What instrument will LuPone's Lovett play?- Page 2

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 12:49pm

well i think it's cool that there experimenting with different ways to tell the story but i dont know if i really like this idea..i would rather watch the show with a full chorus and a orchestra pit...but i am going to keep an open mind cause people seem to have loved it in london.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 1:20pm

Are there any production photos of the london production? A website with pictures? Anything?

[bwayrocks_ca]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 1:25pm

Is there any way to know how long (in weeks or months?) this show might run? I have to start planning my trip to NYC! Patti is the greatest!

Thanks.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 1:41pm

Wow! This is going to be interesting. I can't imagine doing the show without an ensemble and only 9 people total?

It's insanity, I tell you!

[pab]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 1:52pm

For people who want to have a glance at how the production in London looked, here is a link:
Link

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:04pm

This was playing when we were in London in September. We felt the same way all of you seem to feel and did NOT book tickets.

Boy, were we sorry.

All my theatre friends in London were talking about two shows: History Boys and this Sweeney Todd. We had tickets for History Boys (which was great), but we didn't have a night free for Sweeney.

Everywhere we went somebody else was praising its inventiveness, its theatricality, how wonderfully it brought out the story and how great the score sounded.

By the time we left, we were kicking ourselves.

Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris maaking inventive theatre magic with this score and this show? I can't WAIT to see it!

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:06pm

So far, the concept is not dragging me to the theate, only my love for this, my favorite musical, and the fact that I think LuPone and Cerveris are absolute brilliance together.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:11pm

The8re phan, I love your icon! I didn't know Wing had a new CD.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:44pm

Lots of folks never would have believed a minimalist production of CHICAGO would work. The set of the original CHICAGO was rather elaborate. This production of SWEENEY sounds thrilling to me. I am very excited about seeing this. I hope Lupone's name will keep the show running for a while. As we know, sadly, most Sondheim shows don't run very long and the revivals don't run very long either.......In the last few years revivals of FOLLIES, INTO THE WOODS,ASSASSINS, PACIFIC OVERTURES and COMPANY all came and went very, very fast. Folks just seem to most enjoy Sondheim works on video or on recording. His work is genius, intricate, layered, textured and is greater each time you see it or hear it. Perhaps that is why they don't tend to "run." There is simply too much to absorb, savor, etc......and the "mass audiences" just don't wanna invest the time to know the work prior to seeing it or don't want to invest the money in the tickets to a show they suspect they will not fully appreciate on first viewing.

[Marc Shaiman]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:51pm

Hey all, I saw it in London last year, and it was the only production in the entire week that made me happy I got out of my comfy hotel bed and trudged to the theatre. Don't deny yourself seeing it because it's re-imagined. Life's too short!!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 3:56pm

Very Brechtian in look. Hope that Lupone and Cerevis can help the concept come alive rather than hinder it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 4:06pm

What Marc Shaiman said above.

That's what we got all over London: "You mean you're NOT seeing the Sweeney?!?" "Pity." "Can't you stay another night?" "Oh, but you MUST!"

Imagine, Marc, there I was at the Hoist, and this bloke says to me--

Oh. Never mind..

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 4:09pm

Oh, I'm not saying I won't see it. It's my favorite musical. Ever. 100%. And I LOVE LuPone as Lovett and hate that I missed the Philharmonic concerts. And I also love Cerveris.
I'll be first in line. I'm just not digging the concept and I hope, hope, HOPE I'm not thrown by watching actors, in a moment, sit down and accompany themselves on an instrument.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 4:22pm

You will probably be dazzled. That seems to be the overwhelming reaction.

[timote316]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 4:23pm

WISH, to address your Sondheim revival question, all but ITW were Roundabout productions, and they usually do limited runs only (I know Assassins and PO were). I don't know about ticket sales or anything, but just because they closed doesn't mean that people didn't buy them.

I personnally am fascinated with this production. I'm not too familiar with Sweeney (I know, I know. Blasphemy), but this sounds wonderful. I, for one, would go to see this just to see how it works. I doubt I'll be able to see this, but thats another story.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 4:55pm

And if Marc Shaiman says it's good, then it MUST be good!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 5:03pm

How do you say "suck up" in Polish?

[paradox_error]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 5:28pm

Doxy jest bardzo madry

[morosco]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 5:29pm

I'm still passionate about the musician thing. Remember when we were all so passionate about the reduction of the size of orchestras these days? Why can't we have a NEW, UNCONVENTIONAL, DARING, UNUSUAL, and CHALLENGING staging of Sweeney with 9 actors AND a full orchestra in the pit?
Updated On: 4/28/05 at 05:29 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 5:44pm

Because Morosco, the production was originally done on a stage the size of your living room. That's why the cast played the musical instruments in the first place. There wasn't room for an orchestra The entire thing was like being in someone's cellar -- claustrophobic and frightening.

I do think the production might be odd in a 1,000 seat theatre, but the whole concept is that the cast IS the orchestra, the parts are a musical extension of their psychology -- their characters represented by their instrumentation. -- you just have to see it to get it. Updated On: 4/28/05 at 05:44 PM

[wiggum2]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 6:07pm

I think that all the revivals except ITW were intended as limited runs but Assassins did extend at least once and didn't it also become open-ended at some point? However limited runs do become open-ended sometimes if ticket sales warrant, IIRC, Cabaret was a limited run at first. I would love for a Sondheim revival to last at least a year. Here's hoping for ALMN next year!

[Marc Shaiman]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 8:12pm

it's not just that "actors" are "playing instruments"...it's that a group of storytellers are doing all they must to tell this particualr story (really NOT that so far off from what happens in "Man Of La Mancha or "Marat Sade" or the revival of "Cabaret")

sorta kinda

And since it is visually and musically so stripped bare, I appreciated every glorious note, chord and lyric more than EVER in this production...even though the voices were not so great and the playing was not "virtuostic"...

but boy, the STORY was told!! and baby, THAT'S what it's all about!!

(well, that and The Hokey Pokey)

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 9:30pm

I am thrilled about this. I've been in two productions of Sweeney (once as Pirelli, once as the Beadle), and boy am I glad I didn't have to learn to play an instrument for it! Does anyone know what the full instrumentation was in the London showing? (E.g., Lovett - trumpet), etc. I can get some idea from the pictures linked above but I'm not exactly sure I'm even right about which characters are which.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 9:39pm

I am very excited. I can't wait to see Lupone wail on that electric guitar, jump in the air and land on one knee, and then smash it. Brilliant concept.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 4/28/05 at 9:59pm

i believe the official erp listing called for todd and lovett to play either the triangle or the cymbal