IMDb plot summary: Sweeney Todd returns to London to uncover the past, along the way meeting Mrs. Lovett, and begins to start his life of crime.
Directed by Terry Hughes and Harold Prince. Starring Angela Lansbury, George Hearn, Cris Groenendaal, and Sara Woods.
This is now my third version of Sweeney Todd I've seen, and they all have slightly different flavors, from the gritty quasi-realism of the 2001 concert to the gloomy goth vibes of the 2007 Tim Burton adaptation. This one is opera and melodrama. The enormous, over-the-top reactions, the slapsticky comedy-- it's all Big and Dramatic and Presentational. Sometimes that works. "Epiphany" was pretty thrilling, and the final "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is electrifying. I like George Hearn here more than I've EVER liked him, and that includes when he played the exact same character in the '01 concert. Angela Lansbury is delightful, of course. However, it does in the end come down to the fact that Sweeney is my least favorite of Sondheim's big musicals, and I don't think I'm ever going to see a version of it that I love. Like all productions, it has its pros and cons (Johanna and Anthony being major cons here), and I'm not sold on the show as a whole yet. Glad I finally saw this one though!
How it entered my Flickchart:
Sweeney Todd > Struck by Lightning
Sweeney Todd < 22 Jump Street
Sweeney Todd < Gentleman's Agreement
Sweeney Todd > Invictus
Sweeney Todd > Griff the Invisible
Sweeney Todd > EDtv
Sweeney Todd > Total Recall (1990)
Sweeney Todd < The Descendants
Sweeney Todd > Marnie
Sweeney Todd > Kind Hearts and Coronets
Sweeney Todd > Draft Day
Final spot: #1154 out of 3044, or 62%.
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