SWEENEY TODD Turns 40 Today!

[1971FolliesFan]

Posted: 3/1/19 at 8:57am

It was on this day, 1 March 1979, that Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd opened at the Uris Theatre, starring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. It went on to with 8 Tony Awards, including best musical, and has now become a standard classic. 

So lift your glass (or razor) high, and celebrate this masterpiece!

 

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[EthelMae]

Posted: 3/1/19 at 10:39am

Saw it 26 times. Still my favorite production of Sweeney.

[BwayGeek2]

Posted: 3/1/19 at 1:53pm

40? That's amazing!

Happy Birthday to such a wonderful show!

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/1/19 at 6:56pm

I remember seeing it in a preview performance when I was, i guess, in my late twenties.  I didn't know what to make of it.  On balance, I thought it was epic, a number of songs -- especially The Ballad of..., Johanna, Not While I'm Around, and A Little Priest --were clearly terrific on first hearing (something not always the case for me on first hearing Sondheim music); the production values were positively amazing (the likes of which we are not likely to see again); the performances great, especially Cariou and Lansbury; and the ending was thrillingly staged, although derivative of Princes's direction of the Follies ending, i.e., Ben's breakdown.

My only reservations, which remain mostly true to this day, were: (1) I thought Mrs. Lovett's solo songs were lousy.  I knew they are important to defining the character, but FOR ME The Worst Pies in London was not good enough and By the Sea was positively deadly.  Since I loved Lansbury, I wanted  her solos to be better songs (I do acknowledge that I have come to appreciate The Worst Pies, but still dislike By the Sea); and (2) they did such a good job in showing how sleazy Judge Turpin was that I didn't need his self-flagelating song to convince me.  To  me, it was too much.

My real reason for not knowing what to make of it was based on two factors: (1) I wondered how the critics were going to react to a grand-guignol musical (remember, I was only 28); and (2) I couldn't figure out how they were going to attract an audience to fill the (then) Uris theatre (with full awareness that they were never able to do so before for more than a short period of time for their prior shows, all but one of which I loved (Pacific Overtures never did it for me).

I will also  remember to the day I die watching the show 6 months later, this time with my wife and parents.  I got the tickets for them because they loved Angela Lansbury, but I really expected them to hate it.  Well, toms surprise, my mother (who thankfully was only 5 feet tall) was so engaged that she sat on the edge of her seat from the opening number; we were very close to the stage, which made the goings-on even more believable.  

Over the years and with repeated viewings, it has become my favorite Sondheim musical.  It used to be Follies, based on the original production; however, multiple subsequent (and pretty flawed) productions (London, Belasco, DC / Marquis, and the NT taped version) have convinced me that the original production of Follies was the greatest production of a musical I have ever seen, if not the best musical.

Sweeney Todd is certainly high on the list.

[AADA81]

Posted: 3/1/19 at 7:14pm

I saw the original production in 1979 after buying the cast album and listening to it relentlessly.  As a teenager only exposed to rock music I don't know how I ever came across this but I was fascinated when I read reviews and heard what it was about.  It remains my favorite theater experience.  I'm a bit of a theater geek and it all started with 'Sweeney Todd'.