Sweeney Todd 2023 Broadway Revival
Apr. 2nd, 2023 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficI saw the current Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd (this is its third Broadway revival since the original 1979 run). If you have never seen Sweeney Todd, I would definitely recommend. I mean, it’s my favorite musical. I’m going to recommend it.
If you have seen Sweeney Todd before and are wondering if this is the version to see—I would say it depends on whether you prefer the original cast recording with full orchestra or one of the “teeny Todds” with stripped back orchestration. This is the first time Sweeney Todd has been brought back with a full chorus (25 actors total) and full orchestra (26 players, including 3 trombones). To my ear, “Epiphany” doesn’t sound right without three trombones. This is as close as you’re going to get to the experience of the original production.
The singing is all fantastic—I was wary of Josh Groban, but he fully has the chops for the part. Annaleigh Ashford is fantastic as Mrs. Lovett. This is a part that can get very hammy. Ashford manages to make it incredibly funny in unexpected ways (there’s a moment where she curtsies to Judge Turpin, then realizes she’s on the stairs and can’t get up from the curtsey so bumps her way to the bottom of the staircase on her butt) without it overshadowing the melodrama. She also has a way of grabbing Sweeney Todd and draping his limbs over her when he’s distracted.
I really enjoyed Toby, which is a part that can often be annoying. Only after I got home did I realize the actor, Gaten Matarazzo, is a Big Deal—sue me, I haven’t seen Stranger Things. Jordan Fisher as Anthony got some screaming from the audience—not sure why, maybe She-Ra fans? The only understudy I had was for Johanna, but as long as the actor can sing “Green Finch and Linnet Bird,” which she could, you can’t really screw that part up.
The staging had homages to the original—with an industrial catwalk and other elements—without aping it. Notably, it did not include Hal Prince’s overt industrial revolution imagery, so no factory whistle, choosing instead to heavily silhouette people against a blood red moon.
The chorus had quite a bit more choreography than I’ve seen before. (For context, this is the fifth production I’ve seen live, including the 2005 Broadway revival and the 2017 Off-Broadway revival. If you count video recordings, I’ve seen two more—the commercially released touring version with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn, and the archive of the original run with Len Cariou.) I’m not sure what to think of it—it was clearly meant to evoke madness, with twitchy movements, leans that went all the way to horizontal, and recurring body rolls that looked like retching. There were some movements though that I was like, are you miming something? I don’t get it.
They cut two numbers: The Judge’s “Johanna” and the tooth-pulling. Both of these were cut in the original run, though, and I’ve only seen the Judge’s “Johanna” performed once. Everything else was intact, including the full “Parlour Songs,” which is often cut. (And the Beadle had the proper falsetto, which is not always the case.)
This means it was a two hour forty-five minute show, with the first act alone being an hour forty. The dude next to me kept checking his watch and I was like—really? Todd finally has the judge in his chair and you’re worried it’s getting late?
With shows like this I always assume that the audience is already familiar with it, especially with the 2007 movie (which is a pale imitation and Johnny Depp can’t sing). There were a couple moments, though, where it was really apparent the audience was not familiar with it. Like the number of people who got up after “Epiphany” to head for the restroom thinking it was intermission. I mean, wow. Way to screw yourself out of one of the best moments in musical theater. Also, when the chair was first used on someone in Act II’s “Johanna,” there was an audible gasp from the audience then a bunch of nervous giggling. People seemed taken aback by the buckets of blood on the throat slitting. Makes me wonder if they read the brief before they bought the ticket.
To sum up—I was obsessed with Sweeney Todd in high school, based just off of the original Broadway cast recording. When I say that no version ever lives up to the version in my head, that’s literally true. I fell in love with what I imagined, not any performed version of it. I really didn’t like the previous two revivals. The 2005 was too Brechtian. It wanted to comment on itself and put an ironic distance to the melodrama, which is the wrong choice. The 2017 off-Broadway (in a pie shop) I think was just too small for me to fully engage with.
This version is pretty dang close to the version in my head. Having the full orchestra and the full staging really makes a difference, even though I was in row XX of the orchestra and so far under the balcony overhang it sounded a bit like it was in a bathtub. This version is also engaging with the melodrama fully. I kept thinking—gosh, I’m watching an opera. This is an opera. (And it has been performed by opera companies many times.) Not just because it’s mostly sung, but because the emotions have far more similarity to Carmen than they do to Company.
