AT LAST...! MY ARM IS COMPLETE AGAIN!!!

[thehefner]

On the Danny Elfman fans' LJ community recently, some folks were lamenting Elfman's lack of involvement in SWEENEY TODD. They were wondering why oh why Danny wasn't scoring the film? Did he have a falling out with Burton again?

...

When I pointed out that it was a, y'know, established musical by Stephen fucking SONDHEIM, they responded with shock and surprise. "Really?!" Many never heard of it. Nonetheless, one person still wished Elfman were involved somehow.

Now, y'all know that I worship Elfman's music, but... it... they... *headdesk*

In fairness, the trailer does its best to disguise the fact that it's a musical, and until yesterday, I had never actually seen SWEENEY TODD. Which I did, thanks to Netflix: the 1982 stage performance starring George Hearn and Angela Lansbury.

The entirety of which is here on YouTube:

Oh.

Oh. Wow.

Now, there's also a recording of SWEENEY TODD IN CONCERT from 2001, with George Hearn reprising the title role (he doesn't need the old-man makeup anymore!) with Patti LuPone and Neil Patrick Harris... the entirety of which is also on YouTube:

... all of which I have not yet seen, but plan to. LuPone's gonna have to work to erase the memory of Lansbury's Tony-winning performance, but she's more than earned the fair shot, from what little I know of her.

Umm. Yeah, folks, if y'all have a few hours to kill, uh, do yourself a favor and watch either of these, if you're totally unfamilar with SWEENEY TODD.

So with these in mind, I can only wonder what the hell Tim Burton is gonna do with the movie. Will audiences respond to it? Fuck if I know. The subject matter alone will likely turn many people off, and Sondheim is... not the most accessible musical scribe, shall we say?

I mean, shows like SWEENEY TODD and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE aren't so much musicals as they are operettas. And even then, unlike operas with arias, there're very few hum-able melodies in Sondheim shows. They're more like plays written 90% in melodic recitative (recitative usually being my very least favorite part of opera).

And then there's the cast.

I am not at all worried about Sacha Baron Cohen as Perelli, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, or Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford. I mean, it'll be interesting seeing Rickman actually play lecherous*, but otherwise, they'll be fantastic, I have no doubt. Cohen especially should be an absolute blast; watch the 1982 version, and the second Perelli shows up, you'll be like "Oh fuck, it's Borat."

No, the main worries are Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. With the latter, I honestly have no idea what to expect, but with the former... well, he's not a singer. Not an opera singer, anyway. But he doesn't need to be, of course. We live in a day and age of mics, where non-opera singers with weak voices can perform LA BOHEME on Broadway, and perhaps non-operatic voices would be work just fine, perhaps even better, in film.

Even then, though, it seems Depp's not really singing, but more like that "sing-talking" thing. Which also might work, if done well. One thing I noticed about George Hearn's performance was how tortured he seemed, whereas Depp in the trailer appears to be more outright sinister and devilish.

All in all, I'm more interested than ever to see the film. I just hope Burton doesn't forget to imbue some heart and humanity in the proceedings, which I felt were sorely lacking from his faithful-but-cold CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

In the meantime, I'm just gonna watch SWEENEY TODD IN CONCERT and swoon.

(side-note: it looks like in 2008 there'll be a Broadway revival of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. I'm sorely tempted to make the trek, even though the original Mandy Patinkin/Bernadette Peters recording is one of my very favorite films of all time)


*is he anything less than delightfully unpleasant in real life? I think he'd be even less fun to hang out with than John Cleese.

Comments

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

I saw it at Yale, back in 1991 or so.
Maura Grandy, Yala Drama student and daughter of Fred Grandy, played the female lead.
Man, that was awesome.
Also, Patti Lupone is the only person to ever play Evita. You could say there have been others, but you would be, for lack of a better word, completely fucking wrong.
And something tells me that Alan Rickman is among the world's coolest hangs.
That reminds me of a tale I must tell.
I go now. I come back later.

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

I was at the Lincoln Center concert with LuPone, Hearn, and Harris.

Oh.

My.

G-d.

