In honor of its return to Broadway next month, we will be talking about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in this edition of Sound Check. With music by Sondheim, Sweeney Todd has seen many Broadway revivals, tours, and international productions since its debut in 1979.  Today, we’ll be focusing on Tim Burton’s 2007 film adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

The show begins with Sweeney Todd returning to London after being rescued at sea by Anthony. He walks into Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop, where business is struggling, and she explains how the former tenant above her shop, a barber named Benjamin Barker, was imprisoned by Judge Turpin who (allegedly) murdered Barker’s wife and raised their young daughter Johanna. Sweeney Todd reveals to Mrs. Lovett that he was Benjamin Barker,  and has now assumed his new mysterious identity after his time in jail. Mrs. Lovett returns his old razors, which prompts Sweeney Todd re-open his barber shop. He commences his revenge era by killing an assistant of Judge Turpin who was masquerading as a magician’s assistant. When deciding what to do with the bodies, Mrs. Lovett suggests baking them into pies. Thus the chaos begins as Sweeney kills even innocent clients to help the pie shop on his mission to avenge his wife, who (spoiler) is actually still alive and right under his nose the whole time.

The music is Sondheim’s signature, with complementing tempos and fugue moments. Many songs are gloomy and threatening, like “Poor Thing” and “My Friends”, while others are comical and full of puns to make light of the dark situation, such as “A Little Priest” and “By The Sea.” Take, for example, this lyric from “A Little Priest”:

“It’s man devouring man out there, and who are we to deny it in here?”

There is one song that stands out as unlike all the others, and that is “Johanna.” With a lighter and more hopeful tone, this song shows Sweeney Todd’s softer side as he longs to see his daughter again. While it does not justify his killing spree, it adds dimension to his character and some motivation for his actions, showing that he is not naturally a malevolent person.

Personally, I believe the movie captures the essence of the stage show perfectly. While I have not seen a stage version, I have listened to the cast recordings from them, and the tone and setting that one would imagine through the songs seems to be cohesively displayed in Tim Burton’s dark style. There has been some dispute over Mrs. Lovett’s character, however. In the original stage production, she is not a love interest for Sweeney Todd, simply a partner in crime. I prefer this interpretation, as it breaks the expectation that the male and female main characters in a show must be romantic interests. In the 2007 movie, though, there is a line in which Mrs. Lovett implies she would marry Sweeney Todd, instead of simply living by the sea together as shown in the song “By The Sea.” I don’t mind this interpretation, but the original seems to be preferred among fans.

Overall, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a masterpiece of musical theater. The plot is captivating, the music beautifully fitted to the story, and the characters unlike any other show. I highly recommend watching the film version, or better yet, join me in seeing the Penn State Thespian Society production in late March!

Before we jump into this week’s post, I just found out yesterday that The Muny theater in St. Louis is planning a production of Chess (yes, the show I covered a few weeks back with no cohesive plot but pretty good music about the two chess players during the Cold War) for this July. Sadly, the show opens after this class ends, but I can’t wait to see what they do with the story in terms of making it socially acceptable for the current era.

Moving on to this week’s show, The Muny’s 2023 season also includes a revival of Little Shop of Horrors, which I saw last November off-Broadway. It was the first show I went in to without knowing much about it, and it exceeded my expectations for three reasons: the smaller theater, (mostly) exceptional cast, and mesmerizing set. First, since it was an off-Broadway theater, it was slightly smaller, which added a lot to the experience since I got to be less than 10 feet away from THE Jeremy Jordan. Second, the cast included both Christian Borle (who I knew from Legally Blonde and Falsettos) and Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde, Waitress). Sadly, the actress playing Audrey didn’t quite fit the role due to her limited vocal range, but now Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Legally Blonde: Search for the Next Elle Woods) has taken over the role, and that casting choice makes a lot more sense in my opinion. Third, I’m a sucker for clever scenic design, and this production has just a few simple set pieces that transform into many different scenes.

Little Shop of Horrors is based on a 1960 film by the same name. It is a horror/comedy rock musical with Motown-inspired music by Alan Menken (who worked on the music for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Enchanted, Tangled, and more) set in a 1960s skid row. Seymour and Audrey are co-workers at Mr. Mushnik’s flower shop, and while Seymour is secretly in love with Audrey, Audrey is in an abusive relationship with a sadistic dentist. After a sudden eclipse of the sun, Seymour discovers a strange venus fly trap. He takes care of it like a normal plant to no avail. Finally, he realizes that the plant only grows when fed with human blood. Chaos ensues, Seymour kills Audrey’s abusive boyfriend at a dentist appointment and feeds him to the plant, the flower shop becomes famous for having this huge venus fly trap (which Seymour named Audrey II after Audrey), and in the end everyone gets eaten by Audrey II. There are a lot of small details I left out, but for the sake of not spoiling the fun parts, that’s the gist of the show. The horror and comedy surprisingly work together perfectly, such as the silly revelation that Audrey’s boyfriend is a dentist (in the aptly titled song “Dentist!”) followed by his terrifying asphyxiation via nitrous oxide. Somehow, it’s still funny.

Listen to “Grow for Me” (specifically the Jeremy Jordan version) for a fun, dance-worthy number about Seymour discovering the plant eats blood. Listen to “Suddenly Seymour” for a powerful love song with just a few weird lyrics (not bad for the 60s). Listen to “Mushnik & Son” for a tango about the bond of chosen family (sort of). The whole cast recording is good–with no skips and a few really good songs–so I highly suggest it as background music for doing homework.

And whatever you do… “Don’t feed the plants!”

As promised, we’ll be covering a great musical this week to make up for the past few disappointments, so let’s talk about one of the greatest shows of all time: The Phantom of the Opera.

