Sweeney Todd - Tony's in its future?? (And reviews!) — Page 5

I say Maria will win this year, followed closely by Lachanze and lupone. Patti is incredible but she wont get much sympathy I find simply because she has had her glory and although she may not get an award, she still is receiving such amounts of recognition that she just doesnt need another award. Its going to be SUCH a good year for best actress. It may just be a repeat of 2004's best actress race with such talented women all jockeying for such a close prize

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Followed closely by LaChanze? Sorry - no - she's no where in the same league as the other women.

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Wow...

All I can say is I'm so thrilled with these reviews!

I hope this production can outdo the run of the original!

The WSJ is a rave, too. It's password-protected, so I don't think I can link to it, but he does say that "Michael Cerveris gives the performance of a lifetime," and that "I've never seen or heard a scarier Mrs. Lovett, and don't expect to." And ends with "when you're sitting in the theater watching this cast, you won't want to be anywhere else in the world. In fact, I liked it so much that I've already bought tickets to see it again on my own dime."

i heard that talkinbroadway reviewer is paid to say what producers who oppose certain productions want them to..in order to create bad press

I wouldn't worry about the talkinbroadway review -- honestly and with respect to any internet theatre site -- only the major newspapers affect ticket sales, and those were with the exception of Kissel (mixed), raves.

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that Ben Brantley gave the show a great review. He really understood what makes this show so unique so amazing.
Obviously this is a hugely artistic success- and I only hope that it reaches financial success- only so we get more amazing shows like this. If there were more shows like this- I may be willing to actually pay full price.
I love this show.

I don't know why you people are saying Murray hates everything.

I checked, and he raves about CHICAGO. His SWEET CHARITY review was rather kind. And he LOVED Brooke in WONDERFUL TOWN.

Updated On: 11/4/05 at 12:08 PM

Well, Matthew Murray's got nothing on Jacques Le Sourd of the Journal News:

"Do you want to see "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" done on Broadway with a kazoo, a flashlight and a ladder? Except for the kazoo — the 10 actors actually play their own musical instruments, and they do a pretty good job of it — this is literally the level of production values in the revival of "Sweeney" that opened last night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

The version of "Chicago" that opened on Broadway nine years ago, a concert version of the 1975 Bob Fosse musical, gained audience acceptance as a full-fledged show. This "Sweeney Todd" makes that look like a full operatic production. It's barely a reading.

How much further can our expectations be diminished on Broadway, while prices keep going up?

Does this represent "the magic of the theater" with an economy of means? No. This British import, directed by John Doyle, just goes too far towards nothing.

Simply as a memory jogger for those of us who saw the original production in 1979 — with 27 musicians, and 27 actors — this pared-down version works well enough. It might work as well for someone who saw the 1989 revival. But for anyone who hasn't seen the show before, there isn't enough staging here to mean much.

Whether you come with memories of not, you never for a moment forget that you're looking at actors on a stage, making do.

Your tolerance for this revival will probably depend on your taste for the aforementioned "magic," and your belief in the 75-year-old Sondheim as a deity of the theater. For those whose love is truly unconditional, this revival will be forgiven, too.
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A couple of flashlights are used for effect. The three colors of the sets, costumes and lighting —black, white and red — make a for a "Chicago"-like minimalism, to be sure, but they emphasize the production's bare-bones quality.

Finally it's not economy; it just looks like cheapness.

And yet there is that Sondheim score, one of his most darkly magisterial, from his creative peak 26 years ago. Amazingly, it comes through relatively unharmed.

If that's enough for you, lower your expectations for spectacle, and head for the O'Neill.

Otherwise, stay home with your memories."

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051104/LIFESTYLE01/511040383/1031

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Newark Star-Ledger is positive:

"Newcomers to the 1979 musical thriller may have problems grasping this wonderfully wild production of the horror show about the vengeful crimes committed by a demonic barber and his terribly practical sweetie. But anybody who has previously encountered their gory doings is likely to eat it up. "

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1131089716143080.xml&coll=1

New York Sun is Mixed:

"Three parts revelatory to one part awkward, John Doyle's radical reimagining of "Sweeney Todd" at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre is far too adventurous to be entirely successful. No piece as screw-tighteningly effective as Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's 1979 Grand Guignol masterpiece of murder and cannibalism could withstand a top-to-bottom revamp like Mr. Doyle's without shedding a few valuable pieces. But for every rough edge that gets sanded down, several others spring into unsettling relief.

What was originally conceived as a Brechtian epic has become a penny dreadful with on-stage instruments, a bare minimum of performers, and (literally) buckets of blood. But the smaller scale is not the big news here: Teeny "Sweeneys" have happened before and will happen again. Mr. Doyle's main innovation is his use of the extraordinarily protean cast - which just happens to be the orchestra as well."

http://www.nysun.com/article/22549

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From Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916557/site/newsweek/

and the Chicago Tribune: http://tinyurl.com/aoo69

Not raves, exactly, but both are generally favorable.

Updated On: 11/4/05 at 02:45 PM

"And then there's Patti Lupone, who turns in one of the finest tuned performances ever to grace the Broadway stage."

Wow.

Holy Moly, Roma...keep your pants on!

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