SWEENEY TODD DVD out on 4/20

Posted: 4/19/04 at 4:51pm

So it comes out tomorrow! i saw an add and it well seel for $14.99 at Tower Records! Cheap!

[DAME]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 4:59pm

I recieved mine from Amazon today. Will watch tonight. Can't wait.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 10:02pm

AHHHHHHH. SONDHEIM IS BROADWAY!!!!!!!!! SWEENEY IS BROADWAY!!!!! AHHHHHHHH...i like my stevie sondheim.

d.b.j

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 10:10pm

I just saw Sweeney yesterday!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!

Posted: 4/19/04 at 10:52pm

Oh my god Angela is so fabulous in this. This will not leave my dvd player for a long time. This must be the greatest live performance of a broadway musical ever recorded.

[Plum]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 11:25pm

Is this the same performance that's on the VHS? (Sorry for my cluelessness.)

Posted: 4/19/04 at 11:25pm

Yes. The same.

[Plum]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 11:28pm

Oooh, I want...

Posted: 4/19/04 at 11:30pm

It is lacking in DVD extras. And it is a shame because they could have done so much. But it is so cool . My video tape copy was so old.

Posted: 4/19/04 at 11:38pm

Hallelujah!!!!! As I have said before; Those who know and love SWEENEY TODD can now use the concert version DVD for a frisbee. This is the REAL "Sweeney Todd", the original (and finest) Mrs. Lovett, the incredible Angela Lansbury, and the equally wonderful George Hearn in his prime as a magnificent demon barber of Fleet Street.

This is Sondheim's masterpiece as brilliantly staged by Harold Prince, and meticulously directed for television by Terry Hughes.
Never before had Broadway magic been so well preserved for the ages as this production was in 1982 (Ironically, it was taped while the touring production was in Los Angeles!).

Out of print on VHS for years, we now have a DVD to treasure, with visual images restored to perfection, and a 5.1 surround track.

[magruder]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 8:10am

I'm absolutely going to pick up the DVD, and will be grateful to have it. I can't imagine anything can be done with it (unless there was an alternate take somewhere), but were they able to fix that terrible moment in "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" where the chorus and orchestra are out of sync with each other? I can't say that Betsy Joslyn's "Green Finch..." is one of my favorite renditions of that song either.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 8:33am

I hears a rumor many years ago that Betsy Joclyn was given a new key to sing the song in (Green Finch) just before the recording was made...and so she was thrown off by that. Of course that is just a rumor but it almost makes sense - she looks like a deer caught in the headlights thru the whole song...otherwise, though, I love this production. I happen to like the concert version also, though - I think Patti did some great things with Lovett, but of course no one can top Angela. And George Hearn - what a GOD.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 11:23am

Some extras could have been interviews with the stars. Costume sketches. A look into the production. A interview with Sondheim.....

[twogaab2]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 11:44am

According to Angelena Reoux-Joslyn was very sick (flu) when the show was filmed. So (cautionary tale) don't perform when you are sick! This miscaluculation has caused damage to her reputation for years. Saw her in "Into the Woods" and she was wonderful.


TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!

Updated On: 4/20/04 at 11:44 AM

[lvpblues]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 12:07pm

I was just at Amazon to check the status of my order and ST is ranked at 18 in the DVD sales rank!!

~Kevin

[tpdc]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 12:46pm

I agree that the Lansbury/hearn SWEENEY is one of the best stage to tape adaptations. I don't think it features Lansbury at her best though. I saw her at the final preview and that performance was very different from what she does on the video. The live performance was more bold, funny, scary and funny than the milder tour/TV version. She has said that she adjusted her performance to match what Hearn was doing. It seemed like she was doing some of what she created and some of what her superb replacement Dorothy Loudon did. Of all the Lovett's I've seen, Lansbury was the most scary and fascinating. Baranski was the funniest. And Loudon and local actress Donna Migliaccio were the most well rounded and satisfying. I can't wait to pick this DVD up after work today. Whenever I watch it with people who don't know the show, it's fun to watch them jump when Sweeney sings Pretty Woemen. Hal Prince's staging and the way Terry Hughes shot that moment is beautiful.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 1:10pm

I loved Dorothy Loudon. But even Angela at not her best is way better. Also; don't forget this weas filmed at the end of the tour. When she was a guest at the Television Academy she talked about how exhausted they all were.

Updated On: 4/20/04 at 01:10 PM

[tpdc]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 1:20pm

You saw both Lansbury and Loudon and preferred Lansbury? I have several friends who saw both as I did and we all liked Loudon more. I think that's because Loudon was a warmer more emotional Lovett than Lansbury's cold Broadway version. I thought Lansbury was amazing on Broadway. I still think it's one of the bravest performances I've ever seen. But I liked Loudon more and I thought the whole show played better with her take on the role. Since all the Lovetts I've seen since that final preview, including Lansbury on tour, are closer to what Loudon did on Broadway than what Lansbury did on Broadway, I think Loudon must have found something.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 1:29pm

No. Loudon couldn't even touch Lansbury vocally. No comparison for me.

Posted: 4/20/04 at 2:09pm

Tpdc,
I worked concessions at the Uris theater ( now the Gershwin) off and on during the run of Sweeney Todd. I am glad you enjoyed Loudon. Great lady. But to compare her Ms Lovett to Lansburys is like comparing Jason Alexanders Bialystock to Nathan Lanes. It is just not in the same universe. Loudon had a lot of trouble vocally. And her performance as delightful as it was ; was shtick. Updated On: 4/20/04 at 02:09 PM

[tpdc]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 2:56pm

I saw Loudon near the end of the run. At the performance I saw, she was decent vocally and had little shtick. I was expecting shtick but she gave a committed, moving performance. I saw Loudon perform live many times and this was her least funny performance. It sounds like she was inconsistent and I lucked out and saw her on a good day.

Also inconsistent was Betsy Joslyn in INTO THE WOODS. I saw her several times and I thought was really good only once.

[Michelleruth]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 3:53pm

"Swing your razor wide, Sweeney!"

I'm gonna go out and buy it! Thanks for the "heads-up"!!

[DAME]

Posted: 4/22/04 at 3:34pm

They were playing it at revolver ( a local gay bar here) last night. Everyone was singing along during ... SWING YOU RAZOR WIDE........

Posted: 4/22/04 at 5:06pm

i JUST got mine right now! I know I know it came out on tues but I got it in on sale for $14.99! and it's normally $29.99, it was worth the wait!

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/22/04 at 5:09pm

Dame,

Are you on the Left Coast (WeHo), or is Revolver a popular name for gay bars. I saw some brilliant videos at Revolver in WeHo.