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

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)
Seen on DVD 21st Sept 2008

Stephen Sondheim is a FRIGGIN GENIUS!
As is Tim Burton.

From the very first moment I heard that Burton was working on a movie adaptation of Sweeney i went a little bit mental. One of my all time favourite directors, working on one of my all time favourite musicals.


STORY: 6/7
- "It's Todd now. Sweeney Todd... and he will have his revenge"
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was the best barber in all of London, but when the wicked Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) took a fancy to his wife Lucy, Barker was sent to Botany Bay on a false charge. 15 years later "Sweeney Todd" returns to London for his revenge. He takes his old room above Mrs Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) "Meat Pie Emporium" where they set in place a devious plan involving the disposal of bodies through a meat grinder and some pastry.

Depp as Sweeney Todd and H.B.C. as Mrs Lovett



ACTING: 5.5/7
- "There was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful"

A lot of people were very disappointed with Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sweeney Todd. I admit that his singing wasn't up to the standard of, let's say, George Hearn, but i think he acted the role quite well. He gave Sweeney so much anger, but at the same time, so much control. Helena Bonham Carter was ALWAYS going to be a brilliant Mrs Lovett. She herself has said that she even dressed up as Mrs Lovett as a child, and who knew she could sing that well!!

Helena in her Mrs Lovett undergarments

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 6/7
- "In these once familiar streets I feel shadows... ghosts"

Sweeney Todd is of course, the perfect place for Burton to use his trademark dark styles. It is an extremely dark movie, except of course for the "By The Sea" segment, which exists only as a fantasy. I love the way Burton can do dark so well, but when he makes the switch to bright and happy, it's even BETTER! In terms of special effects, there is a LOT of throat slitting in this movie (as you could imagine - being called the "demon barber.")

On the boardwalk in "By The Sea"



SCORE / SOUND: 6.5/7

I don't believe there was ANY original music used in this movie ?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the show, so it's all his incidental music used in between the songs.

Mrs Lovett and one of the worst pies in London

SONGS: 7/7
- "There's a hole in the world like a great black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled with shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it... but not for long"

Man oh man, it's difficult to say how much i really love this musical. The songs are all so complicated and intricately written, yet they are somehow so simple at the same time. One thing that worked so so well in the original Sondheim musical was that he made the music basically continuous. He didn't want there to be long gaps between songs, therefore making the songs "something special" and taking you out of the story. While the movie version does have a few less songs and a bit more talking, they still use the music in such a great way.

Another thing to mention in refference to the songs in this musical is... no-one in the cast except for Laura Michelle Kelly (Beggar Woman) has had any previous training or experience in musical theatre. I think I'm going to have to give a special mention in terms of singing to Edward Sanders who played Toby. From the moment this boy appeared on screen belting out the introduction to "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" i was MESMERISED!

Helena Bonham Carter and Edward Sanders



GORE RATING: 5/7
- "It's man devouring man, my dear! and who are we to deny it in here?"

There's some really nice blood spraying action and some neck breaking that, despite being quite sick and gory, never failed to get a response of laughter in the cinemas.



OVERALL: 6.5/7

Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett