The blue hairs of Ft. Myers, FL don't understand Sweeney Todd

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 12:57pm

The non-AEA tour is currently playing in Ft. Myers, FL.

The review in the local newspaper:
http://www.news-press.com/article/20090130/ENT19/901300360/1070

Comments left under the review:
[e-mail] wrote:
They are giving away tickets for Saturday night, that's how bad this play is! Skip it, you won't understand what the heck is going on anyway.

murf2130 wrote:
[e-mail] says it all, but I will add that even if you have tickets, don't go either. I think that it will scare you from other musicals. When I called Barbara Mann the next day to discuss a few issues, he was basically rude and did not care what I had to say and defend the virtures of the show, so this article validates that the four of us are not insane. Also, there was a coughing person that sat near us and absolutely added to the disappointment of the evening. It scares me to go to other show at this Theatre.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 1:08pm

Hahaha. My brother and sister and I put on a musical revue every Christmas and Easter for the family, and since we love Sweeney Todd, we did several songs from that for our Christmas show. Sweeney is my dad's favorite musical, so he liked that, but my mom and Grandma couldn't stand any of the songs. My mom kept saying to my Grandma, "It's one of those new musicals. The songs are all really dissonant and unmusical. That's how they do it nowadays." Whenever I play my Sweeney cast recording, they tell me to wear headphones.

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 1:12pm

I'm just impressed that a person who uses the word 'unmusical' knows what dissonance is.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 1:16pm

My mom is a professional flute player and band teacher. She probably didn't use the word 'unmusical' if that's not a real word-- that's probably just me misremembering what she said.

But yeah, she strongly dislikes the score of Sweeney Todd.

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 1:25pm

Maybe mom used a word like un-melodic, or 'not melodic,' trying to convey that Sondheim's melodies don't flow in the traditional way that "older-fashioned" tunes did. Irving Berlin he ain't.

[I'm not making a judgment here about old-fashioned.] [Or new-fashioned.]

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 2:19pm

I like the back-handed insult that's been added by jazzmagnolia2000.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 3:07pm

Does anyone,
still have
Blue Hair?

This thread is ageist.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 7:06pm

I'm trying to find the part that reveals the ages of the two people who left comments that didn't enjoy the show. And it would appear that the critic understands Sweeney Todd very well, but they are just not fond of the staging in this production. Is the point that there are only three senior citizens in Ft. Myers or that anyone who doesn't like the tour must be a senior citizen?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 7:56pm

Well I saw the Equity tour with Judy Kaye last year and I absolutely did not understand it. If I didn't have the score memorized I would not have known what was going on. The people who sat in front of me were confused to the point of tears.

It was a horrible horrible production and I think the review is much too kind.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:08pm

Apparently, Joe has blue hair.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:10pm

"When I called Barbara Mann the next day to discuss a few issues, he was basically rude and did not care what I had to say ...."

Apparently, "Barbara" is not only rude, but a man. These people are confused, all right. Not just about musicals either.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:14pm

"In there place, you get a bare-bones set that feels like the inside of wooden crate."

I think this "critic" didn't go for spelling or grammar.



Of course he meant to say, "that there place." Duh!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:19pm

I missed that there! And apparently, people COUGH at this show! Take a pass on it, for sure!

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:22pm

My dad told me when he saw the Sweeney road company, the theatre passed out cough drops with the programs.

No joke! He mentioned that to me last night when we were at the same theatre for a Vivaldi concert.

No cough drops for Vivaldi, however.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 10:07pm

Sweeney Todd is truly one of my all time favorite musicals. I saw the Equity tour with Judy Kaye and David Hess when it played in Chicago. I thought it was a complete mess. If I hadn't paid so much for tickets and had it not been my first dose of real theatre after 8 months of doing lighting for Carnival Cruise Lines, I would have walked out at intermission. I would not give anyone any guff about not liking this production.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 10:33pm

"When I called Barbara Mann the next day to discuss a few issues, he was basically rude and did not care what I had to say ...."

Well, if I were named Mrs. Mann and I was mistaken for a man, I think I'd be 'basically rude' as well.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 10:42pm

Well, in Orlando Davis Gaines and Faith Prince are doing a concert version of Sweeney in March (as Sweeney and Lovett respectively)...

not sure how it has been selling (it's a two night engagement) but I got my seats. It's sad that people expect all musicals to be Wicked or Les Miserables (or even worse...Cats).

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/31/09 at 10:44pm

This isn't Sweeney, but my sister met someone who saw The Light in the Piazza and absolutely hated it. Found it boring and unmelodic.

Later on, she bought tickets to the Chicago production of Passion because Anna Gasteyer was in it.

Oh, I wish that I could have been there to see her reaction.

Updated On: 1/31/09 at 10:44 PM

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 2:11am

I saw the Hess/Kaye tour in Atlanta and loved it. the guy sitting next to me who had never seen the show before and only knew the basic plot (Murderous barber seeks revenge. He and lady-friend bake the bodies into pies.) loved it, too. If people would just pay attention to what's being said they'd enjoy themselves a lot more. Not every show is going to be big & flashy with useless dance numbers to dazzle your eyeballs. Sometime you actually have to listen to get it.

I'm seeing this tour in Savannah this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:28am

Sadly, all too often, when folks hear "musical", they don't expect to actually THINK. ST certainly isn't for everybody, that's for sure.

[nmartin]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:00am

"I'm seeing this tour in Savannah this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it!"

If it's at the Johnny Mercer Theatre, you won't hear a damn thing. The acoutics there are terrible.
Personal Rant: Thank God I don't live in that ghastly little un-Southern town anymore!!

[binau]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:09am

[QUOTE]My mom kept saying to my Grandma, "It's one of those new musicals. The songs are all really dissonant and unmusical. [/QUOTE]

"Pretty Women", "My Friends", "Johanna" and "Not while I'm around" are among the most melodic songs I have ever heard..I find it difficult to understand otherwise.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 10:02am

I KNOW! We only picked some of the more melodic songs to do-- "Johanna Quartet" (hard because there were three of us), "My Friends," "By The Sea," and "Pretty Women." We didn't even do the Ballad or any songs that might have disturbed people like "A Little Priest"-- which is my favorite.

For me, the most baffling part is that my mom likes most musicals and knows a lot about them... so how would she think Sweeney Todd is a 'new' musical when it was created during her childhood?

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 10:03am

They don't need to reveal their ages. As a current Ft. Myers resident, a Barbara B. Mann regular and actor, I can assure you that the only people who attend theater in this area are snowbirds. Many with blue hair.

[nmartin]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 10:59am

Long live the Roux Risne!