Thankfully, there is a lot of good theatre out there, and Ann and I saw some Saturday night. She took me up to Seattle and treated me to dinner and a fine production of Sweeney Todd at the 5th Avenue Theatre as my birthday present.
A very strong, full-scale production, with a cast of 29 and a reproduction of the original Broadway set. The actor playing Sweeney was simply wonderful, with a perfect voice for the role and finding a great balance of the dark and comical sides of the character. Much more Cariou-esque than Hearn-ish, and therefore much more to my tastes. Also found Johanna, Tobias, Anthony, the Beggar Woman, and the ensemble quite excellent. Mrs. Lovett was fine, but at times tried to stretch things a bit much for the extra laugh, while Judge Turpin simply wasn't as strong vocally as the rest, but both were still perfectly passable in the roles.
I would have personally preferred if the metronome had been set one click faster on most all of the songs (particularly in Act I), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the slightly slower tempos rarely detracted from the effectiveness of the score.
All in all, a simply wonderful evening of theatre!