Sweeney Todd: The Movie

[Dottie]

I think that musicals aren't considered serious enough to win the Academy Award. Not real enough. The same goes for the comedy movies, when did the last comedy movie win the award. That's why the more than lovely Juno won't win either.
It's gonna be something depressing, forgettable. Or does anyone still talk about L.A. Crash??

[lord-of-sith]

I've posted more videos from our production! Again, they are all very bad quality, but here they are!

"Green Finch and Linnet Bird"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9-FQM7Ui5s

"Ladies in their Sensitivities"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWmOfYvrYsg

"My Friends"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lMYstbC740

"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRI6WZ84c_o

"Alms! Alms!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmb2fW6W6jI

hope you like 'em!

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Looks like it is an HD-DVD only release for our Sweeney:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ ... April/1425


This is such a shame. I really wanted this on Blu-ray and Dreamworks should know that HD-DVD is going to lose.

[Disney Duster]

Thanks lord-of-sith! Hmm, unfortunately the piano and wind are too loud to hear the singing that well. Who is playing the piano, it sound like they're hitting it hard, as well as playing it very well. However, it's obvious you all have great voices and sing well. "Linnet Bird" shows of some really strong singing. "Sensitivities" was nice and I liked the humourous adds, and though the Beadle's high notes weren't lovely, it sounded like some kind of cool ghost call at the end, like a replacement for the whistle that blew in the original production. Your Sweeney also gave a good cry at the end of "My Friends", that part can fall flat but it was good and even scary. I didn't care much for the "Ballad", boy does that song seem to need lots of people and instruments, but everyone was good at the last high notes before Sweeney came out! "Alms" was interesting but I'm sorry to say I don't think the Beggar Woman should have looked like she was having as much "fun" as she was, she's supposed to be miserable and desperate. But overall this production looked like it would have effected me it always looks scary (in the good way!).

Sequel, you scared me! I thought it was only HD-DVD, not even on regular DVD! I guess I'll buy that, but I'm sure somewhere down the line it will get a special edition Blu-ray. Are they doing this because they think the movie is like a "collector's" movie people will want in High-def, and they think it's so popular it will help HD-DVD? Or it's just a dumb double dip plan?

[lord-of-sith]

Thank you for your comments Disney Duster! I always appreciate them! Our accompianist is an amazing girl named Jenny Trimmer. During our dress rehearsal, we discovered it was obtrusive to have her on the porch, so we put her right inside the house with the window open so she could hear us. Unfortunatley, the speaker we attatched outside was turned too loud,

I am glad you enjoyed the performances though, some of the people who have left comments obviously don't get the idea that this was not a full scale production at a real theater, and that it was obviously not to be taken completely seriously. I'm gonna try to put up epiphany, but we'll se how it goes.

[Disney Duster]

SpringHeelJack, are you BDrischBDemented on BroadwayWorld?

Well, my lord...of-sith ( ), Sweeney Todd is a little ridiculous, you should get to have fun with it, and when you don't have the resources to do the production in full, and you do it with your friends, and you're all in high school or college, people should not expect something so serious. You all just happen to be very talented.

I recently saw Juno, and I'm glad a comedy was taken seriously and nomimated for Best Picture, but geeze Sweeney Todd was on a completely different (and higher) level and can't the academy take a musical seriously, too? A musical should be taken more seriously in general since the only thing that makes them different from the usual nominated films is the singing which is unrealistic, but they can be dramatic and serious and emotionally effecting like any other film, and comedies are usually not "serious", I mean making light or making fun of anything means not taking it seriously! It is rather strange that they had musicals winning so much before, was it really just because more musicals were made back then and it's all they had to nominate?

I wondered if maybe Depp's portayal of the lead not feeling many emotions other than contempt and anger made the Academy not like it, but he got nominated for Best Actor! And Helena didn't get nominated and I thought she was better than Depp! I thought she was the best in the film.

I also wonder if they think it didn't take much work because, in a way, the score and book do a lot, that work's been done, and maybe they thought it didn't take much to make a filmed version work, the musical itself is great on its own. But it could have gone miserably and Burton made it great.

Some people actually say it was humorlous, I don't know what to think because I didn't laugh much during "A Little Preist" but I don't remember laughing much at the filmed original production either (I'm more shocked at what they're saying!). I can see how people think the actors didn't make the lines funny, but I don't think that was the problem. I don't think the characters need to find it funny as long as the audiece does. But it was a little annoying that Depp didn't look like he was trying to make Lovett smile with, "You never know when it's going to run." I think Depp thought he should hate all the people he's going ot kill so much, he's thinking more about how horrible it would be to serve them in these ways rather than how funny or clever the ways are.

Uh...what does everyone else think?

[SpringHeelJack]

SpringHeelJack, are you BDrischBDemented on BroadwayWorld?

Haha, yes, that is indeed me. Are you on there, too?

I kind of agree with you on "A Little Priest". I wish they had been a weee bit more fun, but it could have easily gone over-the-top, so... I'm not sure how I feel. It still got laughs when I saw it.

Chances are, you won't really laugh at it on the video recording... for some reason, it's only really funny if you see it live. Otherwise, it's more like "Aha, what clever wordplay."

lord-of-sith, did you do "Parlor Songs" in your performance? I know no one will probably ever request "Parlor Songs", but if you guys did the "Tower of Bray", I'd love to see it. That's like, my favorite inconsequential part of the musical.

[lord-of-sith]

lord-of-sith, did you do "Parlor Songs" in your performance? I know no one will probably ever request "Parlor Songs", but if you guys did the "Tower of Bray", I'd love to see it. That's like, my favorite inconsequential part of the musical.

