Rating: 
Summary: A must see for music theater buffs
Review: Sweeney Todd is by far the most brilliantly crafted piece of work ever written for the musical stage. The way Sondheim uses musical motifs and lyrical phrases as a form of premonicence is purely ingenious. It's not a show to watch one time, for if you watch it one time, you take it literally which is not what is intended. To really appreciate the genius behind this piece of work, one really has to disect it. But even without all the analytical nonsense, it's still an entertaining watch as long as you don't take it too seriously. You have to be able to sit back and be scared and emotionally moved. If you can't do that, you won't particularly enjoy this show.
Rating:
Summary: Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd
Review: I was in the audience the night this was videotaped in Los Angeles and I was again in the audience in San Francisco some 20(?)years later when Patti LuPone & George Hearn performed it in concert & it was taped for PBS. Both performances were outstanding & I would be hard pressed to choose one over the other. I think I like the older George Hearn & his stamina is amazing. LuPone's Mrs. Lovett is evil & plotting from the start. Lansbury's is more loveable & never gets quite as evil as LuPone's.I have heard the show was written for Angela Lansbury & Len Cariou but then Ms Lupone was just getting her career started. Who knows what Sondheim was thinking?? I loved both. The original Cast Album includes songs that were never performed on Broadway or were shortened("The Contest" & "Parlor Songs" are examples) before the run opened. Someone (I don't know if it was Sondheim or someone else) decided the show ran too long but at least they recorded them for posterity! They had a wonderful actor playing Judge Turpin in SF & his song "Johanna" was reinserted for that production. (...)
Rating: 
Summary: Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd
Review: The video captured the story of Sweeney Todd and presented it in a very entertaining manner. Angelea Lansbury was absolutely fantastic and Mrs. Lovett, and it was odd for me to see her change to a crazy, people-pie-making old fart from sweet, lovable Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote. George Hearn did a very nice portrayal of Sweeney Todd, but i personally prefer Len Cairou from the origional brodway cast recording which also features Angela Lansbury. The music from the recording and the music in the movie are slightly different, although effecive because the music, when cut, kept the viewer's intrest. Overall, this production was created into a very well done video.
Rating:
Summary: missing this is missing life
Review: a stunning musical. brilliant in this execution, missing seeing this is not something you want to do. the music producers thought you'd be too stupid to understand this - watch this and prove them wrong. The word's "no ones going to harm you" will never mean the same to you again. because it is about england's boogyman, I highly recommend watching this on a cold fall evening just before halloween!!!
Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: Argueably the most stunning work of our greatest composer; now, at long last, the definitive performance of Sweeney Todd starring George Hearn & Angela Landsbury is saved on DVD! The music alone is uber-worthy of your hard earned shekals...the real prize is George Hearn's smoldering, passionate portrayal of a man who life had been ripped away from him, & his quest for Vengenance. If State Fair is your musical cup of tea, then Sweeney might be too strong for your palate. It's a show as brutual & unforgiving as the Post Industrial Age London its set in...laced with dark, dark humor, powerhouse emotions & that astounding score. Aliens coming to earth, needing an explanation of "Theatre" need only view this DVD. They'll get it. You should too.
Rating:
Summary: ATTEND THE TALE.....
Review: ...of "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street". One of Steven Sondheim's most revered musicals and masterfully acted by Angela Lansbury as Mrs.Lovett and George Hearn as Sweeney with a superb supporting cast. The tale was beautifully presented on stage for television and now looks and sounds wonderful on disc. Played with all the demanding bravura a lurid Grand Guignol story like this calls for, the minimalist sets only enhance the spectacular performances and songs---including "Pretty Women", "Nothing's Gonna Harm You", "Joanna" and of course "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd". Hearn is THE perfect Sweeney Todd, wielding revenge with his razor and providing Mrs.Lovett with the perfect meat for her failing meat pie business in a seedy Victorian London neighborhood. This is the perfect material for an off-beat musical with a grisly twist. Everything is ideal in this production and rendering to DVD making it an immediate collector's item. Thank you Warner Brothers, Mr.Sondheim and an excellent cast for "Sweeney Todd".
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: AT LONG LAST!!!! Sweeney's Back Where He Belongs!
