成人快手

Explore the 成人快手
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

24 September 2014
london

成人快手 成人快手page










Sites near London






Related 成人快手 Sites



Contact Us

spacer
First night - 22.07.04
Sweeney Todd and Beadle
Butchering text, not bodies...Paul Hegarty as Sweeney Todd (left) and Michael Howcroft (right) as Beadle
spacer


A new, scaled-down version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd fails to make it big with our critic Mark Shenton...

speech You review: Take 2 - Sweeney Todd reassessed
spacer
SEE ALSO
spacer

theatre index

more reviews

latest theatre news

shows you shouldn't miss

spacer
INFO
spacer

Sweeney Todd is at the Trafalgar Studios at the Whitehall Theatre, 14 Whitehall SW1
Tickets 拢20 -
拢36
Until 9 October
Box office: 0870 060 6632

spacer

Sweeney Todd (Trafalgar Studios at the Whitehall Theatre)

This year alone I've already seen Sondheim and Wheeler's macabre 1979 musical version of the Sweeney Todd legend in two orchestrally lush stagings at London's Royal Opera House and at New York City Opera (with Elaine Paige
starring in the latter).

"This version of the musical short-changes its audience on just about everything..."

Now, for its latest West End incarnation, the show has been shrink-wrapped, with a cast of just nine and no orchestra at all, since the actors play all the instruments themselves.

But instead of intensifying this claustrophobic, macabre tale of murder and cannibalism - as the demon barber turns his customers into a meat source for the pie bakery of his accomplice Mrs Lovett - it has been comprehensively diminished.

Mrs Lovett with a trumpet - or Pirelli (Todd's former employee and first victim) with an accordian - may be an intriguing novelty at first, but it soon wears off and you're left with a magnificent score being scratchily compromised with every note that is inadequately played or sung.

butchered

Pirelli with Tobias
Novelty: Todd's first victim Pirelli with Tobias (seated)

The story, too, lacks its own usually overpowering dramatic momentum. There are insufficient cast members to provide not only the proper sense of scale but the right number of people to be murdered, so several of the casual killings are simply cut.

But if some bodies are spared, the text has been butchered instead, leaving little sense of time or place.

This version of the musical short-changes its audience on just about everything, including the inflated price you have to pay to see it.

At 拢36 for the best seats, you get less of Sweeney Todd than you've ever seen or heard before.

Agree or disagree with our review? Add your comments below...
----------------------------------------------

Email your comments to: yourlondon@bbc.co.uk

spacer
E-mail 成人快手 London
yourlondon@bbc.co.uk
spacer
Make this my homepageMake this my 成人快手page
LONDON NEWS
More
More
More
成人快手 London News
VideoView with Realplayer
成人快手 London 94.9fm
Listen to 94.9fm live! Listen live
Latest Travel and News
Latest travel and news
LONDON HISTORY
Local history including Nelson, Greenwich and the famous Crystal Palace
AERIAL PHOTOS
Tower of LondonClick through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!
WALKS

Take a Thames Tour of Rotherhithe including the home of London's whaling and timber trades

WEATHER

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

VIRTUAL TOURS
Over 100 panoramic views of London including Tower Bridge, Docklands and inside Concorde


About the 成人快手 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy