Rating: 
Summary: One of the BEST EVER
Review: I was lucky enough to SEE this version of SWEENEY live when it was taped in Los Angeles (they had to apologize for the brash lighting necessary for the video taping!). Recordings of live Broadway quality performances are rare enough, but this is one of the TRUE GEMS! Fabulous performances, great story and what fulfilling music! If you love either Broadway or Sondheim, or what to know what the BEST is like, this is your DVD. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
Rating:
Summary: Sondheim's masterpiece
Review: When I heard that this was being released on DVD I was thrilled for a number of reasons. I saw this production at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre in 1980(?), and have never forgotten it or stopped singing it's praises. Such a memory is hard to live up to, thank God this DVD doesn't disappoint. Lansbury and Hearn are superb. The score is one of the richest ever heard on Broadway - one terrific number after another. Sondheim fans should snatch this right up. Why wait?
Rating:
Summary: Sondheim's Masterpiece
Review: "Sweeney Todd" is considered by many to be one of the best musicals ever written and a personal best for composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. And trust me, folks, the personal best of the man behind such beloved musicals as "Company," "Funny Thing..." and "Into the Woods" is a sight to behold. Not only is the show recognized as a modern classic in musical theatre circles, but has even found a place in the repetoire of opera houses around the country. This recording preserves the tour of the original production, with most of the sets and Hal Prince's original Broadway staging intact. You get all of Sondheim's gloriously complex score and the few but ever-so-important book scenes done in full costume, props and all. George Hearn is brilliant in the title role, and all of the actors do a fine job with their roles (with the exception of the actress playing Johanna, who sings prettily but tries too hard to get laughs out of a character not written for laughs).But the real treasure of this disc is Angela Lansbury, whose Tony-winning Mrs. Lovett is worth the price of admission alone. Her coniving, scheming gem of a pie shop owner is one of Broadway's legendary performances, and we are truly lucky that the performance was preserved for future generations. She seems to be in even better voice than on the original cast recording, absolutely owns the stage, and plays wonderfully off of George Hearn's Sweeney. Many fine and talented actresses have done wonderful things with the role (witness the stellar Patti LuPone in the 2001 concert version if you don't believe me), but Angela Lansbury will always own what is without a doubt one of the greatest roles in the entire musical theatre cannon. Fans of the show, Sondheim, or musicals in general owe it to themselves to pick up this DVD and experience one of the most darkly comic musicals ever written, featuring one of the finest star turns ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad
Review: I never really watched the whole thing. It was so bad and pathetic, I couldn't watch it. A bunch of idiots acting like morons, that's what this is. And besides, who wants to watch a video that's just taped off the broadway stage. The songs are terrible and the plot is disgusting. Don't watch this. It is ridiculous.
Rating:
Summary: AAAH! I love this movie!
Review: This movie is so great! The songs and singing are great, the cast wonderful... you know what this is an AWESOME MOVIE! George Hearn and Angela Lansbury are PERFECT together on screen! You have GOT to get this DVD! I love it!
Rating:
Summary: Sweeney Todd rocks my socks off!
Review: I'm telling you one thing this is the best musical ever! If you like musicals I definetely encourage you to get this dvd!
Rating:
Summary: Greatly improved over previous VHS release
Review: Much care has been taken on this DVD transfer. The sound, which was always muddy on the original VHS release is much crisper and clearer. The organ prelude which was faded on the VHS release continues now right up until the factory whistle. One person here commented that he could not hear the audience. The audience is there in the extreme left and right channels just as always. Maybe you need to get your sound system tweaked? Or use the 2 channel stereo mix. But it's all there. Best of all this transfer brings out details in the orchestra that were never heard before. The performances remain as vivid as when this production was first broadcast in 1982. I have always had minor reservations about Betsy Joslyn's cross-eyed Joanna and some of the cuts made in the show: The tooth-pulling section of "The Contest", the Judge's whipping number, and most of the "Parlour Songs" were trimmed form the show due to overlength. The road tour set is not as elaborate as the one used on Broadway (in the opening and closing numbers Sweeney Todd rose out of the stage on a lift... very effective!) but this is the SWEENEY TODD that Hal Prince staged. One other bit of good news that no one else here has mentioned: There are subtitles so you can follow along the trickier lyrics. Strange that there are none on the DVD's of INTO THE WOODS, PASSION or SUNDAY IN THE PARK. It's most welcome on SWEENEY TODD. Of course it is best to see stage musicals live in the theatre, but this video production offers a good approximation of what it was like when SWEENEY TODD was unleashed on us 25 years ago.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Performance, Horrid Sound Mix
Review: Just after tossing my VHS of this performance in the trash I put on the DVD and prepared myself to be over-joyed. Alas, I quickly retreived the VHS and put it back on the shelf. Yes, this is one of the best musicals of all time and yes, these are some of the best performances ever recorded- but the horrid sound mix drops the audience reactions down to an almost imperceptible level and this is a bad thing. A VERY bad thing.
