The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Mrs. Lovett cures the blues!-dble post

Here it was, Friday November 11th and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself because it was officially one year ago that I broke up with my ex-boyfriend. I was determined to do something to take my mind off the date, and a depressing year of singledom, and my closest friend was m.i.a. After work, at about 5:20 I got literally the last standing room ticket for Sweeney Todd. Somebody up there knew I needed cheering up .
I can't say enough how friggin' great this production was. Where to begin? Michael Cervis blew me away as my favorite barber. He was able to make me feel such empathy for his character.
Mark Jacoby was awesome as the judge, as well as Alexannder Gemignai as the beadle. Benjamin Magnuson was decent as Anthony, but was a little lackluster compared to the other power houses. Lauren Molina was great as Johanna, and the girl can play the cello! I absolutely loved Manoel Felciano as Tobias, his rendition of "Not While I'm Around" brought tears to my eyes.
Now on to the real reason why I have been dying to see the show, oh mighty theatrical goddess Madame Lupone, I am not worthy! If she doesn't win the Tony for this performance I will protest! I never was fortunate enough to see the original production with Angela Lansbury, so forgive my gushing about Patti Lupone. She managed to combine the perfect mix of sexiness, vulnerability, sweetness, scariness, nastiness, and sarcasm all into Mrs. Lovett. And she rocked my socks off with her tuba playing! Her duet with Tobias was my favorite part of the show. After being such a big fan of hers for years, and willing to give my right arm to have seen her play Eva Peron, and never seeing her live, the wait was well, well worth it.

Updated On: 11/12/05 at 06:33 PM

Haha. Interesting, I saw Sweeney on Friday, too. It was ridiculously fantastic in every way imaginable.

The second time I saw Sweeney Todd was on Halloween, when I thought my friend ditched the plans we made to be with her boyfriend (it turns out that she fell asleep because she had been up all night studying for a midterm). Aside from being rather appropriate for Halloween, I knew the show would cheer me up, so when I saw tickets were available in the fourth row, I went for it. I thought I would like this production, but I didn't expect to become as obsessed with it as I am. I love almost everything about it and all the performers, but I feel like I could watch Michael and Patti do "A Little Priest" every day for the rest of my life and not get tired of it.

Jenny 1284: Here here!!

I also LOVED this production. Because I am a huge Sweeney fan I was expecting to hate it but was pleasantly surprised. I thought the chamber effect made it that much more eerie and creepy. I wasn't thrilled with all of the singing voices but the acting was some of the best I have ever seen in a production of this show. The cast is amazingly talented.