Definitely go see it if you’re inclined to a musical thriller, but be prepared, both for the content and the butt-numbing length.
If you have seen Sweeney Todd before and are wondering if this is the version to see—I would say it depends on whether you prefer the original cast recording with full orchestra or one of the “teeny Todds” with stripped back orchestration. This is the first time Sweeney Todd has been brought back with a full chorus (25 actors total) and full orchestra (26 players, including 3 trombones). To my ear, “Epiphany” doesn’t sound right without three trombones. This is as close as you’re going to get to the experience of the original production.
The singing is all fantastic—I was wary of Josh Groban, but he fully has the chops for the part. Annaleigh Ashford is fantastic as Mrs. Lovett. This is a part that can get very hammy. Ashford manages to make it incredibly funny in unexpected ways (there’s a moment where she curtsies to Judge Turpin, then realizes she’s on the stairs and can’t get up from the curtsey so bumps her way to the bottom of the staircase on her butt) without it overshadowing the melodrama. She also has a way of grabbing Sweeney Todd and draping his limbs over her when he’s distracted.
I really enjoyed Toby, which is a part that can often be annoying. Only after I got home did I realize the actor, Gaten Matarazzo, is a Big Deal—sue me, I haven’t seen Stranger Things. Jordan Fisher as Anthony got some screaming from the audience—not sure why, maybe She-Ra fans? The only understudy I had was for Johanna, but as long as the actor can sing “Green Finch and Linnet Bird,” which she could, you can’t really screw that part up.
The staging had homages to the original—with an industrial catwalk and other elements—without aping it. Notably, it did not include Hal Prince’s overt industrial revolution imagery, so no factory whistle, choosing instead to heavily silhouette people against a blood red moon.
The chorus had quite a bit more choreography than I’ve seen before. (For context, this is the fifth production I’ve seen live, including the 2005 Broadway revival and the 2017 Off-Broadway revival. If you count video recordings, I’ve seen two more—the commercially released touring version with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn, and the archive of the original run with Len Cariou.) I’m not sure what to think of it—it was clearly meant to evoke madness, with twitchy movements, leans that went all the way to horizontal, and recurring body rolls that looked like retching. There were some movements though that I was like, are you miming something? I don’t get it.
They cut two numbers: The Judge’s “Johanna” and the tooth-pulling. Both of these were cut in the original run, though, and I’ve only seen the Judge’s “Johanna” performed once. Everything else was intact, including the full “Parlour Songs,” which is often cut. (And the Beadle had the proper falsetto, which is not always the case.)
This means it was a two hour forty-five minute show, with the first act alone being an hour forty. The dude next to me kept checking his watch and I was like—really? Todd finally has the judge in his chair and you’re worried it’s getting late?
With shows like this I always assume that the audience is already familiar with it, especially with the 2007 movie (which is a pale imitation and Johnny Depp can’t sing). There were a couple moments, though, where it was really apparent the audience was not familiar with it. Like the number of people who got up after “Epiphany” to head for the restroom thinking it was intermission. I mean, wow. Way to screw yourself out of one of the best moments in musical theater. Also, when the chair was first used on someone in Act II’s “Johanna,” there was an audible gasp from the audience then a bunch of nervous giggling. People seemed taken aback by the buckets of blood on the throat slitting. Makes me wonder if they read the brief before they bought the ticket.
To sum up—I was obsessed with Sweeney Todd in high school, based just off of the original Broadway cast recording. When I say that no version ever lives up to the version in my head, that’s literally true. I fell in love with what I imagined, not any performed version of it. I really didn’t like the previous two revivals. The 2005 was too Brechtian. It wanted to comment on itself and put an ironic distance to the melodrama, which is the wrong choice. The 2017 off-Broadway (in a pie shop) I think was just too small for me to fully engage with.
This version is pretty dang close to the version in my head. Having the full orchestra and the full staging really makes a difference, even though I was in row XX of the orchestra and so far under the balcony overhang it sounded a bit like it was in a bathtub. This version is also engaging with the melodrama fully. I kept thinking—gosh, I’m watching an opera. This is an opera. (And it has been performed by opera companies many times.) Not just because it’s mostly sung, but because the emotions have far more similarity to Carmen than they do to Company.
Definitely go see it if you’re inclined to a musical thriller, but be prepared, both for the content and the butt-numbing length.