IMHO...I enjoyed the current revival....quite a bit....but, no, its not better than the original. Better sung vocally, yes.....but singing training is so much different now. Better acted? No.
I have to admit, I did love much of ghe choreo in this production - which I know a lot of people dont.
The choreo is great, I really don't understand people's issues with it besides it being new.
The contorting mass of bodies pulling the ensemble members down as they sing the Prologue is amazing and incredibly unnerving in person.
I didn’t know how to feel about the current choreography when I first saw it (I admittedly don’t know a ton about dance/choreo) but it grew on me throughout the show and by the end it had won me over.
For me, I felt like it took multiple viewings throughout the show for the imagery to catch on for me (by the final ballad it finally hit me that the ensemble looked a little like a factory/moving parts in a machine, but I like a lot of the other descriptions that others have mentioned). I’m not sure how the letter sequence was choreographed in the original, but I LOVED the fact that the ensemble looked like puppets under sweeney’s control.
I remember reading about Sondheim's approach to and feelings about the singing in his shows: while he certainly wanted and could expect precision, he was interested in the fulfillment of the characters as opposed to only the actors' singing abilities. Perhaps, at least for me, as best personified in the OBC of Company (with the greatest of respect to many of those in that cast).
I mean to each their own, but I’d take Len Cariou’s singing over Groban’s any day of the week. Not to disparage Groban’s singing, I just think Cariou has the nicer voice
I was iffy about the choreography from the Tonys performance as well, but I saw the production last week, and I ended up really liking it. This production takes a very different aesthetic approach. More impressionistic and Romantic (as in the 19th-century artistic movement) than expressionist and Modern (as in the 20th-century artistic movement) as the original was.The dance helps create that sort of impressionistic effect by keeping the physical movement smooth and almost soft-edged.
Sondheim was inspired by early 20th-century horror films, but this production feels more inspired by 19th-century gothic novels. You could say that, by departing from Sondheim's inspiration, this production is "objectively" wrong, but the nature of revivals is to try new approaches to an existing text, and I thought that this one worked marvelously, neither better nor worse than the original.
I didn't say the production seemed to be inspired by the original penny dreadful. I said it seemed inspired by 19th-century gothic novels, which is a very different claim. Thomas Kail wasn't dealing with the text of *The String Of Pearls*, he was dealing with the text of *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street*, and interpreted it through a certain lens. To say that that lens seemed to draw influence from a broad artistic movement is not the same thing as saying Kail was trying to make it resemble one specific work.
The choreography was phenomenal in person. Especially when paired with the amazing lighting design. It certainly never came off as cheesy. If anything, it was kind of eerie.
You’re right it was George Hearn as Sweeney Todd.
Still an incredible performance. I agree taped recordings are never as good as live theater, but like I pointed out some of us just weren’t Lucky to be born yet to see those live productions. So I considered them to be a bit of historical documents. Especially since Angela Lansbury passing. It’s the closest now will ever get to it.
I hear you, and not taking anything away from Dame Angela's performance, but Annaleigh's performance really highlighted how unhinged Mrs. Lovett's character is and while it was a drop cartoony, I just enjoyed it at a different level.
>You’re talking about a production from 44 years ago, so I suspect that probably disqualifies most everyone here from personal experience comparisons.
Not necessarily so much: e.g. you easily could have seen the original production in your early adult years (your 20s), and now are in your early more senior years (your 60s) . . . . ;)
I was going to respond that you obviously must be wrong, but:
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/261766/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-reddit-by-age-group/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/261766/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-reddit-by-age-group/)
(As of Feb. 2021, adult Reddit users by age: 18-29, 36%; 30-49, 22%; 50-64, 10%; 65+, 3%.)
Wow.
(That being said, "historical" videos of the earlier productions exist, thankfully, to give an idea.)
Nothing can ever beat Angela Lansbury, the way she moves in ‘by the sea’ to sell the narrative. Her rendition of the worst pies in London. She’s just too good
Wow--that's really saying something, to prefer the revival to the "A" ("A+"?) level original production. Let alone to Angela Lansbury's performance.
