Sweeney Todd Definitive Recording?

[Soaring29]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 12:39am

I thought the Music Man thread was fun, so I was wondering what recording you think is the definitive version of Sweeney Todd? What are your thoughts on all of the recordings so far?

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:28am

Definitely the original which I consider to be the greatest cast album ever made.  The performances are thrilling and it's complete.  It even includes a large portion of the dialogue.  It's Sondheim at his greatest.

After that, I also quite like the recording of the Doyle production.  It's not complete and the orchestra sounds very thin due to the actors doubling as the orchestra, but the performances are sensational, especially Lupone and Cerveris.  Lupone is actually my favorite Lovett  (I know, blasphemous).  I also adored the radically re-imagined production as well, which might contribute to my enjoyment of it.

The movie soundtrack is positively atrocious, just like the film.  Depp and Carter are so terrible that I can't even put into words how ghastly they are.  They're shrill and their acting is terrible.  Just the f*cking worst.  An embarrassment to musical theatre.  Why couldn't they have gone with someone like Hugh Jackman and Meryl Streep?  Neither are perfect singers, but their voices at least fit the parts and they can actually act!

There was also the 2012 london recording I believe.  Imelda Staunton is great and Michael Ball does a nice job in the part and makes his tenor voice work very nicely in the part.  The recording just sounds a bit thin though due to some modern recording techniques and it is very incomplete.

BUT, the best Sweeney Todd isn't even on a studio recording!  George Hearn sings his a$$ off in the 1982 video recording.  His classical voice sounds like warm butter.  Warm goddamn butter!  His acting is positively manical and brilliant on top of it all.  

The recent recording from Lincoln Center is decent.  Emma Thompson is great as is Audra Mcdonald, but Bryn Terfel falls flat for me.  His voice is overly operatic to the point of being distracting and his diction is horrible muddled.  I won't even get into his acting, which is virtually non-existent.  The production is also heavy handed and poorly executed, IMO.

Stick with the OBC.  It's definitely the best.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:34am

I really like the earlier Concert Recording. I don't love live recordings but Audra, Patti, George Hearn, Davis Gaines... c'mon. And the chorus numbers sound so grand and the lyrics can be heard so clearly. If you don't hate applause breaks and laughs (and a slightly over the top Lovett)... give that one a go. 


However... it's likely clear to all that the OBC can't be beat. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:37am

I agree. The original is the best one (and I'm not one of those people who says the original is always better). So much more lush, rich, and grand than any of the others. There are moments of the Doyle recording that I enjoy a lot, namely the act 2 Johanna quartet. 

I also enjoy the 2000 NYC concert cast. I believe it's essentially the same version that they filmed in San Francisco, but with Audra as the Beggar Woman (and maybe some other cast changes, but the leads are the same). Part of the reason I got this recording is because it contains the extended version of the Beggar Woman's scene in the final sequence, which is absolutely gorgeous. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:45am

Nor am I one to insist the original is always best (though of course originals always have the advantages of tailoring the songs to the cast and orchestra, something not always or even often done with a revival). But I don't think there's any question with SWEENEY.

And on a related note, I find myself agreeing with GeorgeandDot so often lately, I'm not sure I need to post any more. Except to say that while George Hearn is the greatest baritone of his generation, I prefer Len Cariou in terms of conveying the character of Todd.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 2:15am

^Yeah, I know what you mean.  I saw the original production  (on opening night actually!) and Cariou was terrifying and menacing.  I didn't see Hearn live, but in the 1982 video, I'm actually not scared of his Sweeney, but I actually empathize with him.  It's interesting, Cariou played him as a horror film antagonist, while Hearn seems to have played him as a tragic anti-hero.  Honestly, both brilliant interpretations.  I just really love Hearn's voice.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 2:25am

I do, too. I first heard George live in a summer tour of WONDERFUL TOWN (starring Lauren Bacall) and thought, "Damn! Who is that?!"

SWEENEY was the first new Sondheim show to open after I moved to NYC, so I saw it every week or two for the first year of its run. My husband and I would head for new shows and then talk ourselves into seeing Sweeney "one more time" before we reached Times Square. (It didn't help that it was always up at TKTS.)

