A delightful 1928 musical comedy wrapped in a cynical, modern shell, narrated by a lonely man who doesn’t know why he’s depressed – hey let’s listen to this 2 record set of my favorite musical!
Phenomenal!!! I walked out of the theatre like. giddy fan boy!
This musical is almost tied with Urinetown as the show I’ve seen the most (I’ve seen 5 different productions of Urinetown and now 4 of Sweeney – once with Norman Large (EEEE) at Riverside Community Theatre; once with John Massey Jr directing, musical directing and starring as Sweeney at STAGEStheatre; and once at the Ahmanson with it’s Tony-award winning “artistic” rendition). Does the movie count as the fifth time? ;-D
This was hands-down one of the best large stage productions of Sweeney Todd I’ve ever seen. The set design, the lighting, the dancing, the singing, the acting – it’s all absolutely phenomenal. It’s no small wonder that the director (who has been in several productions of Sweeney as The Beadle – including the first National Tour) was able to pull this off, but even today it’s still a masterful stroke of Sondheim’s brush that this show is as rich and vibrant as it was almost 30 years ago (as evidenced on the DVD recording). The stars of the show are definitely Norman Large as Sweeney and Debbie Prutsman as Mrs. Lovett, but equal applause goes to the rest of the cast who function as Greek Chorus, assorted people of London-town, and stage hands – moving set pieces while the leads strut about giving us the play. Their vocal power and gaunt stares only enhance the dark, brooding melancholy that is Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Down To Earth (1947) was a spiritual sequel to the film Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941, which in itself was remade twice – the 1978 Heaven Can Wait and the 2001 Down To Earth). The plot was recycled in 1980 to create the movie musical Xanadu as a vehicle for Olivia Newton-John that has now been adapted into a hilariously self-referential musical.
enjoyed Xanadu @OCPAC – it was..interesting. Yay for walk-on role! Lots of comedy and good one-liners! Very small cast and orchestra…(http://twitter.com/bullfrog117/status/6989842010)
According to Laura, the movie had about half good songs (written for Olivia Newton-John and fit her range) and the other half not-so good (that didn’t fit her voice). The musical keeps the good songs and extends it with brand new songs that perfectly fit the story.
Video Intro/Announcement by Chip Davis saying due to recent neck surgery he can’t play for a while (and in which he stomps fake snow off of his pristine white sneakers)
Act 1:
Hallelujah
Band Introductions by Ron Cooley
Feliz Navidad
Deck The Halls
We Three Kings
Catching Snowflakes On Your Tongue
Messengers Of Christmas
Away In A Manager
Faeries
Good King Wenceslas
White Christmas
Act 2 – This is where the fun really started – the video screen stayed lowered and they played a Renaissance Christmas feast on the upper portion while you could see the band through the bottom half of the scrim:
Gagliarda
In Dulci Jublio
Wassail, Wassail (which is a hot mulled cider)
Carol Of The Birds (projected images of large flocks of birds)
I Saw Three Ships
Video cast member shouts out, “Hey Chip! How about something we can dance to?!”
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Modern)
Christmas Lullaby
Carol Of The Bells
The Fake Ending (with bows)
Silent Night
Angels We Have Heard On High
Cast
Ron Cooley
Becky Kia
Jeff from LA instead of Almeda Berkey
Roxanne Layton
Logan Penington
??? – Some protege of Jackson Berkey…Bobby Kunkle?
And the Mannheim Steamroller Orchestra!
Absolutely hilarious! With some very poignant melodies and humbling harmonies (especially the Luther Vandross arrangement of O Come All Ye Faithful with the Alley Cats Litterbox Choir), The Alley Cats are in rare form as always (they ARE America’s premier doo-woo group), and Toby, Juan, Mando, and Royce have a great time singing (Let It Snow * Bohemian Rgapsody – o mama mia let it snow), dancing (CHINESE FIRE DRILL!! and OMG Single Ladies) and heckling each other for two solid hours of entertainment.
Oh yeah, and I got to stand on stage and sing “Five golden rings” while being decorated as a Christmas tree. 
Spring Awakening – OCPAC
It’s Rent but with German La Boheme influences!
Talkback with (some of) the actors
Ilse
Moritz
Hanschen
Swing (Krista Pioppi)
Wendla
Talkbacks need question screeners
- No self-undulating praise rambles
- No gushing adoration for the cast
- No “how to be an actor” questions
My question: Did you have any inhibitions mounting this production?