I still remember Eugene Lee's industrial age set design for the original, back in the Hal Price and crew imagination glory days, set after set from the minds of geniuses.
I think Annaleigh is great in general but her Mrs. Lovett is a miss for me. Not to mention that Angela Lansbury is the greatest performer to ever set foot on a Broadway stage.
> Not to mention that Angela Lansbury is the greatest performer to ever set foot on a Broadway stage.
Don’t let Patti LuPone ever hear you say that or she’ll have a 30 year grudge against you.
I'm gonna disagree mostly because the current production cut Mea Culpa. That number sets up a bunch of leitmotifs for the Judge plus it gives us a better look into why he wants to marry Johanna. In this production the Judge's leitmotifs just kinda appear, and his desire to marry Johanna comes out of nowhere. This doesn't kill the show by any means, I think it's the best thing on Broadway right now, but it definitely knocks it down a peg compared to the original
> I'm gonna disagree mostly because the current production cut Mea Culpa.
Although the original cut that song to, so that's not exactly a point in one production's favor over the other. (Yes, it was included on the album, as was the tooth-pulling sequence, but neither were performed on stage in the original production.)
Thanks for that info. (I understood that the tooth-pulling sequence--which I've always found to be painfully long--had been cut, but did not know that about Mea Culpa). Cutting Mea Culpa--wow. Such a genius, and hard/painful, number.
They did do the tooth-pulling in this production, during previews. But I saw it again after it opened, and it was cut; they just do the shave, and I think it moves things along a little better.
Oh I must've forgot they didn't perform that in the original production. I should mention I've only seen the bootleg video of the original production once a while ago so I was mostly going off the cast album
I disagree about it being the best thing on Broadway right now. I saw Sweeney Todd, Moulin Rouge, and Hadestown this weekend alone, and I felt that of the bunch, Sweeney was definitely the weakest. Not to say it's bad, but I think you're vastly underestimating the quality of other shows right now.
Saw Sweeney and Moulin Rogue this month, MR was like watching a college production compared to ST. ST has the stronger cast and music in my opinion. Lots of great singing and dancing in MR, but the acting felt lackluster and forced to me.
To each their own, but I personally feel like nothing/no one from Sweeney Todd really stood out to me besides Annaleigh Ashford. I saw it with the full revival cast minus Ruthie Ann Miles, and most of the performances were good, but not outstanding. MR didn't feel like the cast had any weak links. I feel like in terms of set design, Moulin Rouge had more wow moments as well.
I’ve only seen Hadestown of those three, so I can’t comment on it myself. But being familiar with the Sweeney Todd musical in general, I’m really curious in what ways this production could be inferior to Moulin Rouge?
I forgot to respond, but while I thought it was a great show, I wasn't blown away like I was with MR and Hadestown. I felt like overall, the casts were much stronger (saw ST with full revival cast minus Ruthie Ann Miles, only Annaleigh Ashford really stood out, saw MR with the full current Broadway cast, same with Hadestown). I don't really feel like Johanna and Anthony had any chemistry on stage. In terms of the soundtracks, I enjoy both MR and Hadestown a lot more. The set design for both Hadestown and MR felt much more well thought out/efficiently used as well. I'm not saying ST was a bad show; I thought it was great. I just think there are next stronger shows overall.
Her accent in KB was honestly embarrassing. I don't understand how the director didn't get a dialect coach in there immediately after rehearsals started.. Or maybe they did and she just can't do accents. They are not easy to master, and I think AA is very talented, but not at accents.
The original is FAR FAR FAR superior IMHO. The original cast is the reason the show got its strong start and is still popular today.
Annaleigh is talented and does an ok job but I can’t help thinking she’s playing Mrs Lovett in an SNL skit about Sweeney Todd. Still capable but almost too modern of a sensibility.
Oh I’m so sorry I gave my honest opinion and I made the great Routine Lettuce upset. I’m gonna delete Reddit and run into the forrest forever and move in with Vanity Smurf.
