Sweeney Todd In Concert

Sweeney Todd In Concert (2001)
Seen on DVD 25th Sept 2008

I was told that this DVD was no longer carried by JB Hi-Fi and that I basically had no chance of ever finding it. Well guess what, i DID find it, and it was only $10. Which takes my sweeney todd collection up to 3 DVDs and 2 CD soundtracks.

Anyway...
This one is odd to review using the same movie things.

It is the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street" but it is set as a concert performance no sets, and with a full orchestra on stage.

STORY: See Previous Review

ACTING: 5/7
George Hearn is always brilliant. I mean that man is AMAZING and he will always be my favourite Sweeney. Patti LuPone's Mrs Lovett is one of those love-it-or-hate-it performances. She has what is undoubtedly an AMAZING voice, and is quite a good actor, but i just don't like her treatment of the character. Mrs Lovett should be a bit more crazy, and a bit less sexy than LuPone makes her. Of course, one of the main reasons i've been hunting down this DVD is none other than Neil Patrick Harris as Toby. AWESOME!

* Neil Patrick Harris *

SET-UP / STAGE DESIGN: 6/7
- Check out my sweet ability to make things up on the spot.
The stage design for this concert is amazing. Clearly you couldn't just have all the actors standing in a line across the front of the stage, because Sweeney has so much simultaneous action in different places, so the stage was set up with layered runways around the orchestra, allowing to actors to move to different levels.

* Hearn and LuPone on stage *

SONGS: 6.5/7
Clearly this stage show has the songs from the movie version, but it also has all the songs that it skipped! and some of the songs that weren't even in the filmed version of the stage-show (with Angela Landsbury.) Patti LuPone manages to belt out some stunning notes, and George Hearn is, well, George Hearn.

* Patti LuPone *

OVERALL: 5.5/7