DO NOT BE CONNED into believing this is something you should overlook and not be concerned with. To actually get the vibe that you're enjoying a communal experience with a live audience, to get that electrical jolt from them as they respond with laughter, gasps and waves of applause just as the performers heard them on stage, is to partake in something almost transcendent; something magical even.
Instead we're left with a cold document of a distant musical event, bereft of the warm energetic you-are-there feeling the earlier version excelled in communicating. Imagine, if you will, Judy at Carnegie Hall, Elvis in Vegas or the Beatles on Ed Sullivan without the audience reaction and you'll have an idea of why this version of Sweeny Todd should be ignored. We've waited this long, I suppose we can wait a little while longer. Shame! Shame! Shame on Warner Home Video. Get back to the mixing studio and focus this time around!
Rating:
Summary: After "Sweeney," you can't say Sondheim isn't the best ever!
Review: Without a doubt, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is the greatest achievement of the greatest writer of lyrics and music for the Broadway stage, Stephen Sondheim. I hesitate to call it the best musical ever, I'm a big "Les Miz" fan, but without "Sweeney," there would be no "Les Miz," and modern musical theatre could not survive that. "Rent" couldn't do it by itself! Not with all of these Lloyd Webber shows that are called the best ever, yet they all lack, oh what is it called? Oh yeah, A STORY LINE! On the other hand, "Sweeney" is full of one of the best story lines ever. A great book by Hugh Wheeler, in addition to Sondheim's genius. I just got the DVD about three days ago, and I've already watched it FIVE TIMES! I'm not much for horror films, books, or plays, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this! (Did I mention I LOVE it?) Anyone who hasn't seen "Sweeney" because they have a weak stomach, don't worry. It's not frightening as much as it's haunting (yes, they are two different things), thanks to Sondheim's truly brillent score. Everytime he slits a throat, it would look real from an audience seat, but on this taping, each kill is a close up, so you can easily tell the troat is okay. Not that there was any worry about the actors actually being killed on stage, but still. What is missing from this? Not much, if anything. Maybe Len Cariou as Todd, but I like George Hearn better anyway, as well as his playing of Sweeney. Angela Lansbury is a goddess, of course, and if it needed proving, she comes through here. The music is some of the ever written, musical theatre or not. Thank God for Stephen Sondheim by buying this DVD! If you like great theatre, great music, great suspence, great acting, or great pies, this is a DVD you can not live without. Go ahead, try it. I dare you!
Rating:
Summary: The Packaging was Disappointing. But the contents. . . .
Review: Attend the tale of Sweeny Todd. His skin was pale and his eye was odd. Don't let the simple packaging dissuade you. This is Sondheim's masterpiece <so far> and it's more than worth the purchase price. A live production. George Hearn and Angela Lansbury at the top of their form <or as Tiger Woods might say, "on their A game."> This DVD is wonderful. The sound, the color, and the performances, and you are THERE my children. Seeing it happen on stage. Live performances, caught as they happen, and you'll laugh in the right places, be horrified in the right places, and when it's done, you'll be satisfied in the right places. A Genius wrote the score, several brilliant actors, and one damn fine actress, played the roles. . . and a production to end all productions to cap it off. Buy this DVD. Watch it. Savor it. But LISTEN to it. Hear those sof harmonics. Watch those sudden chord changes. And see the actors react, act, and . . . Sweeny wouldn't like it we gave it away/Not Sweeny./ Not Sweeny Todd" Buy it. Watch it. Watch it, again. And again. Just remember. "There is Sweeny/Sitting Beside You!" Take Care. . .
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