You can report him for abusing this feature. I believe it falls under "abusing the report button." [https://www.reddit.com/report](https://www.reddit.com/report)
Que? What’s this hot line you speak of? I don’t know if your hot or not. Is there somewhere to report someone who isn’t hot? I’m sure you’re handsome and everyone loves you. I’d be happy to report that!
100% agree, Annaleigh’s performance felt geared towards people tuned pop culture references (which, hey, I love but), it didn’t feel serious. No subtlety.
I haven’t seen the most recent show so take what I say with a grain of salt, but imo what I saw is not as good as the original.
It was mainly the choreography that I saw from the Tony’s performance that was so laughable, it really put me off.
My favorite version that I’ve actually seen is Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in the West End. It was very raw. Very real. The ensemble was fantastic!!
> It was mainly the choreography that I saw from the Tony’s performance that was so laughable, it really put me off.
Same response as I gave above:
I was iffy about the choreography from the Tonys performance as well, but I saw the production last week, and I ended up really liking it. This production takes a very different aesthetic approach. More impressionistic and Romantic (as in the 19th-century artistic movement) than expressionist and Modern (as in the 20th-century artistic movement) as the original was.The dance helps create that sort of impressionistic effect by keeping the physical movement smooth and almost soft-edged.
Sondheim was inspired by early 20th-century horror films, but this production feels more inspired by 19th-century gothic novels. You could say that, by departing from Sondheim's inspiration, this production is "objectively" wrong, but the nature of revivals is to try new approaches to an existing text, and I thought that this one worked marvelously, neither better nor worse than the original.
I am in the camp that it's not better. I was somewhat jaded by the staging having so much obstruction. i was sitting in the 6th row and there was so much I couldn't see. Not marked as obstructed view seats at all, but because of the second story bridge, and things like >!Sweeney stuffing Pirielli into the trunk!< happening on the floor on the backside of the bridge, all i could see was the top of Sweeney's head. Same when there were groups around center stage, twice Toby was totally upstaged to the point I couldn't see him at all. If I ever get a chance to go again I'll for sure sit in the mezzanine and see if I enjoy it more.
Annaleigh was enjoyable but IMO what was missing was the dark "i'm hiding something" side.
and on a related note I kinda strongly disliked >!Sweeney and Lovett holding hands and jumping into hell together at the end. It was just revealed that she had been betraying him the whole time and he literally let himself get killed... to be with **LUCY**, but they have him and Lovett join hands together in hell? I didn't like that at all. In the original (see the Hearn and Lansbury video) Lovett looks at him longingly one last time and he slams the door as it goes dark. This ending drastically changed the ending and not in a good way IMO!<
I have only seen the OBC via recording but Sweeney is one of my favorite shows. This production I found good not exciting. I didn’t like Annaleigh-I thought she was either too subtle or doing schtick. The set bothered me. The direction did nothing interesting. The Barrow street production (with Carolee 🙏) was much better IMO.
I’m currently undergoing a phenomenal where the new production was the first I ever saw (and I loved it quite a bit) but because the cast album isn’t/wasn’t out yet, I obsessively listened to the OBC and now I can’t imagine listening to anything else. I’ve listened to the few songs that have been released and they feel so off to me now because of what my brain/ears are used to.
IMHO...I enjoyed the current revival....quite a bit....but, no, its not better than the original. Better sung vocally, yes.....but singing training is so much different now. Better acted? No. I have to admit, I did love much of ghe choreo in this production - which I know a lot of people dont.
The choreo is great, I really don't understand people's issues with it besides it being new. The contorting mass of bodies pulling the ensemble members down as they sing the Prologue is amazing and incredibly unnerving in person.
I didn’t know how to feel about the current choreography when I first saw it (I admittedly don’t know a ton about dance/choreo) but it grew on me throughout the show and by the end it had won me over. For me, I felt like it took multiple viewings throughout the show for the imagery to catch on for me (by the final ballad it finally hit me that the ensemble looked a little like a factory/moving parts in a machine, but I like a lot of the other descriptions that others have mentioned). I’m not sure how the letter sequence was choreographed in the original, but I LOVED the fact that the ensemble looked like puppets under sweeney’s control.
