Sweeney Todd

[thescarletwoman]

So, here comes the unpopular opinion time.

I'm DREADING the release of Sweeney Todd this christmas. Absolutely dreading it.

I don't know when The Trailer was released, but I just saw it today. And I've been weeping since I saw it.

There's dialog. What there hell is dialog doing in Sweeney Todd? The musical is basically an opera, even if Sondheim refuses to apply the name to said show. He looks like, IMO, Edward Scissorhands, only without the scissors. HBC, while I loved her in HP... is no Mrs Lovett. Hell, I don't even care for Patti LuPone as Mrs Lovett to be perfectly honest.

The only good thing about this movie, to be honest, is Alan Rickman.

I lived with this musical for... over a year when I wrote my thesis. It's near and dear to my heart, not only as a pit musician but as a Sondheim fanatic.

It doesn't mean I don't love Johnny Depp. But seriously... he's not Sweeney.

Give me Len Cariou or George Hern ANY day.

And there's no Mrs Lovett but Angela Lansbury.

Comments

[emiime.livejournal.com]

HAH. THANK YOU. I just wrote, like, the exact same post. :D

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

WOW! People who agree. ♥ As when I had posted this, I was seeing nothing but squee over it.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

It definitely looks like Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd featuring songs by Stephen Sondheim rather than a film of the actual show. I suspect the thinking behind it is that your average viewing audience couldn't sit through 2 hours of an actual opera(etta) so they had to put in dialogue to explain things.

It sounds like Jack Sparrow AS Sweeney Todd, to be honest. And when you're Helena Bonham Carter AND the director's wife/girlfriend/paramour/whatever she is, you get to be Mrs. Lovett, no questions asked. *sigh*

The only thing I can say in defence is "At least Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd is still better than John Travolta as Edna Turnblad".

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHA. *breath*

Okay, that is so what I'm calling this musical now. Because it IS so true.

When I re-listened to the trailer, I hear the Sparrow!Sweeney. I love Johnny Depp, don't get me wrong. But... there wasn't a better choice?

The only thing I can say in defence is "At least Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd is still better than John Travolta as Edna Turnblad".

There, though... I'll have to feign ignorance. I actually haven't seen Hairspray as it was a show I just... could never get into no matter how many times I've tried to listen to it.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Hee -- at least it's mockable, right? And it is true! I know these things. ;-)

I totally heard Sparrow!Sweeney which I think may also be the same accent Johnny used in "From Hell" also. It's been a while since I've watched it. He's good at his Keith Richards faux cockney but...yeah. I'm guessing he got the role because it's a Tim Burton Film and he can sing (he was in a rock band before he became an actor) so it was kind of an easy casting decision but...yeah. He's no Len Cariou or George Hern. Not even close. But we're clearly musical theatre snobs!

I love Hairspray -- we invested in it (the Broadway show) based on the strength of just the workshop demo music and it was a good choice. But I'm also a child of the 60s so the music just was perfect and fun for me. I've seen it 4 times already (Broadway x 2, US Touring cast, Toronto) and will be seeing it again in London in 3 weeks. I've seen the trailer for the film and while everyone else looks pretty good, Travolta as Edna just squicks me out. He's awful. He's no Harvey Fierstein or even Bruce Villanch (who opened in the US tour) or the guy they had in Toronto (can't remember his name now). He's just creepy! Michael Ball is going to be in London so that should be an interesting experience! /Hairspray squeeing

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

But people sat through Evita and that has, what, two lines of dialogue total? Then why couldn't we deal with Sweeney Todd?!?

Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett? Er? Hello, miscast.

Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury = love.

I'm afraid to watch the trailer.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I forgot Evita had so little dialogue in the movie as it's been... far too long since I've seen it.

Just watch the trailer. Then you can weep with me.

[meleth.livejournal.com]

The story was around before Sondheim made a musical of it; there's nothing that says Sweeney Todd has to have music. Adaptation of Sondheim, yes it is, but adaptation do tend to change things a bit.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

Well, it does have to have music if you're filming the Sondheim musical, not the folk tale.

If they can be faithful to Andrew Lloyd Webber, why can't they be faithful to Sondheim?

[emiime.livejournal.com]

Because ALW=Musicals for the Masses. It takes a brain cell or two to get Sondheim.

[jadis31.livejournal.com]

Damn, there goes my grand plan to become rich and famous by directing a film version of Assassins starring Neil Patrick Harris.