Wow…Ashley Brown AND Gavin Lee! Absolutely amazing performances!
I love how Bert is completely in control of the set and lighting – at least when Mary lets him.
During “Jolly Holliday”, a couple in the chorus were wearing the film version costumes! Well at least Dick Van Dyke’s costume…Julie Andrews’ costume was trimmed down (at best). I really like Mary and Bert’s costumes (pink dress and purple tux – but not pimpish…English).
She actually said supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards! And so did Bert! And then they spelled it out! To be fair I’m quite fond of Ms. Andrews’ recitation and Mr. Van Dyke’s “indubitably”.
No loving to laugh? No man with a wooden leg named Smith? Sure I’m satisfied with the show’s conclusion, I just love that song. Similar fate for the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs, Fidelity Fiduciary Bank and Stay Awake. I like the replacement …I just miss it.
OMG!!! Step In Time! Gavin Lee should you tire of Bert (not that we want that or anything), can you do a Fred Astaire musical? Or is it really Cameron Macintosh’s flair? I don’t care…it’s beautiful!!!
What kind of crowds attend the theatre? As we exited the theatre we noticed lots of litter as well as several empty beer bottles scattered about the theatre. But everybody dressed up for the theatre! It was so confusing! And we had the guy in front of us humming along to the songs from the movie (about half the songs in the show were adapted into fuller musical numbers with elements from the books).
A musical that’s practically perfect in every way!
MUCH better than Fullerton’s debacle (http://www.bullfrog117.com/unfiltered/2008/11/11/noises-off-csu-fullerton/). It was essentially a black box/cabaret theatre so seeing the set rotate was very mesmerizing (they chopped the set into three pieces so that they could play one of those sliding tile games and get things rotated around). The acting was superb, the set was beautiful, the costumes were wonderfully 70s and the pace was PERFECT!
I love that the Knights Who No Longer Say Ni made a David Letterman joke, (I’m not throwing stones, I’ve slept with all the knights on my staff; stupid human tricks) and John O’Hurley LOST IT! It was beautiful and hilarious and the single reason worth seeing the whole show (I saw it in Vegas 2 years ago). But then…did O’Hurley really lose it or convincingly act like he lost it? Apparently they did the same joke the night before, but then when our friends saw it a week later, it was a completely different joke! So it’s improvised every night. So is O’Hurley acting surprised because he’s prepared for hilarity or is he not preparing and losing it?
A lot of my old review (viewable here Spamalot (The Vegas Edition)) still applies…tragically. Eric Idle just isn’t as good at adapting his material as Mel Brooks is (although that remains to be seen when Young Frankenstein comes around next year…I’m just saying so far).
The program had a fake program inside for the Finland musical that the show starts with (everybody hears Finland instead of England when the historian launches the show and they go into the traditional Fish-Schlapping Song!).
OCPAC put a giant foot out in front of the theatre. But they didn’t keep it primed during the run…they let it deflate and blow about during the day. At least we got to walk up to the theatre and start humming the Flying Circus theme song.
My biggest problem with the show is the whole Lancelot being gay thing. Now I'm a very open-minded individual, but the first time I saw that, it just displeased me. Sure there are funny jokes like: "Just think...in 2000 years this will still be controversial", but I just didn't like it for some reason. A friend of mine pointed out that there is a very small bit in the movie that alludes to Lancelot's homosexuality - when Lancelot saves Galahad from the tower of virgins, Galahad accuses him and Lancelot dismisses it. I guess I can live with it...and try not to rant about it if you ask what I thought...Also, there isn't any Bridge Of No Return. No killing the historian. No arrest at the end of the movie. They find the grail and have a big splashy wedding. 'I feel so...unsatisfied' (Rounders).
Basically they took the movie – which on it’s own is very smart and very clever – and made it all over the top instead of amplifying some moments and letting good moments from the movie stand. For example – the Greek Chorus of sorority girls? INSPIRED! But on the other hand…
But there were genuinely funny moments and phenomenal music by Laurence O’Keefe (Bat Boy) and Nell Benjamin (his wife).
It’s also nice to see that MGM On Stage is associated with the production…it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s the first time I’ve recognized that a movie studio other than Disney has a theatrical department.
The UPS guy was hysterical. Again, an over the top moment that worked. But the musical is plagued by over the top moments that flop as well. We give it a B-.