Totally worth the emotional trauma I underwent for three nights afterwards. Harris was absolutely heartwrenching as Toby. (Is there even a Toby in the movie? I can't tell.)

LuPone doesn't outdo Lansbury's Mrs. Lovett. She creates her own completely different person. It blows you away. And as much as I love Jessie Fletcher, LuPone's voice just completely eclipses hers.

Sondheim can click with an audience when he wants to--ever seen or heard Company? Total soundtrack for the Single Life in the Seventies. Sweeny Todd was a chance that Sondheim took once he was in a professional place where he could. It was the antithesis of everything else that was running at the time. I don't think Broadway had seen such an antihero before. It's actually only been in the last ten years or so that it's gotten the kind of critical scrutiny and appreciation that it has.

I'm so pissed that I can't go see the movie because mental stress is, y'know, a bad idea right now.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Lucky girl! I imagine I shall dick off from my Hefner Monologues script re-memorizing to watch the whole damn thing tomorrow, if only to see how Harris handles the role. Yes, Toby is indeed in the film, or is at least credited as so in imdb.

Yeah, I believe LuPone does just that. It's gonna take some serious adjustment, much in the way it actually took some adjustment to get into Lansbury in the first place. She's a very distinctive performer.

No, I have not seen nor heard COMPANY! Sadly, there does not seem to be a DVD recording of the concert, just of the making-of soundtrack session. The only other Sondheim shows I've seen are GYPSY and, of course, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

I was really hoping you'd like it.

We'll discuss it soon.

And I doing all of this from my new computer, so I will check those videos out once I buy speakers for it!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I hope you do, and do let me know!

It's fascinating to comapre the two versions (starring the same actor twenty years apart, for one thing!). If you have the time to waste, heck, I'd say watch both, but definitely watch the 1982 version, as it's the more classic, I think.

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

We shall get together and discuss Sweeney Todd!

Umm.. Tuesday night?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Sounds grand. Will you have sound capabilities to watch it by then? I'd like your take on the 1982 production, at least. I generally prefer it to the 2001, although the 2001 is superior in many ways too (better Perelli, better Joanna, Neil Patrick Harris is a better Toby), and trying to compare Angela Lansbury and Patti LuPone is just apples and oranges, they're so different.

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

I hope to get speakers by tonight, but I doubt I will have watched it by then. My chair at the computer is old and rickety, and not comfortable enough for me to sit in long enough to watch a movie.

I am in dire need of a new computer chair.

Yeah, Holly loves Lansbury in it, but doesn't like her voice. I hear it really is apples vs oranges.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Rock and roll.

It took me a bit to get into Lansbury, but I dunno, man, I think she made that role her own. She's very distinctive, and not what I suspect is the typical to classic Mrs. Lovett, but I really liked her a hell of a lot here. It's the best thing I've ever seen her do, even better than MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

Lansbury originated the role, so you could definitely say she made it her own. ;)

[cisic.livejournal.com]

The new Company revival was filmed, so hopefully it should be coming out on DVD eventually.

To tide you over though, check out the Donmar production on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=AllanWo&search_query=donmar

It stars Adrian Lester, whom I love. It was a highly critically acclaimed production. I will warn you, the American accents are charmingly bad.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Rock, huzzah!

I'm a firm believer that more plays need to be professionally filmed, since they really should be seen, not read.

Oh, after the charmingly bad English accents (nothing like a bad cockney accent to bring a smile to one's face) in both SWEENEY TODDs, I'm more than prepared!

[jellied.livejournal.com]

Rickman's unpleasant? Since when?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Merely my personal impression of the man, put out there for any of the legion of Rickman fangirls to pop up and say "Aha, but you're quite wrong there, Mister Hef! He's actually thoroughly chummy and delightful and even smiles warmly on occasion!"

[jellied.livejournal.com]

Oh. Hm.

He doesn't need to smile. Sneering's fine. In fact I think it's preferable. He'd just have to talk...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Thus making him perfect to adore from a distance!

