Sweeney Todd 1991 Revival?- Page 2

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:24am

What is the TOFT?

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:30am

TOFT=Theatre on Film and Tape. It's part of the NYPL.

I saw this revival twice, once at the York and once on Broadway. It was better at the York, but the Broadway production was still quite good. And yes, Eddie Korbich is without a doubt the best Tobias there has ever been, and him being passed up for a Tony nomination was criminal.

[Luvinbroadway]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:47am

Mr. Bennett,
Can you give us more of your thoughts on Sweeney last night? Was Judy Lovett?
I always love your reviews.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:51am

Judy doesn't start until tomorrow night. MB probably saw Dorothy Stanley.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 10:59am

But it was there when the score was played on three synthesizers?

EXACTLY. That's what I wanna know.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 11:07am

LuPone was Lovett last night, and it was a fairly last minute decision to go, but I thought that this would probably be my last shot at seeing the production and I was curious to see how it had evolved since October.

The show is in solid shape; it is definitely moving at a much quicker pace than it was previously, and there is danger that lines and lyrics are now being lost.

Molina and Magnuson are giving totally different performances than they were in October, so much so, that you have to wonder if John Doyle is aware of it. They are both playing up the aspect of the characters being in an insane asylum. Molina's Johanna is now very angry and borderline psychotic. Magnuson seems to be going for a similar affect, but I actually found him much less effective now than he was when the show first began. He actually is beginning to play the role a little bit fey.

Diana DiMarzio was out, but her understudy Jessica Wright was solid and moving and played the clarinet, which didn't disrupt the instrumentation.

The rest of the cast remains fascinating; LuPone is still brilliant, though I was less impressed by Michael Cerveris this time. I was disappointed that he hasn't found some different layers to his performance.

I do find this production fascinating and thrilling. And for the second time, I took a guest who has no previous knowledge of SWEENEY TODD, and she had no time understanding the story. She was actually completely blown away by it.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 11:24am

The 1989 Sweeney Todd worked well enough (not perfectly) because the melodrama was there and the audience was made uneasy. This to me is what is utterly missing in the current production. Where is the blood, the gore and my precious pile of dead bodies? There is no passion for me at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

As a side note, The actor is Tony Gilbert that I am writing about. His wife went into labor the day of the first preview of this production, and he spent the entire performance running backstage and dropping quarters into the pay phone for baby updates. The baby was born later that night.

Furthermore coincidentally his wife is named Paula Sweeney so they named this child, a boy, Todd Sweeney Gilbert. Somewhere on this earth is a 17 year old running around with that name.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 3:01pm

I saw it. I can't say I was very impressed. It came off as cartoonish and not very scary.

Two things however stick in my mind:

1. During the song where the Judge is beating himself, the director had cast members around the stage and whenever the whip would hit his back, the cast members would "clap." It really did sound like a whip was hitting flesh... it gave a jolt to the audience.

2. When Sweeney would slit a throat and then send the the body down the shot from the barber shop, it looked like the actors were straighting their arms and preparing to slid down. I could understand why, there was not a lot of room.. hence the joke Teeney Todd. It made me chuckle.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/26/06 at 6:45pm

"Attend the tale of Teeny Todd
The set was small and the staging odd"

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:48am

I have enjoyed seeing different versions of SWEENEY though Prince's original staging is still unbeatable.

The Circle-in-the-Square production was unique and very effective. When Todd cut throats it was like a drinking fountain was turned on - a lot of blood. Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler were excellent and Jim Walton was a great Anthony.

The staging was different but that is what made it fun., I missed the full orchestra but the3-piece ensemble did OK.

It got great reviews and did OK business until the January doldrums. Also the show had been done twice by NYCO in the 1980s so it wasn't like it was a rare chance to see it. And there was also the video being shown on TV from time to time.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 10:58am

Multiple sites are telling me the Quartet WAS cut.


It's not listed in IBDB'S song list for this production

and this site flat out says it was cut, also says "Barber and His Wife" was cut.

http://www.sondheimguide.com/sweeney.html#1989NYR

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:00pm

Having watched the video at TOFT less than a year ago, I can promise you that neither was cut.

I think that what you're seeing is the result of neither "The Barber and His Wife" nor the "Quartet" having been listed as separate numbers in the playbill. "No Place Like London" was listed (according to ibdb), and I guess they decided that was enough, that the whole scene could go under that title (not unreasonable). And ibdb lists both "Kiss Me" and "Ladies in Their Sensitivities." I've always thought that listing those two numbers and then "Quartet" was kind of silly, and I guess they felt the same.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:21pm

Yeah, I believe that in song listings, generally, the quartet is not listed as a separate song. And I don't think "Barber and His Wife" is listed in the original Broadway Playbill either (I have it in my collection somewhere). It's just considered part of the "No Place Like London" sequence, although in the written score it is separate.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:44pm

No, "The Barber and His Wife" and "Quartet" were listed as separate numbers in the original production. I just pulled out a playbill to be positive.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:48pm

Barber and his Wife could not have been cut (not doubting the research mind you) but I wouldve been VERY upset if it was, and like I said, I loved this production.

tho I have to disagree with frontrow, I didnt like Walton's Anthony...or the one that he replaced from the York. Korbich was the standout for me.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:51pm

I think Walton was in both the York and the Circle in the Square.

Though I hadn't liked the production much, I had remembered liking Korbich very much (though not quite as much as Jennings). But when I watched the video, I was very disappointed in Korbich.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 12:52pm

I saw this one and it was mediocre, at best. After seeing the Tony nominations it received, my hopes were high -- only to be dashed to the ground.

Beth Folwer always has (and probably always will) have serious pitch problems. Her acting is consistently strong, but man! Stay on pitch, please. (This was also evident in her painful rendition of her song in "The Boy From Oz".)

Jim Walton was miscast, as was Eddie Korbich.

Overall, it was a lackluster, not-very-imaginative production.

The current revivial is razor-sharp and brilliantly executed. There is no hint of comparison in my book between the '91 show and the current production.

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 7/27/06 at 2:18pm

To the person who wanted pictures: The Sweeney Todd book published by Applause has some pictures from this production in it as well as the Hirschfeld caricature of the cast. Full production credits are also in the back.