Sweeney Todd PBS — Page 4

well overall I thought that was pretty good, and something I haven't seen in a Lovett before. A little slow in parts... but generally fabulous, and well worth the nothing I paid to see it on PBS... I mean we can all nit pick but really we got to see a great show with some outstanding performances free!!! thank the lord for Great Performances for those of us who live no where near New York

Updated On: 9/26/14 at 11:28 PM

Emma reminded me of Helena Bonham Carter and Cate Blanchett for some reason. Not that that's a bad thing.

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side note to whoever brought up emma doing a full production, they are remounting the concert with her and Bryn in London for a 2 week run.


Emma to Play Lovett in London

Updated On: 9/26/14 at 11:41 PM

This is somewhat random but does anyone think Megan Mullally can play Mrs. Lovett in the next few years? I think she'd be great.

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^ id see that, although to be far id pay to see them together in anything including love letters.

I'm only at Green Finch so I haven't read anyone's reviews so as not to be spoiled however I just wanted to come here and say that this guy playing Sweeney has about as much acting ability as a turtle. I love what Emma is doing with Lovett so far.

What broadwaytbay said. Thank God for Great Performances and Live from Lincoln Center for those of us not in the New York area. I loved the whole thing and found the staging to be rather creative. My only complaint is that this won't be released on DVD/audio recording.

I'm really glad I had the opportunity to watch this tonight, and was very pleased with the overall production!

The shining star of the show is without question the orchestra. I so envy everyone in Avery Fisher Hall who had the opportunity to hear this incredible score performed live by that talented group of musicians! Emma Thompson was such a joy, too, and delivered a effervescent performance (despite the flaws of her costar).

I was surprised at how much I disliked Terfel... his vocal performance was not nearly stellar enough to compensate for the lack of ability to embody the character, or even remotely begin to assemble a character. I also found him to be unintentionally hysterical at many inopportune times; I'm sure this was a symptom of home viewing and close-up camera work, but it certainly disrupted the tone of the evening.

Audra was a terrific Beggar Woman, and I'm so glad they filmed and aired one of the performances that he was in! For a concert performance, I think they managed to come up with a lot of clever staging.

I also have to disagree with Mr. Nowack: I thought the second act moved at a great pace and really delivered, but I found some of the first act to drag.

Thanks to PBS and Live at Lincoln Center for sharing this!

Sweeney Todd is one of my favorite shows of all time, and I thought this production was amazing. I was very pleasantly surprised by how utterly fantastic and kinda different Emma Thompson was. Plus, Audra McDonald was totally psychotic in the best possible way, the judge was creepy and that was of the best Antony/Johanna combos I have ever seen. Some other Sweeney things I've always wanted to talk to someone about: someone on here said that this Johanna was not ditzy enough. I don't think she has to be. If you think of how terrible her life is, you could also play her as very mature, restrained, repressed, obedient etc. You really cannot blame her for forgetting her wits in Kiss Me, because just imagine! She was terrified out of her mind, and rightfully so. Also, gosh, the Judge's Johanna makes my skin crawl to the point where I don't enjoy listening to it. I saw my first production at 14, where they took out that songandI had to hear the score many times before I realized just how disgusting Judge Turpin is. The fact that I slowly realized makes it even more disturbing. I've always felt so awful for Johanna.

It's one hour into the show on the west coast and I am enjoying every minute of it. Sweeney is one of my favorites and this production is so much better than the film version. Yes, thank God for PBS and a big plasma TV!

Updated On: 9/27/14 at 01:01 AM

Overall I thought it was wonderful and sounded great. Thompson was outstanding and whipped those lyrics out like a champ. Some of Price's choices were strange like, as someone else pointed out, Mrs. Lovett cutting Sweeney's hair. Price also likes taking the actors into the house which I'm not a big fan of. But all in all I thought it was a very accomplished concert staging.

Obviously Bryn Terfel is a brilliant opera singer, so I feel strange criticizing him since that isn't a world I know too much about, but... I just couldn't get into it because of him. He seemed oddly removed. He didn't embody Sweeney the way George Hearn does. He probably sang it better technically, but it seemed to be he was acting by remote control and not actually feeling anything.

Emma Thompson was great, but Patti and Angela... hard shoes to fill.

That said I loved the kid who played Toby and the guy who played Anthony were great as was Audra of course.

I think what was largely missing from this (mostly due to Terfel) was the sense of fun. Hearn and Landsbury and LuPone brought it. I dunno- didn't connect for me, really.

Was alerted that the show is on the PBS website....for now.
Here it is...for now