[jellied.livejournal.com]

Too much smiling weirds me out.
It's not honest.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Smiles alone can indeed be creepy, unnerving, or deceptive. It's all about the eyes, really. A smile is worth nothing if the eyes aren't corresponding.

But even then, they're not always dishonest. Too much smiling can be revealing, too, in its own way.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

But then, I suppose I don't entirely know what you're personally talking about, so there's that too.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

When I pointed out that it was a, y'know, established musical by Stephen fucking SONDHEIM, they responded with shock and surprise. "Really?!" Many never heard of it.

Excuse me, I need to go hammer a pack of nails into my forehead, because it would hurt less than reading that sentence did.

I mean, it'll be interesting seeing Rickman actually play lecherous

It will be a giant flashback to ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

And then they STILL insist that Elfman should have been involved somehow, as if he could possibly have contributed anything! OY. PEOPLE.

Ah, yes, well, there you go. With that in mind, I am more than ever convinced Rickman will rock the house.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

That's some hardcore fan illogic right there. Ah, well.

I think he probably will. He was pretty much my favourite part of RH:PoT. (It's good to have a favourite thing about a movie one's mother obsessively watches several times a year, even if it's how very uncomfortable his performance makes me that makes it stand out.)

[frumple.livejournal.com]

Was lucky enought to see a NYC Opera performance of the show back in the early 90s. Was wonderful. They even performed the song that was cut from the Lansbery/Hearn performance, Joanna. Where the Judge is whipping himself over his lust for her. :)

K_ and I are both looking forward to this movie. Between this and Golden Compass we are both actually looking forward to the winter movie season this year. (That hasn't happened in a while).

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I just saw that scene in the 2001 version! Fascinating! It does flesh out the Judge's character a bit, doesn't it? Most interesting.

I'm halfway through GOLDEN COMPASS, but the buzz on the film is... well, uncertain, shall we say? I look forward to seeing it nonetheless, just for Sam Elliot alone.

[berkolounger.livejournal.com]

Man I saw the Sweeny Todd show that just closed last year, with Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris, and it completely blew my mind. The actors doubled as the orchestra, the chars that didn't have a role in a scene would be playing the score in the bg, any char who wasn't in the act of singing would be playing an instrument! LuPone played the tuba. Mark Jacoby was the perfect Judge. I was geeking out over it for months after I saw it, I'm still geeking out really.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool beans in awesome sauce. Lucky you!

So I take it Cerveis was good? I'd love to hear another Sweeney besides Hearn to give me a better idea of how differently the role can be done, while still being done well. I'm slowly trying to come around to Depp's weak actorly voice, which I understand may work fine, if not better, in film. I know many an average idiot gets turned off my operatic singing, and will opt for sing-talking rock-star style instead.

I can understand why you'd still be geeking out. All day today, I just wanna run up to random people and go "THEY ALLLLL DESERVE TO DIE! TELL YA WHY, MRS. LOVETT, TELL YA WHY!"

Now we just need to get ya to see SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE...

[berkolounger.livejournal.com]

Ohh yeah Cerveris was great, and Lupone was amazing. After I saw it everywhere I'd go I'd be singing "God! Deliver me! Filth! Leave me! " Oh.. I am kind of looking forward to seeing Alan Rickman sing that one.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

If they don't cut it out, of course.

They've cut several songs out to fit the movie into around 102 minutes.

[torberg.livejournal.com]

If you want to hear a Todd other than Hearn, check out the original cast recording. Todd was played by Len Cariou when the show opened. (by the way, Victor Garber was Anthony, the sailor.) I'll bring a copy you can hear to Turkeymas.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I would like to hear it, yes! I'll be sure to bring my laptop so I can burn your CD of it, thankya!

[torberg.livejournal.com]

For reference, here's Lansbury and Cariou performing "A Little Priest" at Sondheim's 75th birthday celebration in 2005. The original cast recording may be better, but this gives some hint as to Cariou's performance of Todd. (And they're both do rather well 26 years or so after they originated the roles.)

[deliapuppeh.livejournal.com]

*facedesk* That makes me want to kill people. Guess could have let Elfman conduct, right?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, he conducted the movie of CHICAGO, so I suppose it makes sense. But Sondheim is more controlling of his property, and really, what's the point of having Danny if you can't let Danny be Danny?

