Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)
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DVD details

Actor: Angela Lansbury, George Hearn
Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video

DVD Reviews of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)

DVD Review: 2 stars out of 4
Summary: 3 Stars

The Bottom Line:

Whatever power the musical might have had on stage is not in evidence in this filmed version of the play; instead of watching this nuetered version you'd be better served to watch the theatrical one with Depp and Bonham-Carter--it's not perfect, but it's better than watching a filmed stage play.

DVD Review: Preserving it for the record
Summary: 4 Stars

I, too, have owned the VHS version of this production for 20 years and am glad that it made the DVD transition. I wish all musicals - not just Sondheim's - were transferred to DVD in their orignal Broadway state before the 'movie version' is released. Think of posterity!

DVD Review: Excellent rendition of Sondheim's great masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars

It is a great privilege to be able to view this original incarnation of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (imagine if we were able to see the original productions of a Mozart opera?) This performance of a stage production with audience present is excellent - certainly demonstrating Angela Lansbury's wonderful abilities as a singing actress.

Sweeney Todd is one of the great masterpieces of musical theatre blurring the genres of the musical and opera. Those who find musicals shallow should enjoy this as it has a little more bite. Fans of opera should also relish this as in it complex musical structures it resembles an opera. Sweeney Todd is bursting with melody, rhythmic variety, clever lyrics, interesting characters, and is quite unlike just about every other musical theatre production in its macabre storyline.

It's fascinating to compare this to the recent Tim Burton film Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Both are excellent in their own way but are completely different. This is very much a filmed stage production whereas Burton converts it into a real film. Sadly Burton resorts to unnecessary graphic violence which throws the film off-balance whereas the stage production is more suggestive and consistent with the tragi-comic tone of the work.

The quality of the sound and picture is excellent. Sadly there are no extra on the DVD.


DVD Review: Simply, Superb !
Summary: 5 Stars

I never imagined watching Mrs. Angela Lansbury in a musical like this. I love this actress and I think her performance is remarkable as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Tood. She would have enjoyed so much the new version in cinema. I recommend this DVD as a tribute to her. The story is amazing as well as in cinema but I think is very interesting to see all the technical aspects of a live-musical in a theater as if we were there.

DVD Review: A must own for any fan of Sondheim
Summary: 5 Stars

this performance is a superb representation of sondheim's classic tale. Angela landsburry and George hern do a magnificent job of bring the horrifying charicters to life.

Description of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)

Times are hard in 1846 London and one must make do. So Nellie Lovett adds something extra to the meat pies she peddles on Fleet Street. The secret ingredient: freshly murdered victims of her partner in crime, barber Sweeney Todd. Composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim refashions a macabre tale into a musical masterwork in this dazzling performance of the 1979 Broadway hit originally staged by Harold Prince. In her Tony-winning role (one of eight the show earned, including Best Musical), Angela Lansbury plays Nellie. George Hearn turns his stage role of twisted Sweeney into an Emmy-winning triumph. The score coils around itself in ever-tightening spirals. The lines ripple with black humor and madness. Enter Sweeney's tonsorial parlor. Attend the tale.
Stephen Sondheim's Victorian horror thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is generally considered his greatest work, macabre but darkly humorous with a viscerally powerful score that has found a home both on Broadway and in opera houses. George Hearn (who replaced Len Cariou of the original Broadway cast) plays the title character, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 18th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber), and Angela Lansbury plays his partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett, who finds a practical business use for Todd's victims. This combination of horror and humor is echoed in Sondheim's score: brooding menace ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," "My Friend"), achingly beautiful ballads ("Johanna," "Not While I'm Around"), clever puns ("A Little Priest"), coloratura arias ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"), and intricate choral and ensemble numbers.

Continuing a fortuitous tradition of capturing the Sondheim legacy on video recordings, this performance was filmed before a live audience in Los Angeles during the 1982 national tour. Almost 20 years later, Hearn returned to the role opposite Patti LuPone in an acclaimed concert production. But Sweeney Todd is an especially compelling experience in this 1982 version, complete with the clever staging tricks (e.g., the barber's chair) and as close to the original cast as we're likely to see. --David Horiuchi

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