SWEENEY TODD 2005 Broadway revival?

I saw the tour, and I absolutely loved it. It was truly a breathtaking production.

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See, I don't like her in the concert but thought she was great in the revival.

I thought it was a great production. It was chilling and the concept worked, for the most part. The "City on Fire" sequence was incredible.

I will say that I did not enjoy the production when I saw it again on tour.

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Extremely poorly directed and, in my experience, completely incomprehensible to anyone who was not thoroughly familiar with the show.

i didn't love patti in either production but i liked her more in 2000. i don't understand the actors as musicians thing.

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I saw the revival and really appreciated the approach and most of the performances, but honestly missed the orchestra. I know bigger orchestras are giving way to smaller ones, but for a Sondheim show, I'm not a fan. And yeah Kad, "City on Fire" was pretty damn cool.

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Best musical I've ever seen. I've absolutely had that thought since I saw it in 2005. The various interpretations of it that could be made, the way it evolved on a nightly basis to add small actions such as the administration of pills to Toby during various scenes- only increased the genius of the piece. I think it was the most dynamic presentation of a Sondheim show I've ever seen. The audience was completely engaged, cringing and gasping throughout the entire thing. 'Not While I'm Around,' was near literally bone chilling. I really think one of the key reasons the piece worked so well, actually was the fleshing out of Toby as the haunted and damaged story teller.

Yeah, there were some 'what in the world' moments like the infamous 'baby coffin,' but overall the concept of inmates in an asylum totally played up to the strengths of the material. Even knowing the material going in, I think the only other show that's managed to so completely horrify me was 'The Pillowman.' So, yeah, saw it. Loved it beyond all explanation. I think John Doyle is a genius, and I'd follow him to any show. Especially with Sondheim, he manages to cut through some of the pomp that often shows up in stagings, and gets the real emotions, fear and desire out like no other director can.

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Updated On: 4/27/11 at 11:36 AM

One of my favorite shows I have ever seen on Broadway to this day.

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I am trying to be accepting of differing opinions but can't help but wonder what you thought was brought to this show by this concept? Have you seen a straight staging of the work? At the very least, can we agree that the entire thing could have been improved by having the actors who were supposedly playing a scene together brought into general proximity and made to address their words to the person to whom they were being spoken?

"Extremely poorly directed and, in my experience, completely incomprehensible to anyone who was not thoroughly familiar with the show."

I couldn't agree more.

I too saw the tour and loved it. Judy Kaye was a sensational Mrs. Lovett.

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I know I'm in the EXTREME minority on this, but I actually prefer the revival recording to the original. Not being a huge fan of the score, the melodies just seem so much stronger to me without the full orchestrations overpowering them. The reduced orchestrations really bring the music out beautifully, and make me appreciate it more.

Updated On: 4/27/11 at 02:02 PM

People on this board and Broadway critics were inventing new superlatives to describe it, but it was utter garbage. I saw the original version with Lansbury and convinced a gaggle of people to go see this show. Out of more than a dozen of us, not one of us liked it, and the older viewers around us were especially annoyed by it. It came off like a show put on in the high school gym. Other than a strait-jacket, it looked like the actors wandered in off the street wearing their regular clothes. Actors functioned as the musicians and the stage hands, which meant when a song finished and they had to hit a mark, they clumsily clunked their instruments down and rocketed across the stage to start their dialog, then would need to rocket back to where they left their instruments at the start of a new number. The whole set-up was very awkward and did nothing but take the viewer out of the show. I thought maybe stars like LuPone and Cerveris would elevate it, but they seemed instead to lower themselves to it. LuPone especially looked bored to death and rushed through her numbers like she was late for a dinner date. Of the cast, I only remember Manoel Felciano and Lauren Molina being stand-outs. If the ticket price had been $20.00, I might have been complimentary and said it was barely mediocre, but at full ticket price it was inexcusable. Hands down the worst production of Sweeney Todd, one of the worst Broadway productions I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot) and one of my worst memories of Broadway. My mother still refers scathingly to this night as the evening I dragged everyone off to a bargain basement side-show or Broadway as envisioned by Walmart. And the worst part was that she was right.