Swing Your Razor Wide, Sweeney!
Jan. 7th, 2008 07:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feliciakwThat? *points to icon* Is me. Fall of 1995, hanging out in the back hallways of the PAC before hitting the stage as a member of the Fleet Street Chorus.
Went to see Sweeney Todd last night, and as a former denizen of Fleet Street, I think I had a different experience than the rest of the audience.
WARNING: Before we get started, I'll warn you that there is much visceral spray (which I totally think needs to be the name of a rock band . . . or a chamber music ensemble), so BE WARNED. I did not find myself having to actually hide my eyes, though there was much flailing before the end of the movie. Just so ya know . . .
First of all, this must be taken as a completely different project than a production of the play. It works well, and I like it for what it is, but I like the play better because it is more complete.
The cast was well-chosen, though I did miss some of the full-body, from-the-gut singing of the play. Depp, of course, makes a fantabulous Sweeney, and though I can tell he's not a singer, he can carry a tune, and movies are by necessity more subtle in presentation than stage anyway. Alan Rickman as the judge was a stroke of genius on someone's part, and Helen Bonham Carter was wonderful as Mrs. Lovett.
I was extremely disappointed that they cut some of the choral pieces that they did. (Other songs I didn't miss in the slightest.) I understand why Burton did it--because some of them were too theatrical for the approach he was taking. But my favorite song from the show is the "Ballad," and that got axed completely, even over the opening sequence and end credits. With the removal of the Ballad and the subsequent refrains, the "moral of the story" is lost, and it just becomes a horror musical. Such is life, I guess, and those familiar with the lyrics of the actual show will "get it," but newcomers are just rattled by the movie and from what I was hearing around me didn't really "get it" the way I did.
I also think Burton made a mistake in not establishing the Beggar Woman as part of the environment of Fleet Street sooner. In the play, she shows up almost immediately after Sweeney and Anthony get off the boat, with a "Don't I know you, mister?" And that's a common occurrence throughout the show. She's a regular beggar on Fleet Street. Mrs. Lovett spurns her, Sweeney ignores her. In the movie, she almost feels like an afterthought.
Given the visual options available to movies that aren't available to theater, I was very pleased with the interpretation of some of the songs. "A Little Priest" was particularly droll, and "By the Sea" was soooo Burton-esque.
"Epiphany," I think the song is called, suffered somewhat from not having a singer in the roll of Sweeney. That's Sweeney's turning point in the story, and it just didn't hit me in the movie the way it does in the play. Prior to that, Sweeney wants revenge on those who hurt him, and that's about it. "Epiphany" is when he loses it completely and decides every throat is fair game. I'm just used to "more" with that one, I guess.
This being a musical, I did miss the other choral pieces, like "God, That's Good" and "City on Fire." They did the solo verses of these songs, but no chorus. Understandable, but still a little disappointing.
One part that I squeed at that Geo told me I was probably the only person in the theater who "got it" was when Depp/Sweeney and Carter/Lovett pose in the same pose as the theatrical poster, with one holding up a rolling pin and the other holding up the meat cleaver (in the poster, it's Sweeney and his razor). As soon as each character picked up each tool during "A Little Priest," I was waiting for it. Again, very subtle, but if you know, you know.
And apparently, the "soundtrack" to the movie that's available is the whole libretto of the stage production, so I might have to check that out.
The comments around me were amusing. I heard someone comment that it was much darker than they expected. (To which I reply, "Duh. Sweeney.) Someone behind me made a comment that it was really twisted. Yep. But if you have the moral bookends of the ballad, you understand why it's so twisted, and why you need to be watchful in case Sweeney sneaks up on you:
His needs are few, his room is bare.
He hardly uses his fancy chair.
The more he bleeds, the more he lives.
He never forgets and he never forgives.
Perhaps today you gave a nod
To Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Sweeney wishes the world away,
Sweeney's weeping for yesterday,
Hugging the blade, waiting the years,
Hearing the music that nobody hears.
Sweeney waits in the parlor hall,
Sweeney leans on the office wall,
No one can help, nothing can hide you--
Isn't that Sweeney there beside you?
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!
He served a dark and a hungry god!
To seek revenge may lead to hell,
But everyone does it, and seldom as well
As Sweeney,
As Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet . . .
. . . Street.
