{"id":318,"date":"2003-05-04T18:38:39","date_gmt":"2003-05-04T23:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=318"},"modified":"2003-05-04T18:38:39","modified_gmt":"2003-05-04T23:38:39","slug":"attend_the_tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/04\/attend_the_tale.html","title":{"rendered":"Attend the tale …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margie and I, and Rey and Jules, went to Sweeney Todd <\/i>down at Boetcher Concert Hall this afternoon, a production of Opera Colorado<\/a>. Much fun. Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd <\/i>is a fascinating tale of evil, and just as fascinating in making evil … well, fascinating, not to mention entertaining.<\/p>\n

The production was good, if not great. Sweeney’s (Alan Ewing) upper range was a bit weak, and I didn’t care for some of his on-stage business and comportment; he came across occasionally as flip. Mrs. Lovett (Phyllis Pancella, who made the role her own, in competition with Angela Lansbury) and Beadle Bamford (Matthew Lord, who reminded us both of Odd Job) were the best parts of the show, and the other players were all pretty solid. The staging was interestingly done (lacking an “upstairs” barber shop, the lower level of the stage had to serve for Sweeney’s emporium, Lovett’s restaurant, and the bakehouse), but the lighting occasionally lacked focus. There were some problems early on with the sound system, too, muffling some of the voices, and sometimes the balance between singer and orchestra was off, too.<\/p>\n

An entertaining game is deciding who, from a moral perspective, is the most awful character. Sweeney’s a psychopath, driven mad with grief and outrage, and willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of his revenge. Nellie Lovett’s a sociopath, utterly amoral, interested only her prosperity and romance, no matter whose bodies fall where. Judge Turpin has the decency to feel occasionally guilty, but he clearly lets his power and his passions go to his head — he’s certainly a corrupt man, and the most obvious villain.<\/p>\n

There’s Beadle Bamford, of course, who’s a fine thug; Pirelli, who’s a mountebank and blackmailer … heck, Anthony’s a murderer, as (eventually) is Toby. Even Lucy, mythical paragon of virtue, has been turned into a madwoman; a fate that nearly afflicts her daughter (and who knows how she’ll <\/i>turn out after all this).<\/p>\n

Jeez, isn’t that depressing?<\/p>\n

Still, paradoxically, it’s a lot of fun, and I’m glad we went.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margie and I, and Rey and Jules, went to Sweeney Todd down at Boetcher Concert Hall this afternoon, a production of Opera Colorado. Much fun. Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130524,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/01\/stage-review-sweeney-todd.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":0},"title":"Stage Review: “Sweeney Todd”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 1-May-16 12:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"We went today to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and had a great time. It's one of my favorite shows, and it did not disappoint.Production: The stage was pushed well out into the audience, and well arranged,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131063,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/12\/movie-review-sweeney-todd-1982.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":1},"title":"Movie Review: "Sweeney Todd" (1982)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Jul-16 8:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a filming of the Broadway stage production, with Angela Lansbury in her Tony Award-winning performance as Mrs. Lovett, and George Hearn as a boomingly vicious title character.I'd recommend watching this instead of (or before) the Burton movie adaptation, just to get a more full rendition of the show.Full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Stephen2520Sondheim27s2520Sweeney2520Todd2520Starring2520Angela2520Lansbury2520-2520Filmed2520Live2520on2520Stage2520DVD5B15D.pngimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131056,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/12\/movie-re-view-review-sweeney-todd-2008.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":2},"title":"Movie Re-View Review: "Sweeney Todd" (2008)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Jul-16 2:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We rewatched the Tim Burton \/ Johnny Depp \/ Helena Bonham Carter adaptation of Sweeney Todd, and had a fun[1] time doing so, despite the flaws.Full review: http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street-2007\/1\/Previous review: http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street-2007\/ [Blogged here: https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/04\/movie_review_sweeney_todd.html]I've dropped this down a half-point to 3.5 of 5 stars (with a heart), as certain aspects of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/sweeney_todd-1.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10095,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/06\/attend_the_tale.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":3},"title":"Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Sep-06 8:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. Came late to this particular bit of news. Tim Burton will be doing a big screen adaptation of Sweeney Todd ... with ... Johnny Depp in the lead...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11905,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/04\/movie_review_sweeney_todd.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":4},"title":"Movie Review: Sweeney Todd","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Jan-08 7:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the Sondheim stage show.\u00a0 Could a movie adaptation, even by Tim Burton, overcome my general disdain for movie musicals?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Yes, it could. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/sweeneytodd_movie2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11251,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/10\/attend_the_tale_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":318,"position":5},"title":"Attend the tale …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Oct-07 6:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A Sweeney Todd trailer has hit the 'Net.\u00a0 Nicely Burtonesque.\u00a0 Not sure about it as yet, and Johnny Depp sounds just a scosh too Captain Jack and Helena Bohham Carter...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}