Review: "Sweeney Todd" has been out of print for many, many years. Video copies went for enormous sums, and I had to settle for an aging video copy I recorded when the show was first aired on television 22 years ago. I understood that there were some copyright issues that stopped the show from being re-released, which have apparently been resolved. Although I usually curse Warner Brothers for having the worst track record of any major studio for not releasing their extensive library of films to DVD, today I applaud them for giving us back this wonderful show with its delightful performances on DVD. Not only can we relish Angela Lansbury in her Tony-winning role as Mrs. Lovett, but we get the extra bonus of seeing George Hearn as Sweeney, to my mind the best Sweeney I've ever seen (and I've seen two others as well -- Len Cariou, who originated the role on Broadway and was probably the sexiest Sweeney (making Lovett's attraction for him perfectly understandable), but without Hearn's depth and a bit too American (or rather, Canadian), and Denis Quilley, who performed the role in London. Although Quilley's acting and singing talents were a match for Hearn's, he was physically not exactly right. As for the Mrs. Lovetts I've seen, the West End production's Sheila Hancock will always be my favorite for her ability to capture all the comedic aspects of the role (as Angela Lansbury does too) while still managing to plumb the pure evil depths and total amorality of the character. Ms. Hancock had the ability to make the theatre-goer laugh his head off one moment, and then to send chills down his spine the next. But who could not love Angela as well? And aside from Ms. Lansbury, one gets a chance to see several others from the original Broadway cast reprise their roles for this production, including the wonderfully sinister, powerfully voiced Edmund Lyndeck as Judge Turpin and Ken Jennings as Tobias. (Toby is not an easy role to cast, since one has to practically be a castrato to sing it.) I was also fortunate enough to see the original Broadway production before the cuts were made -- the shortening of the barber competition (a wise decision), the elimination of the self-flagellation scene in which Judge Turpin, brandishing a whip, is seen in a black robe, his buttocks exposed (this should never have been cut but was probably considered too outragious for the out-of-town tourists to handle), and the removal of the Tower of Bray number (which, again, was a wonderful pastiche and very funny, as it added to rather than detracted from the suspense, and hopefully will one day be re-evaluated and restored to future productions). But at least, the missing numbers are all on the cast album for admirers of the show to enjoy. The role of Anthony was replaced in this production by Cris Groenendaal (who was in the chorus in the original), and who has a stronger voice than Victor Garber, who originated the role, but Garber is a stronger actor, as can be surmised from his long and successful career, both in musicals and non-musicals. I also enjoyed Betsy Joslyn as Johanna, which is a silly and comedic role which she milks for all its worth, and yet still remains a chip off the old block. It's Johanna, after all, who grabs the revolver from Anthony to shoot Mr. Fogg in cold blood. Finally, before receiving the DVD, I was fearful that I might be looking at something with faded color bleeds and poor video quality simply transferred to a different media. But I am happy to report that the show has held up well, both visually and audibly. In fact, in this L.A. production, the only thing I missed from the Broadway production (other than the cut numbers) was that in the original theatre, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett make their final appearance rising through a hole in the floor from an elevator beneath the stage, as if coming back from hell for a brief encore. Now THAT was an entrance!
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 and it's more than worth the purchase price. A live production. George Hearn and Angela Lansbury at the top of their form 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. . .
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is an amazing production of Sweeney Todd. I also own a copy of the concert production on DVD. It is interesting to see the real thing. The unit set is amazing with platforms and the cast moving iron-railed staircases around and doors opening. The performances are great. George Hearn stands out among the crowd but what is with that hairdo? He is just as good as in the concert. Angela Lansbury is enjoyable but I have to say that Patti Lupone's interpretation was more subtle and more human. Angela Lansbury is just a bit too vaudeville in this. Betsy Joslyn and Chris Groenendaal were at first a bit over the top but when you think about it, this is supposed to be a spoof of lighthearted operettas in that this show isn't so lighthearted. These two are every inch the melodramatic hero and heroine with great voices to match. The woman who plays the Beggar Woman needs to work on her British accent. It sounded like a really bad Irish accent. Pirelli has a great voice and a good stage presence. Edmund Lyndeck is every inch the corrupt individual as Judge Turpin. He also has a surprisingly good voice. I hadn't heard him sing because I first saw him in Into the Woods. However, one song I wish they had kept in the show was the Judge's version of "Johanna" which helps to explain his character. Without it, the Judge is little more than a dirty old man. I felt that Lyndeck was a little too leering with his eyes and his muttered, "Oh, yes, yes". I felt that the Judge in the concert had more of a presence. The Beadle looked like he was wearing mascara. Finally, Ken Jenning's voice is somewhat uneven. I've heard "Not While I'm Around" played on the radio (I'm from Massachusetts, we have a college station that plays all forms of music) and his voice seems stronger. Also, I felt that in comparison with Ken Jenning's performance, Neal Patrick Harris brought more of a humanity to the part in the concert. But beggars can't be choosers. But this is a great production. Even though it's not the real thing on Broadway, it gives me enough of a hint of what it was like. I loved it.
|
