SWEENEY TODD First Preview — Page 4

Did anyone else think Patti LuPone's skirt was, well...a bit too short?

Ah Sweeney! Ah humanity! Oh my God: BRILLIANT. You could feel it in the air as you rounded the street corner and saw the crowd, the people lined up back to yonder. Abuzz. The lights went down and the roar started, applause, applause, lifting us out of our seats. It was electrifying.

So much ado about this particular treatment: "Why mess with a classic?" Because one test of a classic is its malleabilty -- how far can it be stretched before it breaks? Can it be broken? I suppose it's possible, but I've seen three vastly different productions of "Sweeney Todd," and each has succeeded in its own way. I firmly believe this story and this music are strong enough to warrant any number of treatments, and in any event, the decision to present the action as the wild imaginings of a lunatic seems appropriate; is "Sweeney" ever anything other than madness?

The actors-playing-instruments concept is difficult to imagine, but it works in an almost organic way, and what you sacrifice with the natural majesty of the orchestra you gain with the clarity of the lyrics. (Sidenote: You have not lived until you've seen Patti LuPone carting around a big ol' silver tuba onstage, shaking her rear end like nobody's business. Truly one for the books.)

Also: the idea that you're losing something in the characterizations by employing the actors as musicians is false, because the characterizations are entirely different from what you've seen before. This isn't Mrs. Lovett with a tuba; it's a different Mrs. Lovett.

I'll only say this: it works. A world re-imagined, stark and macabre, hyper-stylized and creeeeeepy. Against the back wall hang costumes on hooks, and a 30-foot-tall shelf stacked with tchotchkes straight out of an olde English curiosity shop. Buckets fill and refill with blood when a character is killed (during "Johanna," for example, Sweeney is standing on the coffin alone, slashing his razor in the air; actors standing below him on the stage pour blood into a bucket to symbolize each murder).

Michael Cerveris, bald head glaring ghoulish white beneath the spotlight, looks like a Charles Addams creation; his voice is both haunting and haunted. What can I say? He's a sexy man, and far more effective than I would have guessed. I'm starting to suspect he can do anything. Patti starts out as Greta Garbo in "Anna Christie," all hangdog and world-weary, and morphs into a sassy, glittering Roxie Hart for Act II, glossy black wig, black eyes, bright red lips, black skirt up to there. Gone is the cartoonish portrayal from her previous "Sweeney" outings; this is new from head to toe. They are both menacing, feral, and deadly serious even when they're being wildly funny.

And with the orchestra stripped away, it's as if you are hearing the music for the first time: not something missing, but something revealed. It sounds new again, simplified and yet multiplied and magnified, completely reborn. The essence of the thing is split wide open and you have only this glorious, passionate, living...magic. I can't believe there's not some small amount of alchemy at play here, some devil's bargain made. Because really, it's f***ing BRILLIANT.

Go. See. It. And decide for yourselves.

Updated On: 10/4/05 at 03:12 PM

I'm so excited to see this now!!!

Yes I agree, that was a fantastic review kgee.

there are no rush tickets


SRO when sold out.


there are side-rear mezz seats for 36 dollars though

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Sweeney Todd is one of my all time favorite musicals. Number 2 on my list. I really wanted to see this version of the show but I am not a Lupone fan at all. But after reading your reviews here, I may just have to see it while I am in New York next month. Who knows, maybe she will win me over. I didn't like her Mrs. Lovett in the concert version at all.

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This show, I can't even describe how satisfied I was. Some truly standout performances, mostly coming from characters I had really never cared about before. To see Manoel flying around that stage just OWNING the whole violin bit and still sounded incredible and Donna's *sniff* before weilding the accordian and going straight into it. If that cant immerse you into this show, I dont know what will. At first I did not recognize patti and it took me some time before I remembered Alexander Gemignani was the beadle, the costumes and wigs were so wonderful. There were some small parts I missed. I missed the whole cut dialogue with lovett and toby in the pie shop and the beggar woman I didnt really like her interpretation much. The beadle I felt got downsized a bit and slowing down "Ladies...." was kind of bothering me, but then again his relationship with the judge was done a little differently. In the old staging, he was kind of the right-hand man, while in this seemed a more formal and creepy kind of duo, talking over wine about the news. I really loved most of everything else though, especially happy hearing the audience laugh at parts we all probably had heard before. I sat there and found myself laughing at the same exact things I had heard so many times before, but there was just something different about it this time. I loved how Johanna was played, probably my favorite interpretation of the role, yet Anthony was played with such innocence, I kind of got annoyed by it. Patti was lovable and played the role SO differently than in the concert, setting my concerns aside of how well she would do. Overall such a shocking and really brilliant take on a classic show that we should be open to. I mean, really how many times could we watch the old one without feeling like we wish we saw different takes on it. This takes the cake.

Oh and btw anybody else adore the moment between Toby and donna as the asylum worker I'm guessing playing the flute and vilin back to each other as the intro to "Green finch.."? And did anybody hear if they had like(sorry im not a musician so im gonna try and work it best as possible) like that powerful burst of the stringed instuments going as sweeney appears in both the beginning and ending right before he says "Attend the tale of sweeney todd" and the number becomes creepy and powerful? I didnt hear it and wondered if it was kept in the score for the show, thanks!

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Updated On: 10/4/05 at 05:16 PM

They sound great. The cast that was hired are for the most part also concert level musicians. A couple have even played in the pits of other Broadway musicals.