[deliapuppeh.livejournal.com]

I had to look that up on IMDB, and I'm amazed to see that it's true! That and you could still let Danny be Danny, since his thing seems to be more along the lines of big movie score production and Sondheim is a little less of that and more of stage. Acoustics are different in a soundproof room than in a giant theater after all, and I'm sure that Danny could take what Sondheim made and adjust it a little bit to be absolutely phenomenal.

Actors...always overdone

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

I went and saw this one: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/calendar/articles/2007/10/18/sweeney_todd/
up in Boston at teh end of Oct. The boyf was in shock that I'd never heard of it, so I got ragged to Boston :) Our conclusion was that this presentation of it (again, actors playing their own instruments -- Mrs Lovett on tuba is funny) was good to great for anyone who knew the story but needed plenty of explaining afterwards in the coffee shop to someone who had NOT seen it ("Why did he want to kill his daughter?" "He didn't want to kill his daughter?" "What was with the miniature coffin?" "It wasn't a coffin, it was symbolic of the new chair")

It's a favorite of his parents' and when it comes out, I think we're doubledating to go see it!

He's going to be psyched it's on Youtube. We tried watching a VHS tape that has been well loved but the quality has clearly suffered!

Re: Actors...always overdone

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yeah, I got a similar impression from the 2001 IN CONCERT film version, which was similarly minimalist, and thus confusing.

The quality of the 1982 version is not super quality, as the DVD is not super quality either (I think there's only so much one can do with something that was made for TV in the 80's), but it was good enough for me!

[cisic.livejournal.com]

I've been talking about the film a lot lately. Sweeney Todd is my all time favorite musical. I own both of the DVDs you mention (and Sunday too, which I love). The Burton film looks freaking awesome in terms of visuals, and I have no doubt that the acting will be great, but I know the singing is going to be terrible. You are right when you observe that Sweeney's practically an operetta. Whenever you see it done well on stage, the voices are full and rich, so I have my doubts about the talk-singing that is going to be used.

I read an article where Depp talked about how he DID NOT get vocal training for this. He just locked himself up in a studio until he "found" the voice of Sweeney Todd. This bothers me. I mean, Johnny Depp is great, and I'm sure his Sweeney will be unlike anyone elses - BUT why do people think that singing is something they don't have to learn to do? Why should he treat his acting as a craft, but not his singing? You wouldn't try to dance a ballet without learning how to pirouette, why do people think they can sing without have to learn how?

I really was hoping they would give someone like Shuler Hensley the chance to play the role. There's a man who knows how to act and sing. And play a tortured soul. His turn as Jud in Oklahoma deservedly won him the Tony. (and the Olivier too, I believe).

PS. If you are interested in seeing Sunday for a ridiculously good price, join Roundabout's HipTix program. That's what I'm doing. After missing both the new Sweeney Todd and the new Company, I swore to myself I will not be missing another Sondheim revival.
http://www.hiptix.com/index.htm

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I have to remind myself for the film that this isn't going to be on the stage. The thing about film is that they can get away with doing it with weaker voices, less sung but more musically acted. And while this may (rightly, I'd say) make you wince, it might be more palatable to your average moviegoer plebian, who tunes out at the first sound of an operatic voice.

But you know what? It just might work. Appreciated on its own terms, not as a lame version of the show but rather a different take altogether... maybe it will be good.

What worries me more is how overtly brooding and evil Johnny seems in the trailer and whatnot, while Hearn just seemed, like I say, tortured and hurting, even still. There's a real pained fury in him, while Depp just already kinda looks half-dead inside.

HipTix! That... might be an excellent idea! Yes, indeedy, thankya!

[cisic.livejournal.com]

I totally hear what you're saying. I agree about the anguish and torture with which Hearn played the role. It's why I think he was brilliant in the part. That video was the way I was introduced to Sweeney Todd, and I will always remember how shocked I was at the end - because here was this man that did terrible things, but you didn't despise him, instead you felt so bad for him. It tore me up.