well made but its a pity about Mrs L

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2008)

I really looked forward to this movie. I love the score and I love Mr Depp. Sondheims score is a demanding one for any singer and I must say thats the disappointing thing in the movie because apart from young Ed Sanders as Toby very few of the cast are up to it. The scene with Helena B Carter as Mrs L with Saders is an eye opener. He sings his socks off and Carter is not in his league. Carter is pretty ordinary not awful but it just is not the tour de force we got from Lansbury or Patti Lupone in the concert version. The problem is that there are much better actors than Carter and she has very little presence and at times walks through the role looking very uncomfortable. Depp makes a solid fist at the role but you cannot help longing for a gutsy performer like George Hearn. Its odd that they snub the Broadway stars today just as they did in the old days. How wonderful it would be to see the roles and performances kept forever on celluloid. How wonderful it would have been to have some of the original stars preserved on film. Oh well. Its a good film but not a great one.