Sweeney Todd - the musical

I thought it wasn't fair that this musical didn't have it's own, personal thread :)

Sweeney Todd, composed by Stephen Sondheim, is a musical about a barber who kills people and has his friend, Mrs. Lovett, cook them into meat pies.

Any feelings on it?

In my opinion it's the most well-written show in musical theatre. I fell in love with it back in October 2007 when I saw a college performance of it. I got the original Broadway cast recording that Christmas and have never looked back. I was lucky enough to see Elon University's phenomenal production the following fall and an excellent performing arts high school one this past March.

The show is sheer genius and what all shows should aim to be.

The best musical- ever. Sondheims music is simply beautiful, the storyline compelling, and it dares to be different. It's one of kind, which is why everyone knows it!

I'm performing the Pretty Women scene for my schools District Drama Performances. I'll be Sweeney, and it's just wonderful that I get to show my love for it by performing a section of it!

Sweeney Todd is different... It doesn't have a lovely hero (the main character is a serial murder and the leading female cooks human bodies), the plot can very well be labelled as sordid (corruption, murder and canibalism) and the music isn't at all a succession of beautiful, easy melodies as in most of musicals; on the contrary, it sometimes turns squeaky and even flirts with atonalism. And, however, it hooks you. The story and the music have such force that you can't but get amazed. Sondheim's dark humour helps to swall the pill, too... I think you can't tell a story like that without humour, it would be devastating and absolutely unbearable.

I watched it last year in Madrid in a quite sober but extremely effective production (I read that Sondheim himself thought it one of the best outside Broadway) at the Teatro Español, and really loved it. It was also one of the few musicals in which I've been satisfied with the translation (translating songs into Spanish is quite tricky; too often it sounds as if the Spanish verison had too many sillabes to fit in the melody) and the singing (we don't have such a long tradition in musicals as other countries, and it's not usual that actors have also a good musical training). I had watched Burton's movie, but I think this story is better on stage; it's more claustrophobic.

Sondheim is a sheer genius (no pun intended :D )

I didn't really enjoy the movie version as much as i had wanted to. Johnny Depp pulled it off, but Helena can't really sing in real life.

As well as that Johanna and Anthony's story pretty much got completely cut out :[

Sweeney is probably my favorite theatrical work out of all the musicals, plays, and operas I've encountered so far... I have quite a few of the cast albums (including a couple of the foreign-language ones), and I also got to see a local community theatre production and the two DVDs (Lansbury/Hearn and LuPone/Hearn). I enjoyed the movie, as well -- although it cut quite a few of my favorite bits from the stage show, the mood of it fit really well, I thought. I'd love to see the stage version again sometime soon. :D

I love it because it is so different and not your typical "hero who saves the day" type of show. It's amazing that something so twisted as killing people and baking them into pies can have a humorous edge with the song "A Little Priest." It's rare that songs of a musical are all winners, but Sweeney Todd is one exception; just one of those shows you can put on repeat and never get bored with it.

Completely agreed.
I just wish they hadn't cut out so much of Johanna and Anthony's story. It was quite depressing.

I agree. The movie could have turned out a lot better than it did.

I haven't seen the whole show live just bits and pieces, but I really like the movie. The songs (OBC and the movie) are both wonderful I think.