What was the 1989 SWEENEY TODD like?

The music was played by two synthesizers!

oh, the things Sondheim allows......

From Forbidden Broadway

Attend the tale of Teeny Todd
The cast is small and the staging odd.
Although the musical's barely ten
Somebody decided to do it again.
For intrigue brought a promenade
It's Teeny Todd
The smaller version of Sweeney!
There is no shop in London town.
Except two flats that are painted brown.
But think of all of the cash they'll save
The physical budget impeccably shaved
It's Teeny
It's Teeny Todd
The smaller version of Sweeney.
Swing your razor low, teeny
Keep it under-sized.
And what's more
The Sondheim score
Is synthesized!
Our needs are few the stage is bare
We use a miniature barber chair
The mug of suds and the leather strop
Are tiny toy props from a tiny toyshop
For cheapness we deserve a nod
It's Teeny Todd
The smaller version of Sweeney.
Big and epic-like Sweeney was
Huge and bulky the scenery was
Twenty ton bridge
Twenty ton barge
Hal prince's version was ugly but large.
Now the bigger guy Sweeney's gone
And his kid brother Teeny's on
Teeny is smooth
Even more subtle
When teeny blinks the roaches scuttle.
Teeny!
Attend the tale of Teeny Todd
Tho' Stephen Sondheim's a demigod
To bring back one of his shows today
No-one can afford the original way
They shrink it
Like Teeny
Like Teeny Todd
The Sweeney version that's Teeny.

After you got used to the sound of the synthesizers, there were a lot of rewards to that production. (And that said, there are moments in the Tunick orchestation that are deliberately harsh, like all those shrieking strings and reeds that sound a bit electronic as it is).

There was a ring of grimy windows around the auditorium that made you feel like you were overlooking the action from a London tenement. The intimacy created a hothouse atmosphere and I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by the final sequence, even though I loved everything about the Hal Prince original production as well.

Gunton and Fowler didn't make you forget Cariou and Lansbury, but there were real and didn't have to play the show as big as the production that played upstairs at the Uris. Fowler, in particular, didn't go as dotty and zany with the role, and she felt more desperate and tragic. And having Gunton play "Epiphany" a few feet in front of you was terrifying in its own right.

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Updated On: 7/13/11 at 11:30 PM

It was a terrific production. I saw it first at the York, then on Bway. It was even better at the York.

Both leads were great, but the real revelation was Eddie Korbich who deserved a tony nomination.

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I believe the 5th line of Alessandrini's parody is "But in three-quarter promenade", i.e., thrust stage with audience on three sides. But I do love the classic Forbidden Broadways and haven't listened in way too long.

I would love to see this small revival happen again!

Well, we just had another small revival of this show in 2005. I think Broadway's next Sweeney should be a big one someday.

Allesandrini sure does like to rhyme "barge" with "large". He did it again with Ragtime, and I think with Showboat.

Almira, thanks for reminding me of Korbich's excellent performance.