Sondheim on Dvd

[Victoria Grant]

Posted: 7/18/03 at 5:18pm

This seems pretty cool........


The venerable composer Stephen Sondheim will be honored in a new DVD box set. The six-disc collection contains Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, concert versions of Sweeney Todd and Follies and the 1992 Celebration at Carnegie Hall.

Set to be released Sept. 23 by Image Entertainment, "The Stephen Sondheim Collection" features performances by Patti LuPone, Liza Minnelli, Madeleine Kahn, Victor Garber, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Donna Murphy, Marin Mazzie, Mandy Patinkin and Sondheim stalwart Bernadette Peters.

The compilation will also include special DVD featurettes including: Sunday in the Park with George audio commentary with Sondheim, librettist-director James Lapine and stars Patinkin and Peters; Passion commentary with Sondheim, Lapine and stars Donna Murphy, Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie; and a making-of feature for Sweeney Todd in Concert.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/18/03 at 5:24pm

This sounds really great! Now when will they release the Lansbury "Sweeney Todd" on DVD?

[Max Bialystock]

Posted: 7/18/03 at 5:30pm

I would pay double for this set --
--just NOT to listen to the commentary by Mandy < "Am I intense or what?" > Patinkin.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/19/03 at 8:26am

Sweeney Todd (the version with Lansbury and Hearn, not the concert) is rumored to be coming out on DVD early in '04. Supposedly, the video will be cleaned up and the sound remixed. The one thing I wish they could fix in that video is when the orchestra and the cast fall out of sync with each other in "The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd". I've heard it a million times, and every time it comes to that part, it always makes me anxious!

Updated On: 7/19/03 at 08:26 AM

[PJ]

Posted: 7/19/03 at 9:05am

Yes. I love Angela Lansbury. I think I'm about to start watching the Murder, She Wrote reruns.

[jo]

Posted: 7/19/03 at 6:53pm

I wish they had come out with the boxed set earlier-- I already have 5 on DVD ( Into the Woods, concert version of Follies and Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the..., with Passion in the mail) and one in video ( Carnegie Hall) - price-wise, the new release would be a real bargain!

Have they announced when the filmed version of Sweeney Todd ( Cariou and Lansbury) will be released? I wonder if the announcement of the movie filming may affect its release.

jo

[Cadriel]

Posted: 7/20/03 at 12:23am

Can anyone comment on the Follies DVD? I've seen the other four show DVDs, and I like Passion and Sunday... much more than Woods and Sweeney (I'm fonder of the material, and the filming). I might be tempted to pick up that one individually.

-Wayne

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 7/20/03 at 2:43pm

Might have to save my pennies.

[Belter]

Posted: 7/22/03 at 7:06am

... this week, twice. I was in DC Thursday and Friday and took the DVD of the Carnegie Hall tribute with me to show my friend Victor Garber's performance -- she only knows him from ALIAS.


The next day we went to the Lincoln Memorial -- sat on the steps and softly sang "Damn you, Booth."


I was one of the lucky ones -- I was there that night, so many years ago. It was fabulous live -- watching the DVD I can't believe how much was on that stage. Seeing Madeline Kahn makes me cry (what a loss!) and laugh at the same time.

And I also have watched the concert version of Sweeney a couple of times recently -- the extras on the DVD are great!

But it made me wonder: Did Sondheim rewrite it a little? Patti either gets some of the lyrics wrong or he tinkered with it (something he likes to do) ....

[magruder]

Posted: 7/22/03 at 10:59am

Sweeney Todd has had a little tinkering...some altering of lyrics here and there, new Beggar Woman's Lullaby, which was added for the original West End production, the cutting of the tooth pulling section during the Pirelli sequence (a good cut), the cutting altogether of "Tower of Bray" (which I miss, because that scene was loaded with tension in the original Broadway production). And the Judge's "Johanna," where he whips himself to orgasm, cut from the original Broadway production, but included on the cast recording, is now generally a part of most Sweeney Todds.

As for the Follies concert. It's a nice document of the concert, but it won't give you much of an impression of the show itself. The ironic thing: the Follies concert recording was meant to be a more complete version of the score which was eviscerated on the original Broadway cast recording. However, the concert footage chops and edits some songs down to fragments and leaves out other songs completely. Also, it's around this time that Mandy Patkinkin became unendurable, and his mugging, shrieking, overwrought performance verges on unwatchable.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/22/03 at 11:01am

I will be buying this one.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/22/03 at 11:17am

“Also, it's around this time that Mandy Patkinkin became unendurable, and his mugging, shrieking, overwrought performance verges on unwatchable.”

Funny, I thought this happened in EVITA.
Anyhow, it is a comfort to know there is a “skip forward” button on my DVD player so I won’t have to squirm through “Buddy’s Blues” ever again.

At least Streisand knew enough not to let him sing in YENTL.

[magruder]

Posted: 7/22/03 at 1:15pm

For me, the problem happened at some point during the run of Sunday in the Park with George, circa 1985. I saw SITPWG the Saturday matinee after it opened, where Patinkin was giving a very moving, emotional performance. He's pretty much the same on the cast recording, which was recorded early in the run. Then, watching that video version, filmed after the closing, I could not believe the histrionics and lack of restraint in his performance. His performance in the Follies concert was the same year and just as out of control.

I missed him in Evita, but I think he's fine on the recording.