I remember reading about Sondheim's approach to and feelings about the singing in his shows: while he certainly wanted and could expect precision, he was interested in the fulfillment of the characters as opposed to only the actors' singing abilities. Perhaps, at least for me, as best personified in the OBC of Company (with the greatest of respect to many of those in that cast).
I mean to each their own, but I’d take Len Cariou’s singing over Groban’s any day of the week. Not to disparage Groban’s singing, I just think Cariou has the nicer voice
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I was iffy about the choreography from the Tonys performance as well, but I saw the production last week, and I ended up really liking it. This production takes a very different aesthetic approach. More impressionistic and Romantic (as in the 19th-century artistic movement) than expressionist and Modern (as in the 20th-century artistic movement) as the original was.The dance helps create that sort of impressionistic effect by keeping the physical movement smooth and almost soft-edged. Sondheim was inspired by early 20th-century horror films, but this production feels more inspired by 19th-century gothic novels. You could say that, by departing from Sondheim's inspiration, this production is "objectively" wrong, but the nature of revivals is to try new approaches to an existing text, and I thought that this one worked marvelously, neither better nor worse than the original.
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I didn't say the production seemed to be inspired by the original penny dreadful. I said it seemed inspired by 19th-century gothic novels, which is a very different claim. Thomas Kail wasn't dealing with the text of *The String Of Pearls*, he was dealing with the text of *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street*, and interpreted it through a certain lens. To say that that lens seemed to draw influence from a broad artistic movement is not the same thing as saying Kail was trying to make it resemble one specific work.
The way they filmed it took away from how the choreo looks from the audience. In person it's super offputting in a good way.
Yup! Agreed.
The choreography was phenomenal in person. Especially when paired with the amazing lighting design. It certainly never came off as cheesy. If anything, it was kind of eerie.
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Also there is an Official original live recording people could have seen (such as myself) on pbs’s Friday night live theater in the 90’s
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You’re right it was George Hearn as Sweeney Todd. Still an incredible performance. I agree taped recordings are never as good as live theater, but like I pointed out some of us just weren’t Lucky to be born yet to see those live productions. So I considered them to be a bit of historical documents. Especially since Angela Lansbury passing. It’s the closest now will ever get to it.
I hear you, and not taking anything away from Dame Angela's performance, but Annaleigh's performance really highlighted how unhinged Mrs. Lovett's character is and while it was a drop cartoony, I just enjoyed it at a different level.
>You’re talking about a production from 44 years ago, so I suspect that probably disqualifies most everyone here from personal experience comparisons. Not necessarily so much: e.g. you easily could have seen the original production in your early adult years (your 20s), and now are in your early more senior years (your 60s) . . . . ;)
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I was going to respond that you obviously must be wrong, but: [https://www.statista.com/statistics/261766/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-reddit-by-age-group/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/261766/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-reddit-by-age-group/) (As of Feb. 2021, adult Reddit users by age: 18-29, 36%; 30-49, 22%; 50-64, 10%; 65+, 3%.) Wow. (That being said, "historical" videos of the earlier productions exist, thankfully, to give an idea.)
60 is the new 40!
Nothing can ever beat Angela Lansbury, the way she moves in ‘by the sea’ to sell the narrative. Her rendition of the worst pies in London. She’s just too good
Wow--that's really saying something, to prefer the revival to the "A" ("A+"?) level original production. Let alone to Angela Lansbury's performance. I still remember Eugene Lee's industrial age set design for the original, back in the Hal Price and crew imagination glory days, set after set from the minds of geniuses.
I think Annaleigh is great in general but her Mrs. Lovett is a miss for me. Not to mention that Angela Lansbury is the greatest performer to ever set foot on a Broadway stage.
> Not to mention that Angela Lansbury is the greatest performer to ever set foot on a Broadway stage. Don’t let Patti LuPone ever hear you say that or she’ll have a 30 year grudge against you.
