Attend the tale

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2009)

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, is based on the Stephen Sondheim musical from the 1970s. I remember sitting stage right, down front, in the theater when I saw this musical with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou and being completely, utterly blown away. As a stage show, it was jaw-dropping, with some of Sondheim's most beautiful music: "Johanna" is perhaps my favorite of all Sondheim's songs, but the score also includes the beautiful "Not While I'm Around" and "Pretty Women."
Seeing the film is a different experience from seeing the musical. Burton does a marvelous with it, blending the macabre grand guignol with the cartoonish and also with reality, overall giving the movie a really murky atmosphere. "By the Sea" was, for me, pure Burton. Depp, Carter, Rickman, Ed Sanders, Jamie Bower, etc., are all excellent, Sacha Baron Cohen does a great turn as Pirelli. Sweeney can be a great singer, as he usually is on stage, but he really doesn't have to be, and Depp and Carter match well. The singers need to be Joanna, Anthony, the judge, and Toby if at all possible. They all sing very well in the film, and the orchestrations are fantastic, "Johanna" and "Pretty Women" being the highlights.
The "gore" looked fake so it wouldn't be too off-putting; it off-put me anyway. More than that, the entire story is sickening - somehow the distance between the audience and the stage makes it more palatable. Plus, the original show has a much lighter touch and, in the character of Mrs. Lovett, a good deal of humor. Burton plays the story much darker. I literally gagged a few times. I would have been better off just listening to the soundtrack.
In the end - not my thing, but this extravagant musical may surely be yours.