Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd...

His face was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod,
did Sweeney Todd,
the Demon Barber of Fleet Street*
Paul and I went to see Sweeney Todd at the Alamo Downtown last night. I've been itching to see it since it came out, although I will admit I was a little hesitant about Johnny Depp's singing voice. But the show is one of my all-time favorites -- I know all of the songs, and I listen to the Original Broadway recording with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou all the time.

So we went! First thought: Johnny Depp's singing voice is about an octave higher than the standard for the role. (Brian Stokes Mitchell also had a short run as Sweeney Todd, and he was fantastic.) But after I got over that, I was immersed in Tim Burton's vision of London of the mid 1800's. Helena Bonham Carter did well, Alan Rickman was positively creepy, and Sacha Baron Cohen proved that he's far better than Borat. The kid who played Toby (Edward Sanders) had a strong, powerful voice - I liked his version better than the original. And Tim Burton was definitely the best person to bring this production to the big screen. The reflections in the razors and the cracked mirror were chilling.

I didn't actually sing along out loud (...much), but I mouthed the words to most of the songs. :) They did cut a couple of songs, including the opening song (* above), but the rest were well done and creatively staged. I particularly liked the way they did "A Little Priest", with Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett spying the different "pie flavors" out the windows of the pie shop.

In the "Behind the Scenes" and "making of..." specials that I've seen, Depp and Rickman had said that the blood should get its own line in the credits, because there was so much of it. They weren't kidding! Plus, I'm so used to hearing that violin screech when a throat is cut on the stage, it was weird to see the blood so close-up every time. By the end of the movie, the audience was even giggling when the blood started spurting out of Todd's victims.

Overall, I'd give it 3-1/2 out of 4 stars. Go see it, but don't blame me if you have nightmares!

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