, and spent much of the show eager to see how it would all play out at the end. While Tobias ended up being the character I was most invested in, I feel like if they had done a little more with the idea, it would have been a bit more effective.

I thought it was brilliant...I thought the ending was just amazing and still is haunting me two days later.

I dont understand what the problem with the coffin is...to me it was his loss, regret, and white fury he was carrying around.

Inish, I have not heard those explanations for the casting choices by the director, but it was my impression that Pirelli is cast as a woman to even out the voices for choral stuff, and that Doyle has employed the same cast and orchestra combined concept in other shows he directed, including a production of Company...

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Doodle, it seems that the musician/actor show has become a bit of a gimmic, perhaps is the word?. for Doyle, yes. I believe he's also done at least one other show this way... but I could be wrong. But it essentially developed from the limitations of a theater in london.
And a woman pirelli does help strengthen the female voices (this was actually what I initially thought was the reasoning) but Doyle explained to me himself about how it came about in the original london show with a girl.

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