Sweeney - Opening Night 1979 - Audio Online!

[HorseTears]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:23am

I think this one of those moments for which an exclamation of "OMG!" is most appropriate.

Some kind soul who goes by the moniker suttonfan123 has been kind enough to upload surprisingly clear sound board audio from opening night of Sweeney Todd in 1979. You know where to go to find it. "That site."

Some interesting things to note:

At that stage the opening organ prologue was much longer (too long, I think) and even featured a passage of 'Green Finch'.

There are some lyrics that got changed between opening night and the cast recording. I believe Angela describes her pies as "chalky" at one point.

You can really feel the excitement in the air. There is loud, but polite applause after the prologue/opening ballad. The audience reacts very favorably to Worst Pies in London. By the time we got to 'Little Priest' Angela and Len have them eating out of their hands. How absolutely thrilling to listen to those audience reactions. You can tell that the vast majority of the people in the audience had never heard those lyrics before and they were just roaring with laughter.

The ensemble and the orchestra sound marvelous too. An audience member even exclaims 'bravo' after God That's Good.

Was anyone here fortunate enough to catch Sweeney on opening night? It must have been one of the most magical nights in the theatre.


S/he has posted the full audio of the following:
Prologue/Opening Ballad
Worst Pies in London
God That's Good
By The Sea
A Little Priest
Epilogue/Closing Ballad

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:29am

You didn't mention the most drasticly different lyric (at least to me), but I've been meaning to start a post about it for a while anyways because I was wondering if anyone knew when it changed.

The lyric that we all know and love as:

"To seek revenge may lead to hell
But everyone does it, though seldom as well
As Sweeney"

in this earlier recording is:

"To kill for love is such a thrill
You don't even know that you lose what you kill
Like Sweeney"

Anyone know when it changed to what is currently in place?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:29am

It's a he.
and it's me.

And also, I think this was discussed earlier.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:33am

You're right, I did miss that as I haven't been able to get the clip of the Epilogue to work for me yet. I'm glad Sondheim changed that lyric, though.

COOOOOLkid, thank you so much for posting the audio. I don't suppose you care to divulge where on earth this came from? I completely understand if you wish to stay mum on the subject. If you have any additional audio you should definitely consider uploading the rest of it.

I did a search for a thread on this subject, but didn't come up with anything. I guess I was searching under the wrong terms. Would you care to direct me to the original thread?

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:38am

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=952914&dt=29

[HorseTears]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:46am

Thanks, LadyRoscoe.

I know we all hate duplicate threads, but I don't feel bad about posting this new thread since your mention of the Opening Night audio recording is buried in a thread largely about the video clips of Dorothy Loudon. It would be easy to miss.
Updated On: 12/29/07 at 03:46 AM

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 3:46am

Never mind. It was deleted.

[JewFace]

Posted: 11/9/09 at 12:48am

Does anyone know where to find this soundboard recording? I downloaded it from somewhere (perhaps here?) last year, but my HD got fried and I lost everything. It would be a thrill to have this rare recording back.