I guess I may be saying I'm not entirely objective here.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 2:55am

  I too think the Hearn and Lansbury 82 version is the best, despite the fact that there  is obviously   no   formal cast recording.  I'm re-listening to the original right now and Cariou is definitely impressing  me way more then he has before given I was so blinded before by bias towards Hearn's brilliance in the part.  The 2000 concert version played by the NY Philharmonic was actually the first version I owned  and I thought it was fantastic, especially with Audra as the Beggar Woman and the extended version of her lullaby to Joanna(Although it does ruin some of the shock at figuring out who she really is at the end, even if it is somewhat clear without it). I like the John Doyle version too, although the score is   clearly at it's best with a full orchestra. Cerveris, in particular,  is a standout.  I actually like the film version quite a bit, although the voices are  obviously not on the level of the Broadway voices . Haven't listened to either the 2012 recording or the LCT version. 

 

Lansbury is my personal favorite M.L, but comparing her to Lupone is like apples and oranges. 

 

 

 

[Andy51]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 12:08pm

I'm not sure what criteria to apply in determining what constitutes a "definitive" recording or production.  Authorial intent?  Personal preference? Or something else? 

Here are a couple of quotes from Sondheim at the time of the Doyle production:

 "Of all the productions I've seen, this is the one that comes closest to Grand Guignol, closest to what I originally wanted to do."

[W]hat got me most about the orchestrations is what they did for the play's atmosphere. These are wonderfully weird textures. The sound of an accordion playing with a violin -- it's very creepy."

This doesn't entail that Sondheim thinks the Doyle recording is the "definitive" one, but, in light of this,  it wouldn't surprise me if he thought it at least equal to the original.

I personally have come to prefer the Doyle recording.  I find the more minimal (10 piece orchestra rather 27 in the original) orchestrations to better distill the brilliance of the compositions, and, like Sondheim, delight in their strangeness.  As far as the vocals, I'm partial to Len over Michael, but Patti over Angela.

[Withonelook2]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 12:40pm

I saw the OBC of Sweeney Todd when I was a student. I can't say how much I loved that show & cast. Angela & Len were magnificent in the roles. None of the recordings I have heard since come close IMO.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 12:46pm

"Definitive" would be the original I guess, but honestly it's the Doyle recording that I return to most often. Part of it is sentiment (it was my first time seeing a Sondheim show), but the performances are just excellent. And I like having the option of the stripped-down orchestrations. Both this Sweeney and the recording of Doyle's Company feel like movies in your head, if that makes sense. They're very intimate.  

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:08pm

I listen to the Doyle version most often, but then, I'm a huge Patti and Michael Cerveris fan. However it's sui generis and closely tied to the particulars of that production. 

"Definitive" usually comes down to original, and the OBC album can't be beat. Great performances all around.

When I'm looking for a different recording to reawaken my ears, I go to the recent London recording with Imelda Staunton, who is magnificent, and Michael Ball, who is okay.

Never the movie soundtrack - although I will defend Tim Burton's directorial choices (not so much his casting of Lovett)

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 1:22pm

I wish the Hearn-Lansbury tour had a CD, but the Hearn-LuPone concert recording is the best, IMO. Len Cariou is said to have acted the part brilliantly, but Hearn's operatic voice makes him the best Sweeney to listen to.

I truly hated the Doyle production. Not into the whole "Teenie Todd" approach.

[Soaring29]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 7:15pm

Love your profile picture Distinctive Baritone!!! 

[binau]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 7:17pm

The movie soundtrack obviously can’t be the ‘definitive recording’ because of the awful singing and cuts (personally I think the movie as a whole worked - but it was Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd not just a direct stage to screen transfer). 

However, one thing I must say I love about the movie soundtrack is the orchestrations. Listening to songs like ‘Worst Pies’ ‘My Friends’, ‘Epiphany’ or the Final Scene I find the orchestrations to be so chilling. Has a Sondheim score ever sounded better in this regard? 

[Jake01]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 11:39pm

I entirely agree with your assessment, Andy51: "better distill the brilliance of the compositions", yes, indeed. I suppose the 1979 original is "definitive", but there's something about the supremely creepy orchestrations of Doyle's 2005 revival that continually draw me to that recording.

Updated On: 9/25/17 at 11:39 PM

[Jake01]

Posted: 9/24/17 at 11:39pm

Double

Updated On: 9/24/17 at 11:39 PM