I'm listening to WMKV right now.
I saw Sweeney last night. I'm pleased and surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
I confess I'm a Sweeneyholic. I know there are those who don't like the show. I'm not trying to convert you. I respect your thoughts and opinions. This is just one theatre maven's musings.
I think it's a brilliant show (I don't use that word very often, it's one of the most overused words in the English language) and it's a Desert Island disc for me. I could listen to the show over and over. I know the OCR by heart. I saw the original w/Lansbury and Cariou. I saw the tour w/Lansbury and Hearn. I saw the much maligned revival (Teeny Todd directed by Larry Moore's close personal friend Susan Schulman
). I saw the NY City Opera production w/Elaine Paige. I saw the Kennedy Center production w/Brian Stokes-Mitchell and Christine Baranski.
I was a bit apprehensive about this current production. The idea of a scaled down production seems like an idea from college or some "avant garde" director doing it because he/she can. I was glad to see that the production stood up to the changes. It reinforces (for me) the strength of the show.
I'm neither a Patti LuPone lover or hater (I know there are many strong opinions about her on this here site). I have seen her be quite wonderful, but when Miss LuPone is bad, she's BAD! Last night, she was good! And this from someone (me) who couldn't last a half-hour into the PBS Hearn/LuPone version. She was funny, I understood her (perhaps my intimate knowledge of the score had something to do with that), she was believable and I'm glad I got to see her do it on stage. I do think Patti playing the tuba was, to be blunt, stupid. It was totally unnecessary and took away from the scenes during the times she had to put her lips around the mouthpiece. They could cut that bit and the production would miss nothing.
Michael Cerveris brought a rage to Sweeney that I haven't seen since the original w/Mr. Cariou. For an actor playing a man filled with destructive anger, bordering on insanity, he gave an exceptionally grounded performance. I was impressed. I was never a fan of George Hearn's performance, I felt it was cartoonish and silly.
Diana DiMarzio as the Beggar Woman was excellent. Larry Moore's other close personal friend, Donna Lynne Champlain was very good as Pirelli (yes, Pirelli is played by a woman). The only really weak performances were (IMHO) from The Beadle (Alexander Gemignani - is that Paul Gemignani's son?) and Fogg, the owner of the asylum (John Arbo).
Pouring blood from bucket to bucket to indicate death was eerie and very effective as was having the dead body wear a blood stained white coat. I liked having the entire cast (10 people) on stage at all times. When performers were not in scences, they were playing instruments.
During the City on Fire moments I did miss the "biggness" (is that a word? does that make sense?) of those moments. Although the scenes worked overall in the flow of the show, I missed the large chorus of voices, the tumult, and the approaching meltdown of the city and various cast members. I think it works better with 20 or 30 voices instead of 10.
This is turning into a novella and I've got work to do. Suffice it to say I'm very glad I saw Sweeney (I also had a good seat, thanks TDF) and if I can get another TDF ticket I will see it again.
Later, gaters.