;)

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... NPH singing in Assassins.

I think I need to put that onto the MP3 player to listen to. I so love that show.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

A brain cell or seventeen, really.

What that man can do with music... blows your mind. I point to Sunday in the Park With George when he wanted to write the music just like Seurat painted, but in the end couldn't as it would be nothing but half-steps, so instead used 12-tone techniques...

/historian squee

[meleth.livejournal.com]

I at this point tend to simply consider films "based on" stuff. Also, I was needlessly snarky, and I'm sorry about that, Lia. I spent the morning e-fighting with a raging misogynist, and I was just looking for a fight. Sorry.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

Apology accepted. And I do know more than a little about the original Sweeney Todd story, given the whole thesis writing thing. But when it's billed as Sondheim's work... I was hoping for it to be more than a little faithful.

[niko-hime.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry it doesn't look good to you. I can certainly understand being close to something (book, play, etc) and then having a film version of that not meeting your expectations.

That being said, Mr Sondheim himself has said that he does like what they've done here, that he understands that they're only making it an hour and 45 minutes (I say wtf, couldn't they have made it longer, if only to give us more of Tim's awesome visuals and kept more of the original score) and that they did what they could and did it well enough. *shrug* Not that that is any reason for anyone to say "Since the creator of the musical likes it, you should too". Just... sayin' :D

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

I know what he's said about said movie... and I will not wonder if he was out of his right mind.

I like the LOOK of it (well, save Johnny's white streak in his hair) and I love the dingy quality because that fits. It's just... I don't know. Hearing dialogue makes me wibble. :/

[niko-hime.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna get brained for saying this, but I've not ever really seen Sweeney Todd before. So I'm very unfamiliar with Sondheim's version, though I am fairly well versed in the general story of Ben Barker/Todd and all that oldness. I've got that unfortunate disease of anything Burton making me flail a little (save for Mars Attacks and Planet of the Apes, wtf) so... I suck, I know :P

When I first saw the behind the scenes pics of Depp's hair back... whenever that was, I know they'd just released the Order of the Phoenix trailer and in some shots it looked as though Helena's Bellatrix wig had a white streak in it. I remember showing my roomie at the time the two images side by side and saying something like "Look, they just re-styled her wig for Sweeney. Now Johnny and Helena are wig buddies!" So yeah, I do feel you on the hair. I know it is Burton, and Burton = strange hair, but the Ben Barker in my head was always... not frizzy.

[irish279.livejournal.com]

And there's no Mrs Lovett but Angela Lansbury.

Precisely. Sigh.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

Liked seeing Patti LuPone when I saw it on b'way... but no one compares to the master. *g*

[jadis31.livejournal.com]

When I first heard about this, I was worried. I love Tim Burton like it's my job. But I just KNEW this was going to end up a whole lot of him and only a little of Sondheim - Huge and dark and beautiful sets, surreal costumes and everything so far over the top that, although it will be fun to watch, won't have any of the real power the show could have if done true. My problems aren't with the casting, but with the entire concept Burton chose for the movie. I would have rather seen a film version more on the lines of the 2005 minimalist revival than this.

But don't get me wrong, I'm still going to watch it. I'm probably going to enjoy it. I'm certainly going to make an ass of myself singing along in the movie theatre. I'm just not going to love it the way I love the show, the way I could have loved the movie if it had been taken in another direction.

As for casting, I just really hope that the kid playing Toby lives up to my standards. I love that character way too much to see him done poorly.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

You said exactly what I've been feeling about Tim Burton and the movie. Personally, if they were going to make a movie adaptation, make it along the lines of the TV broadcast from the year I'm currently blanking on. It's the one with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury and it's amazing. It's basically how the show was originally done on B'way.

I found the revival... interesting. Part of me loved it, and the other part of me was too distracted by them playing the instruments and losing the really amazing Tunick!arrangements.

Yes, I'm still going to go see it... and probably on Christmas Day because it is more than hysterical that a movie about cannibalism is opening on the 25th.

[thescarletwoman.livejournal.com]

OMG ICON LOVE!

It's the same thing to put dialogue in a basically operatic work... ruins what was originally intended. I am still going to see the film, don't get me wrong.

They could do Evita as it was originally intended... so I don't see why Sweeney couldn't have been done as originally intended. *shrugs*