(Epilogue Ballad from the play)
Overall, I was pleased with the movie. It will probably end up in our collection, sitting next to the PBS Great Performances DVD we have.
Went to see Sweeney Todd last night, and as a former denizen of Fleet Street, I think I had a different experience than the rest of the audience.
WARNING: Before we get started, I'll warn you that there is much visceral spray (which I totally think needs to be the name of a rock band . . . or a chamber music ensemble), so BE WARNED. I did not find myself having to actually hide my eyes, though there was much flailing before the end of the movie. Just so ya know . . .
First of all, this must be taken as a completely different project than a production of the play. It works well, and I like it for what it is, but I like the play better because it is more complete.
The cast was well-chosen, though I did miss some of the full-body, from-the-gut singing of the play. Depp, of course, makes a fantabulous Sweeney, and though I can tell he's not a singer, he can carry a tune, and movies are by necessity more subtle in presentation than stage anyway. Alan Rickman as the judge was a stroke of genius on someone's part, and Helen Bonham Carter was wonderful as Mrs. Lovett.
I was extremely disappointed that they cut some of the choral pieces that they did. (Other songs I didn't miss in the slightest.) I understand why Burton did it--because some of them were too theatrical for the approach he was taking. But my favorite song from the show is the "Ballad," and that got axed completely, even over the opening sequence and end credits. With the removal of the Ballad and the subsequent refrains, the "moral of the story" is lost, and it just becomes a horror musical. Such is life, I guess, and those familiar with the lyrics of the actual show will "get it," but newcomers are just rattled by the movie and from what I was hearing around me didn't really "get it" the way I did.
I also think Burton made a mistake in not establishing the Beggar Woman as part of the environment of Fleet Street sooner. In the play, she shows up almost immediately after Sweeney and Anthony get off the boat, with a "Don't I know you, mister?" And that's a common occurrence throughout the show. She's a regular beggar on Fleet Street. Mrs. Lovett spurns her, Sweeney ignores her. In the movie, she almost feels like an afterthought.
Given the visual options available to movies that aren't available to theater, I was very pleased with the interpretation of some of the songs. "A Little Priest" was particularly droll, and "By the Sea" was soooo Burton-esque.
"Epiphany," I think the song is called, suffered somewhat from not having a singer in the roll of Sweeney. That's Sweeney's turning point in the story, and it just didn't hit me in the movie the way it does in the play. Prior to that, Sweeney wants revenge on those who hurt him, and that's about it. "Epiphany" is when he loses it completely and decides every throat is fair game. I'm just used to "more" with that one, I guess.
This being a musical, I did miss the other choral pieces, like "God, That's Good" and "City on Fire." They did the solo verses of these songs, but no chorus. Understandable, but still a little disappointing.
One part that I squeed at that Geo told me I was probably the only person in the theater who "got it" was when Depp/Sweeney and Carter/Lovett pose in the same pose as the theatrical poster, with one holding up a rolling pin and the other holding up the meat cleaver (in the poster, it's Sweeney and his razor). As soon as each character picked up each tool during "A Little Priest," I was waiting for it. Again, very subtle, but if you know, you know.
And apparently, the "soundtrack" to the movie that's available is the whole libretto of the stage production, so I might have to check that out.
The comments around me were amusing. I heard someone comment that it was much darker than they expected. (To which I reply, "Duh. Sweeney.) Someone behind me made a comment that it was really twisted. Yep. But if you have the moral bookends of the ballad, you understand why it's so twisted, and why you need to be watchful in case Sweeney sneaks up on you:
His needs are few, his room is bare.
He hardly uses his fancy chair.
The more he bleeds, the more he lives.
He never forgets and he never forgives.
Perhaps today you gave a nod
To Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Sweeney wishes the world away,
Sweeney's weeping for yesterday,
Hugging the blade, waiting the years,
Hearing the music that nobody hears.
Sweeney waits in the parlor hall,
Sweeney leans on the office wall,
No one can help, nothing can hide you--
Isn't that Sweeney there beside you?
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!
He served a dark and a hungry god!
To seek revenge may lead to hell,
But everyone does it, and seldom as well
As Sweeney,
As Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet . . .
. . . Street.
(Epilogue Ballad from the play)
Overall, I was pleased with the movie. It will probably end up in our collection, sitting next to the PBS Great Performances DVD we have.
