http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/ I am very excited about this!

One of my all-time favourite musicals is finally being adapted to film! And by Tim Burton too! Really though, this tale of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street still has a tendancy to scare the bejesus out of me... just thinking about the story involved is enough to get me on my edge. In case you don't know, Sweeney Todd is a musical by Stephen Sondheim that tells the tale of a Barber who partners with a failing meat pie shop owned by a woman named Mrs. Lovett. The object is simple... Sweeney is a barber who slits the throats of guests while shaving them, and Mrs. Lovett bakes the corpses into the most delicious meat pies in London.

With Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as the two leads, this is sure to be great! Any thoughts?

Odd....I loved (Mrs. Lovett) a girl named Kathy Sweeney (Sweeney) who cut my heart out in a sense and left me. Delicious meat pies in London? BS.

"Sweeney heard music that nobody heard."

Here's a little taste of what the glorious original was like...
Attend the tale folks...
This musical is bullet proof!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ncvaAIeEDA


Must see classic...Just after Sweeney's first kill and the grand idea hits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYGHHxJnDIw

Love this musical so much!

One of the most beautiful songs ever written for two men in the theater...with exquisite dramatic tension..."Pretty Women."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy2Oqr3zjnw

Johnny "never-acted-an-honest-non-'ironic'--performance-in-his-life" Depp??

NOOOOOOOO!

Yeah well Ross...that is why I want the "youth" to see some of the original productions first...just for reference

So kids when you see this live...the moment Sweeney breaks the "fourth wall" and threatens the audience wielding his knife...it is indeed threatening.

Trick knives, fake blood, high body count, trap doors and birds in cages...a great deal of interesting stuff for magicians.


My fingers crossed the music and story stay intact with the new film.

I like Johnny Depp and I think he'll do an excellent performance in this role.
Although I do think both of them appear to be too young for the characters.

And for those who want to see the masters MANY MANY years later...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d4z9i3R7UAQ

Notice the way Angela comes out as herself, and then "rumples" into character for the song, flawlessly!

Oh yeah, the two of them were GREAT! That's the reason I'm concerned, as much as I like Depp and Carter, I can't help but feel they both look too "young" for the roles.

The production shown on PBS years ago starring the incredible George Hearn as the maniacle Sweeny who matched Lansbury to a T must be seen. Depp is great BUT Hearn WAS Todd...the Demon Barber of .....Fleet...Street. Great show.

Find a Hearn clip on YouTube if you can.

It's available on DVD here
http://www.amazon.com/Sweeney-Todd-Demon......p;sr=8-1

Thanks Payne...it's on the way. I had a tape of it for years (was it Showtime? hmmm) but it went away somewhere. (cue the Steam Whistle)

I was really horrified when I heard Patti (I have to have the most afflicted pretty voice on stage) LuPone was going to play Mrs. Lovette in the concert version and was VERY pleasantly surprised by her performance.... Not so with the new B way revival with the performers playing instruments and carrying them around a small black box stage.

Love the George Hearn DVD Sweeney.
I own it and return to it often.

Doug,
while you go down the Sondheim path don't pass on the "Sunday in the Park with George" DVD.
As an artist who works with his hands you will find many a lyric and moment that will punch you in the gut.
An exploration of Art. Fantastic! Even a bit of a reincarnation theme throughout the second act.

I saw the original live and was an embarrassed weepy mess at the end.

Finishing the Hat....all about artists obsession's. Fab!

George has been trying to finish a darn hat in his large painting, has been ignoring his gal and has lost her...it's so beautiful.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=elEMwj330lc


A scene with the oh so beautiful Bernadette Peters.
I passed her on West End Ave a few weeks ago and she was stunning, stopped and was nice to my daughter.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=adTR9Y1is0Q

This a performance of a song from the show. The lyrics have such great advice for artists of many types. I try hard to remember them..."Move On".
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QA4coDbHLPo

http://www.amazon.com/Sunday-Park-George......p;sr=1-1

Sweeney has a website...
http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/

I got a one sheet from the movie yesterday...

I saw Sweeney with Lansbury and Hearn in Boston. It was probably the greatest theater I've ever experienced.

It will be difficult for any film equal a live performance by great actors in top form. The PBS tape of the show comes close because it preserves the essence of a stage performnance with a live audience. Still not like being in the same room with them though.

I cant wait for this. I really cant. But I did hear a rumor within the year that the lead was supposed to be Neil Patrick Harris. Oh well I love Doogie, but Jack will do.

I agree, never expect a film to match the power of a perfect performance on stage. The best it can do (and it's pretty impressive in its own right) is to give you a new experience in the story. "Chicago" was a surealistic tour de force. The movie kept some aspect of that surealism, but channeled it through Roxie's eyes (with the occassional spill over) I enjoyed the movie a lot, but I think I would have enjoyed it less had they attempted to fully capture the play onto film. The experience of the play had to be seen live (or at least one direct take in front of a live audience).

Not to Hijack but if we are talking about this. I trully feel that RENT the movie did a fantastic job. Now I saw the second cast on Broadway and found a whole new love for Musicals, but the move did very well with capturing it to film. But I do not expect Tim Burton to do the same. I feel a very errie adaptation of this.

Neil Patrick has played Tobias in Concert versions of Sweeney with Patty Lupone and George Hearn- He was also in the revival of Assasins.

So far, I have been pretty pleased with the last few movie adaptations of stage musicals, so I have high hopes for Sweeney. ORIGINALLY, before Tim Burton was tapped to direct it was rumored to be Jack Nicholson as Sweeney and Glen Close as Mrs lovett.