we're buddies. we're real good buddies.

people review stuff

Friday, January 04, 2008

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2007

After nearly passing out and getting woozy, one of the few things that came to mind was how the American Red Cross missed a golden opportunity for cross promotion. Sweeny had a lot, check that A LOT of blood. There was so much spilled that the grace and artistry with which it's spilt (yeah conjugation!) reminded me of a champagne toast. My favorite is when someone opens the bottle with a saber, and it spews with rainbow arc.
The big "wher'd'it go?" was the title song usually sung by the chorus in the stage production. I miss it mostly because it is emblematic of Stephen Sondheim's disjointed modernity in lyric and score.
There are other "numbers," as B'way lingoists note, that fall in his style. One might be interested to know that Sondheim's big break came with the lyrics for Bernstein's West Side Story..
All that aside...
I think that movie is long. If only because it is a musical that wears me out. Other than that I liken the story to a cross between a Charles Dickens and Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. I recommend checking out Julie Taymor's take from 1999.
By the way. Did you know it was a musical? For most of the ads that I saw, there was hardly a mention of a note of a hint of tune. We here in Elk Grove Village theorize that it's a marketing ploy to get more people in the door.
More singing from Alan Rickman please.

Labels: , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home