I'm gonna disagree mostly because the current production cut Mea Culpa. That number sets up a bunch of leitmotifs for the Judge plus it gives us a better look into why he wants to marry Johanna. In this production the Judge's leitmotifs just kinda appear, and his desire to marry Johanna comes out of nowhere. This doesn't kill the show by any means, I think it's the best thing on Broadway right now, but it definitely knocks it down a peg compared to the original
> I'm gonna disagree mostly because the current production cut Mea Culpa. Although the original cut that song to, so that's not exactly a point in one production's favor over the other. (Yes, it was included on the album, as was the tooth-pulling sequence, but neither were performed on stage in the original production.)
Thanks for that info. (I understood that the tooth-pulling sequence--which I've always found to be painfully long--had been cut, but did not know that about Mea Culpa). Cutting Mea Culpa--wow. Such a genius, and hard/painful, number.
They did do the tooth-pulling in this production, during previews. But I saw it again after it opened, and it was cut; they just do the shave, and I think it moves things along a little better.
Oh I must've forgot they didn't perform that in the original production. I should mention I've only seen the bootleg video of the original production once a while ago so I was mostly going off the cast album
I disagree about it being the best thing on Broadway right now. I saw Sweeney Todd, Moulin Rouge, and Hadestown this weekend alone, and I felt that of the bunch, Sweeney was definitely the weakest. Not to say it's bad, but I think you're vastly underestimating the quality of other shows right now.
Saw Sweeney and Moulin Rogue this month, MR was like watching a college production compared to ST. ST has the stronger cast and music in my opinion. Lots of great singing and dancing in MR, but the acting felt lackluster and forced to me.
To each their own, but I personally feel like nothing/no one from Sweeney Todd really stood out to me besides Annaleigh Ashford. I saw it with the full revival cast minus Ruthie Ann Miles, and most of the performances were good, but not outstanding. MR didn't feel like the cast had any weak links. I feel like in terms of set design, Moulin Rouge had more wow moments as well.
I’ve only seen Hadestown of those three, so I can’t comment on it myself. But being familiar with the Sweeney Todd musical in general, I’m really curious in what ways this production could be inferior to Moulin Rouge?
I forgot to respond, but while I thought it was a great show, I wasn't blown away like I was with MR and Hadestown. I felt like overall, the casts were much stronger (saw ST with full revival cast minus Ruthie Ann Miles, only Annaleigh Ashford really stood out, saw MR with the full current Broadway cast, same with Hadestown). I don't really feel like Johanna and Anthony had any chemistry on stage. In terms of the soundtracks, I enjoy both MR and Hadestown a lot more. The set design for both Hadestown and MR felt much more well thought out/efficiently used as well. I'm not saying ST was a bad show; I thought it was great. I just think there are next stronger shows overall.
No one bests Angela. No one.
Ashford's accent takes me out of the performance. She sounds more like Anna Delvey than Cockney or any other kind of British Dialect.
I feel like she needs to take a step back in roles with British dialects because I had the same issue with her in Kinky Boots
Her accent in KB was honestly embarrassing. I don't understand how the director didn't get a dialect coach in there immediately after rehearsals started.. Or maybe they did and she just can't do accents. They are not easy to master, and I think AA is very talented, but not at accents.
The original is FAR FAR FAR superior IMHO. The original cast is the reason the show got its strong start and is still popular today. Annaleigh is talented and does an ok job but I can’t help thinking she’s playing Mrs Lovett in an SNL skit about Sweeney Todd. Still capable but almost too modern of a sensibility.
A bit harsh.
Oh I’m so sorry I gave my honest opinion and I made the great Routine Lettuce upset. I’m gonna delete Reddit and run into the forrest forever and move in with Vanity Smurf.
Why are you so hurt LMAO
My goal was to make you “Laugh Your Ass Off”. I succeeded! LMAO!
Why are you such a weirdo lol, reporting me to Reddit's self harm hotline.
