Sweeneey Todd original production- Broadway vs. tour

I found a question on an old message board about Sweeney Todd, but nobody answered it. I'm curious about the same thing:

"What was changed, set-wise, for the touring production that was taped for TV? I've seen some photos of the set from the Broadway production in the published libretto, and it seems to me that there is more at either side of the stage, and above."

I also want to know any details about the production that were changed from the 1979 Broadway production for the first national tour that was released on video. Basically, what would I have gotten from seeing the show on Broadway in 1979 (other than the cast) that I'm not getting from the Hearn/Lansbury DVD. Does anybody know?

P.S. I'm pretty sure that they cut the tooth-pulling and Parlor Songs sequences, so it would be cool if anyone could confirm that and tell me anything else that was changed.

Yeah, there definitely isn't a glass panel in the tour video. Thanks for the photo as a reference!

To be fair, the Judge's Johanna/Mea Culpa and the tooth-pulling bit never made it to opening night, so the overwhelming majority of the Broadway audience never saw them either

The tooth-pulling sequence and Parlor Songs were in the Broadway production after opening. It opened in March 1979 and I saw the show in May. In the Pirelli scene I think the "Now signorini, signori..." section was cut, but added back in for the cast recording and I think it has been included in most productions ever since.

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You can view both of those sequences here. This had to have been shot several months into the run, as replacements Cris Groenendaal and Betsy Joslyn are the Anthony and Johanna. (Either that, or Victor Garber and Sarah Rice were both out that day? Who knows).

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“Tower of Bray” is the part of “Parlor Songs” that usually gets cut.

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^ They are optional cuts, it varies from production to production.

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I've been a fan since the original production and over the many years I have never heard any rumor of Garber or Rice being fired.

I only ever saw the NY set, never the tour. But I can vouch for this: Eugene Lee’s sketch of the NY set above is preliminary and misleading in two key ways: the left and right sides of the stage where wings would normally be was crammed with 2 stories worth of actual foundry machinery. The machinery was disassembled from an abandoned one (in Rhode Island I heard), and had pistons and gears pumping and spinning throughout the prologue. Cast members walked up metal stairs to 2nd floor galleries left amd right that would connect to the gantry (bridge) you see moving thruout the show. All that factory machinery meant the factory whistle made perfect sense when you were watching the show. To my knowledge, the machinery was absent from the tour set.

Also, as you can see from the photo of the glass ceiling posted above, the w-trusses Lee sketched for the ceiling were replaced with hidden supports above the glass panes. The vast engraving of the Docklands that served as a backdrop behind most scenes actually extended out of the proscenium onto the side stages left and right (where the organ was placed).

The whole installation was gorgeous and spectacular and never for once diminished the action held within it (imho). Such a shame it couldn’t ALL have been recorded for posterity.

It’s further compounded by the fact that there were TWO tooth-pulling cuts: the Toby tooth-pulling sequence, and a second patter portion about pulling the Queen’s teeth. The patter portion was cut, and doesn’t even appear in the score. The Toby part is often cut, but was still in the show.

Interestingly, the only time I’ve ever been in a production with the tooth pulling and the Tower of Bray NOT cut was the single time I played Toby, so I got to do both sequences.