rats in the streets and the lunatics yelling at the moon it's the end of the world!

[rmd]

so, i'd heard a few tracks from the latest revival of "sweeney todd", and heard how all the instruments are played by the cast. and i thought it was kind of a gimmick. because, you know, patti lupone playing a tuba. that's pretty gimmicky right there.

well, the touring company came to boston, and clauclauclaudia and i went to see it tonite. (yay harvard discount ticket block)

OH MY GOD BRILLIANT. instead of being gimmicky and thin (as i had feared it would be), the staging was fabulous. in lieu of the chair of great fabulousness, customers were sitting on - and sweeney was cradling - a white baby-sized coffin. towards the end part of "nothing's gonna harm you", mrs lovett was singing as toby carries the theme on a violin, slipping more and more into madness. and johanna was flighty and twitchy and skittish and not a little crazy.

and buckets of blood poured one into the other, as the lighting washes red over the entire stage. and yes, they did have a steam whistle.

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

IOW, it was like Boston politics set to music?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

nah. there were a few actual innocents and the accents were more refined.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I *love* this staging. I love many, many things about it. But one of the things I love best is that the actors play their instruments in character.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yes. toby, in particular, is fabulously mad throughout the whole thing.

the staging adds a lovely bit of framing story around the whole thing, too.

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

I loved it when I saw this staging in London, and really liked the touring company in SF. It makes the show more intense, and infinitely darker.

so much darker!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

on the way home, we stopped so claudia could go in and pick up some milk at the store. while waiting in the parking lot, i very nearly called you out of the blue to rave about this show. (i blame the queen retrospective playing on the radio, coupled with the time zone difference, for putting the idea in my head.)

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Sue and I saw the show in New York last summer- somehow we lucked into front row seats. Of all the shows I've seen in New York, this had to be the best.

[wotw]

I saw this on Broadway and was mildly disappointed, actually. But the
current production of "Company", from the same director, and with the same
"gimmick" of actors-playing-instruments, is, I think, beyond brilliant.