Sweeney Todd at San Francisco Opera

Just got back from opening night...This is something special. Beyond hearing the full orchestra and seeing an epic production, this is phenomenally cast. It seems incongruous that Stephanie Blythe, a performer well known for Wagner and Verdi, would make a first-class Mrs. Lovett. She is PHENOMENAL. Incredibly on point dramatically, excellent comic timing, and of course she sings the role probably as well as anyone has ever sung it, without ever sacrificing character, musical precision or diction. The Sweeney, Brian Mulligan, is to be frank a tad stiff at times, but is a solid actor who cuts loose surprisingly when Sweeney goes bezerk....and he is everything one could ask, vocally; a gorgeous, Mellifluous Baritone that blooms forth in "My Friends". The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, especially an astoundingly good Tobias. THe production is lovely (Sweeney afficiados may be familiar, as it is a revival of the production from the Theatre du Chalet in Paris). There are some issues with the sound design, but they are kind of infrequent and don't really effect the evening. But honestly if you are anywhere near the bay area, this is unmissable. It is the kind of thing that I'll be talking about for 20 years and settles, for me, the question "can an opera company put on a first-rate production of a musical?" with a massively definitive YES.

Stephanie Blythe has made a few spectacular forays into musical theater (Carousel, The Sound of Music). No surprise she's a killer Mrs Lovett. Wish I could see this.

Highlights...

That little bit of Tobias just gave a whole new sense of poignancy to the role/song. Sorry I can't see this production.

Thanks for those clips, Horsey (what, they couldn't have placed the bits in chronological order?) This does look like a very good production. A few quibbles--the two leads look great but I do wish Anthony looked a little less... opera singer when he sang (does that make sense?) though Kiss Me sounds fantastic and of course I have to keep in mind, like with Show Boat and Porgy that the SF Opera Company performs in a MASSIVE house so close ups are not the ideal. (I can't decide from the clip if I like Tobias or not--he seems on the verge of acting like Renfield from Dracula...)

They were smart to bring over Chatelet's production (Vancouver Opera last Spring did a woefully conceptualized version,) which makes a few changes but is in many ways pretty faithful to Lee's original design and, while the clips don't show much of the set, seems very effective.

From the clips alone I might give the edge to Chatelet's cast, but that's unfair to say. This does give a slightly better idea of the staging though

Right--the intensity and operaticness of ANthony feels a bit heavy to me for the character--but it might work better live in a massive opera hall.