The Phantom of the Opera started as a novel by French author Gaston Leroux in 1909. There have been many adaptations of the story, most notably a 1925 silent film, the 2004 movie starring Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler, and the musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber first produced in 1986. It is currently the longest running show on Broadway, and there is no question why. Every aspect of the show is cohesive and masterfully done, from the music to the set design and costumes to the plot. It all comes together to create an eerily enchanting spectacle.

This show has a special place in my heart since it was the first musical I ever really enjoyed. I still haven’t seen it live–and now it’s sadly closing on Broadway in a few months–but I’ve seen the 2004 movie several times and watched the pro-shot of the 25th anniversary performance when it was streaming on YouTube in 2020.

It is quite a popular show. I mean, who wouldn’t recognize the powerful opening of the titular song “The Phantom Of The Opera”? Just in case you aren’t familiar with the plot, Christine Daae is a young performer with the Paris Opera who has to fill in when the lead soprano cannot go on for a performance. She absolute kills it (lol…) and attributes her skill to a private mentor ghost (the Phantom), and of course her friend Meg and love interest Raoul don’t believe her. She goes through a mirror and meets the Phantom in his sewers under the opera house where they sing that song everyone knows and he says she will be his voice (as told by my favorite lyric: “I am the mask you wear, it’s me they hear.”) Then, the Phantom starts to wreak havoc on the opera. He possesses the ex-soprano’s voice, hangs a stagehand, and causes the chandelier to crash during a performance. This is all in Act I ONLY. Act II starts with a masquerade ball followed by the unfolding of the jealous Phantom’s plan to perform with Christine (who is now engaged to Raoul) in an opera he wrote and forces the opera the perform. During the performance, Christine realizes it is the Phantom singing with her and takes off his mask in front of the audience, revealing his disfigured face. Chaos ensues, and Phantom takes Christine down to his lair again. In his lair, Raoul comes to save Christine, and Phantom tells her to choose between him and Raoul. She kisses the Phantom and he is so inspired by her graciousness that he lets her go. It makes a lot more sense in context.

My one and only grievance with the show is the fact that in the Broadway production, the Phantom bows last, and Christine bows second to last. I know Phantom is the titular role, but the story revolves around Christine’s journey in the opera, so it makes sense that she should get the final bow, right? I digress.

If you haven’t heard much of the music, I highly suggest… well, every song actually. Genuinely the whole cast recording is amazing. If I had to pick a favorite though, I’d say “All I Ask of You.” Just watch the movie–it’s a lovely gothic horror, perfect for Fall.

Content warning: brief mentions of r*pe and drug addiction in paragraph 2

All the talk of protests on campus this past week has reminded me of my favorite disaster of a musical: Jagged Little Pill. A jukebox musical with music from the 1995 Alanis Morisette album of the same name, the plot is a convoluted mix of various social issues through the frame of a cliche picture-perfect yet actually dysfunctional suburban family–a real Next to Normal situation. 

Each member of the family has a specific, stereotypical struggle. The mom Mary Jane (whose name was annoyingly chosen just to fit in Morisette’s song “Mary Jane”) is struggling with addiction to painkillers but trying to act like everything is normal, the dad is addicted to pornography (which is mentioned twice but not relevant to any part of the plot), their son who was admitted early into Harvard but is struggling under crippling pressure, and their adopted daughter Frankie who doesn’t feel like she is accepted by her family. As the show progresses, the main plot reveals itself: Frankie’s friend is r*ped at a party, which causes Mary Jane to reconcile with her past trauma involving r*pe. There’s a protest in the end directed at no one in particular. On top of all this, there are subplots involving sexual orientation and gender identity. It seems like Diablo Cody (who wrote the book for the show; also known for the movies Juno and Jennifer’s Body which makes a lot of sense if you’re familiar with either) tried to cram every possible relatable issue into a show and connect it with Alanis Morisette songs. The script isn’t terribly written, but it transitions awkwardly between scenes, and paired with ill-fitting hip hop choreography and a set made of clunky screen animations, it leaves much to be desired–especially when the source material is so highly acclaimed.

One good thing about the show is the cast album. It won the Grammy award for Best Musical Theater Album, and after listening to Lauren Patten’s rendition of “You Oughta Know,” it’s clear why.

Of course, when a piece of media includes so many controversial topics, it is bound to receive plenty of criticism. The character Jo (portrayed by Lauren Patten) originally started out as a nonbinary character in the original production at American Repertory Theater. However, when the show transferred to Broadway, the character was discretely changed to cisgender by the removal of a few lines, and Jo’s storyline became muddled. This caused people across social media platforms (I specifically remember seeing a Tik Tok about it) to accuse the show of nonbinary erasure. The actress Patten herself is cisgender and identifies as a woman, so many fans of the show assumed that the character was changed to accommodate her in the role. By attempting to not get “canceled” for having a cisgender actress play a nonbinary role, the creative team essentially just changed the character to be cisgender instead of hiring a nonbinary performer… an apathetic choice for a show that is dealing with so many sensitive topics. The choice really a lack of care for the issues in the show and an underlying concern for public approval.

Below is the statement released in response to the controversy if anyone is interested.

Later in its short Broadway run, Nora Schell (a nonbinary actor in the show) came forward about how the production team told her to put off critical surgery for the sake of the show. This compounded with the previous controversy and the show winning 2 Tony awards resulted in a protest in front of the Broadhurst theater on October 21st, 2021. The show closed its doomed Broadway run later that year on December 17.

In summary, this show is a distasteful disappointment to the masterpiece that is Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill album. Just go listen to the source material, that would be a much better use of your time than the cast recording. I’ll cover a good show next week, I promise.