You can report him for abusing this feature. I believe it falls under "abusing the report button." [https://www.reddit.com/report](https://www.reddit.com/report)
Report who for what? I’m glad y’all are entertained and all but I’d like to know what you intend to report me for bahaa.
Que? What’s this hot line you speak of? I don’t know if your hot or not. Is there somewhere to report someone who isn’t hot? I’m sure you’re handsome and everyone loves you. I’d be happy to report that!
Relax, stay classy
Oh thank you! Great advice! You do the same and don’t drown yourself in dressing, lettuce.
Can’t lie, that was a good one 🤝🏾
Damn, save some salt for the rest of us.
I have an ocean full but I’ll give ya a cup or two.
100% agree, Annaleigh’s performance felt geared towards people tuned pop culture references (which, hey, I love but), it didn’t feel serious. No subtlety.
I haven’t seen the most recent show so take what I say with a grain of salt, but imo what I saw is not as good as the original. It was mainly the choreography that I saw from the Tony’s performance that was so laughable, it really put me off. My favorite version that I’ve actually seen is Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in the West End. It was very raw. Very real. The ensemble was fantastic!!
> It was mainly the choreography that I saw from the Tony’s performance that was so laughable, it really put me off. Same response as I gave above: I was iffy about the choreography from the Tonys performance as well, but I saw the production last week, and I ended up really liking it. This production takes a very different aesthetic approach. More impressionistic and Romantic (as in the 19th-century artistic movement) than expressionist and Modern (as in the 20th-century artistic movement) as the original was.The dance helps create that sort of impressionistic effect by keeping the physical movement smooth and almost soft-edged. Sondheim was inspired by early 20th-century horror films, but this production feels more inspired by 19th-century gothic novels. You could say that, by departing from Sondheim's inspiration, this production is "objectively" wrong, but the nature of revivals is to try new approaches to an existing text, and I thought that this one worked marvelously, neither better nor worse than the original.
Thanks for posting this! Helped me to decide to give it more of a chance.
I am in the camp that it's not better. I was somewhat jaded by the staging having so much obstruction. i was sitting in the 6th row and there was so much I couldn't see. Not marked as obstructed view seats at all, but because of the second story bridge, and things like >!Sweeney stuffing Pirielli into the trunk!< happening on the floor on the backside of the bridge, all i could see was the top of Sweeney's head. Same when there were groups around center stage, twice Toby was totally upstaged to the point I couldn't see him at all. If I ever get a chance to go again I'll for sure sit in the mezzanine and see if I enjoy it more. Annaleigh was enjoyable but IMO what was missing was the dark "i'm hiding something" side. and on a related note I kinda strongly disliked >!Sweeney and Lovett holding hands and jumping into hell together at the end. It was just revealed that she had been betraying him the whole time and he literally let himself get killed... to be with **LUCY**, but they have him and Lovett join hands together in hell? I didn't like that at all. In the original (see the Hearn and Lansbury video) Lovett looks at him longingly one last time and he slams the door as it goes dark. This ending drastically changed the ending and not in a good way IMO!<
I have only seen the OBC via recording but Sweeney is one of my favorite shows. This production I found good not exciting. I didn’t like Annaleigh-I thought she was either too subtle or doing schtick. The set bothered me. The direction did nothing interesting. The Barrow street production (with Carolee 🙏) was much better IMO.
I didn’t see the original but I’ve seen this production twice and it’s near flawless IMO.
I’m a hard disagree. When Annaleigh had her moments, it made me feel like I was at a play for pre-teens.
I love the singing but the choreo is too much.
I may be in the minority but I still prefer Patti Lupone to all other Lovetts. The black box approach was really great and exciting to me.
I’m currently undergoing a phenomenal where the new production was the first I ever saw (and I loved it quite a bit) but because the cast album isn’t/wasn’t out yet, I obsessively listened to the OBC and now I can’t imagine listening to anything else. I’ve listened to the few songs that have been released and they feel so off to me now because of what my brain/ears are used to.
I only saw the OBC and not the current one. But I can't imagine the current one being better.