Brilliant, intimate version of the Sondheim masterpiece | Sweeney Todd (2005 Broadway Revival Cast) |...

Positively brilliant | Sweeney Todd (2005 Broadway Revival Cast) | Stephen Sondheim, Michael Cerveris, ...

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	• Sweeney Todd (2005 Broadway Revival Cast) Stephen Sondheim, Michael Cerveris, ... Nonesuch, 2006 average customer review:based on 73 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Must HAVE

Patti LuPone is amazing as is Michael Cerveris. Sondheim is fantastic, but I always love him. It is definitely different from the movie, so buyer beware if you're buying for someone who loves the movie. I personally love this version better! It's amazing to think that the cast not only sang, but played the instruments throughout. A great cast album and great play to see.

Brilliant, intimate version of the Sondheim masterpiece

Brilliant, intimate version of the Sondheim masterwork - a superb record of the 2005 Broadway revival directed by John Doyle. In this production the small cast also performs the music, superbly and imaginatively orchestrated by Sarah Travis. This Sweeney features wonderful vocal acting by the excellent cast and is dripping with atmosphere and drama, beautifully recorded.

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Positively brilliant

When first I learned that Stephen Sondheim had composed a musical featuring a murderous barber, I determined never to see it. Alas, my partner soon convinced me we ought to get tickets. From there, it was a short ride to falling in love with the score, not to mention the original cast production, featuring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou.

So smitten were we, despite the unpalatable subject, we then proceeded to see each New York stage production afterward.

To be sure, the 2005 production was also the most stripped-down, but this CD includes the intimacy with the characters, and the fineness of the vocals to match the extraordinary stage production itself. As an owner of both the original cast recording, and this most recent stage recording, I confess them to be equally grand, albeit for different reasons.

All right, Patti LuPone seems an unlikely tubaist, but she's convincing and more than competent, despite one's alternative expectation. Surprisingly, at the end of the day, her Mrs. Lovett is just as endearing as the character Angela Lansbury spun in the original 1979 production.

Our usher at the 2005 Broadway staging avowed that Mr. Sondheim himself found this the best production yet of his incomparable operetta; after seeing it, we could agreed. In fact, we went twice.

Without a doubt, Sondheim is the most brilliant Broadway composer of our time, on a par with Leonard Bernstein in an earlier era. And anyone enamored of his work owes themselves a copy of this recording. It's stupendous. Listening is almost as strangely delightful as was seeing the show itself.

---Alyssa A. Lappen

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This Should Be Entitled: The Best of Sweeney Todd!

And so it is: the best numbers chosen and performed by very talented singers.
But as to continuity . . . here the musical rendition fails; and fails miserably.
First the singers: Patti Lupone,--excellent. Michael Cerveris: menacingly excellent.
Overall: a sturdy well-cast group of performers.
This is a unique concept; but the planning of the established opera/musical is the thing. And I, or anyone who has posted, could have planned this story (and such it is: a story put to music) a thousand times better than it is.
The first CD is fine. The Second CD is where the story breaks completely; and essential elements are just dropped into the fire like so much fat! :)
Pirelli? A brief mention by Mrs Lovett about "what should we do with him" is all you get. People unfamiliar with the story will be left scratching their heads. The whole scene of Pirelli blackmailing Todd and his subsequent demise being expurgated from this rendition. Better never to have even mentioned "him". Pirelli's demise could have been completely left out of this truncated version of the opera.
The worst offense is the climax when the Beadle's death leads to the beggar woman's death. We never even know of this. All we have is a gasp by Todd about the beggar woman he murdered and who she really is. Up to that point, who would have known he killed any beggar woman at all. Very poorly executed; and one is left wondering why the truncation of such a critical and crucial part of the show. It is after all the most emotionally charged scene for Todd,--the death of the beggar woman by his own hands.
That is why I stated that this is the best of the numbers of Sweeney Todd. Story interrupted by time constraints. Why the constraints, I do not know. Surely when Sondheim sat and listened to this in the small theatre, they did not hack the second part of the story to pieces then;--as they do on the CD here.
The booklet is nice; but a whole section entitled: "Synopsis", should warn the listener he is in for a let down, story wise.
Also, having the singers also play the instruments does put them off at times. It is difficult to concentrate on playing an instrument and then dashing off a number in the proper key of "E" the next moment. They are excellent, despite the fact we all know Pirelli is being sung by a woman. But performance does suffer somewhat do to too many bakers of the pie! :)
They should have had a small band of musicians playing the instrument for the CD; and the singers focusing all their talents into the songs.
If one wants to start with a CD version of Sweeney Todd, begin with the New York Philharmonic one. It can be purchased new through Amazon.com directly from them; and for a discount. It is coherent and cogent to the listener. And the singers are allowed more range in the depth of their singing. Lupone with an orchestra behind her is quite impressive. Plus one get's an added bonus: reaction from an audience. This does help when the darkly satiric comedic elements of the musical are played out. It enhances the show quite nicely; and the singers do seem to thrive off of a live performance before an audience. There is also a DVD performance done by Hearn and Lupone at another performance of Sweeney before a different audience and performed by the San Francisco Syphony. If you require the visuals.
This is, again, a unique approach in trying to take an extravaganza and turn it into a true chamber opera. It is just a pity it was so poorly executed. This is worth a listen, but only for someone who is thoroughly versed in the full story of Sweeney Todd,--The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!

Braithwaite
*A redo is most certainly needed to make this,overall, an "A Number One" portrayal of the Sondheim musical. 4 Stars for the Singers. 2 Stars for the execution*

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Tony Award winners Michael Ceveris (Assassins) and Patti Lupone (Evita) lead a ten-person ensemble as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett in the cast album from the celebrated new Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Originally produced in 1979, and considered a core work of Sondheim canon, Sweeney Todd has not been seen on Broadway in more than sixteen years. The revival opened to unanimous raves at the Eugene O'Neill Theater.