We did not do "Parlor Songs." The complete list of songs we did is:

"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd"
"Alms!Ams!"
"The Worst Pies in London"
A condensed and spoken version of "Poor Thing"
"My Friends"
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird"
"Johanna"
"Pirelli's Miracle Elixer"
"Kiss Me"
"Ladies in their Sensitivities"
"Pretty Women"
"Epiphany"
"A Little Priest"
"God That's Good!"
"Not While I'm Around"
"Final Scene"

[SpringHeelJack]

Aoow. No love for "Parlor Songs".

[Disney Duster]

Haha, yes, that is indeed me. Are you on there, too?

Yes, I am MagicalMusical! I haven't said much on there, and they're much more brutal over there than here so it's hard to say anything without fear of being ripped apart. I haven't contributed too much. But it's great to be apart of. They're in the know and get all these exclusives.

I like what you said on "A Little Priest". I don't think it was that bad either, you're exactly right, they can't be over-the-top, which I think may be what people are confusing with "making it funny". It just goes along with how I thought Depp was gloomy all the time, but I actually think Helena had more fun (I mean, that little hopping she did for "finest in the shop"?).

I also like "Parlor Songs"! I don't remember how it was song in the filmed original, but a community theater production had such a good singer as the Beadle I remembered it well! Ding DONG! Is the Beadle normally supposed to be a really good singer? Mine was just fantastic! Something also funny was he was almost exactly like the one from the orginal filmed play, and he said that he created his character before watching the filmed play! He just imagined the character that way! Ugh, storytelling is hard to avoid "character types".

[SpringHeelJack]

LOL, it can be pretty rough over there. I, too, mostly just sort of read and sponge up things with the occasional remark. It's a good place to get in the inner circle of the theatre world.

Yeah... I see what you're saying. I mean, I've said before, if I had to pick one actor who did a better job of the two of them, I'd go for Helena in second. I did like Johnny, but there were maybe one or two parts where I was a little... underwhelmed. One place was when Turpin first mentions he plans to marry Johanna, and Depp just sort of takes it in stride. He really should have... been so internally infuriated there.

Yay for "Parlor Songs" love! I know it has, like, a troubled past, where the whole sequence was recorded for the OBCR, but when they filmed the tour for the Angela / George DVD, they had by that point cut the "Tower of Bray" bit and just used the "Sweet Polly Plunkett". Then in the recent revival, they put "Bray" back in, and it was so cool (The Beadle sings it while doing like this menacing interrogative pacing and waving a flashlight in Mrs. Lovett's eyes). I don't know how it works anymore in like, the production available for local theatre / high schools. I know my boyfriend was in it in high school, I ought to ask him...

Beadle, actually, ought to be a fairly good singer, because if they keep the original arrangements, some of his material is in the really high range. The guy I saw on tour had it lowered an octave, I think, but he was really good so it didn't matter (he was, as opposed to like the typical fat middle-aged Beadle that the part seems to describe, young, thin, blond and very sexy in a smooth conniving sort of way. Very hot). That was like the only time I've ever seen a Beadle who deviated from like the older, spineless, slimy type set forth in the original Broadway cast. He is kind of a rough character to really reinvent... the smaller ones usually are.

[Disney Duster]

I agree with it all. Didn't know about "Parlor Songs"'s "trouble past", it's interesting. I think the smaller parts must be harder to reinvent because they don't have as much material, they have more boundaries, they don't have much to move around in and get as many chances to show what kind of character they are.

That's why when you're in a small part and the director tells you that still have to create this amazing character with a deep background...you're like "yea, the audience will really see that in my 5 lines." But of course the Beadle isn't that small a part.

[SpringHeelJack]

DVD art and stats are up for both the one-disc and two-disc DVDs. Assuming they still release an HD-DVD version, its cover art will likely be similar to the two-disc set. Can't wait to get this...

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/ ... tml?page=1

[Dottie]

Awesome! I love the 2-disc DVD cover art.

[SpringHeelJack]

I'm kind of hoping that the two-disc has a reversible cover like the two-disc "Hairspray"... see how like the last picture seems to be a slipcover with razors and the back of the cover art has the same design all over it? I'm really hoping it's one big slipcover that you can swap back and forth. I doubt it, but it would be nice.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Anyone else think that the slipcover should be like those Halloween masks that look like their bleeding? I could just imagine someone picking it off the store shelf and then dropping it suddenly, run away.

As a side note, love the gif in your signature SpringHeelJack and who is that in your avatar?

[SpringHeelJack]

Haha, thanks, my friend and I decided to make that icon in my signature after noticing how often Wart makes that face.

And that in my avatar is me before going to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

[Disney Duster]

Wow HeelJack (eh, somehow I'll nickname you), you look like some professional band member in your avatar, like the picture was prfessionally done.

Ooohh guess what? I watched the last half of "Company" on PBS last night, and it was huanting and emotional and wonderful! But I need to see the whole thing. I must ask...you said earlier the lyrics perfectly describe relationships with people. How would you know in your young age (well how youn are you)? These people are mostly middle-aged and have been lonely or together for a long time.

Anyway, I really dislike the regular cover but LOVE the Special Edition's razor borders. How clever, how cool, how creative, genius like the film itself. I'm not too fond of the poster being merely re-used for the main part of he cover, but it's better than the regular edition so...eh.

Besides, when this gets a really Special Edition on Blu-ray later because you know it will come to Blu-ray later, it should get even better cover art.

I didn't know this film was being called a masterpiece until I read the back cover of the regular edition. Good. It is. How did Juno get picked over this again?

[SpringHeelJack]

Well, HeelJack is a good start, haha. You can opt for SHJ or Brendan, since I never seem to throw my legit name around on here. Just suggestions.

Ha, and thank you Very flattering.

And yay! I was going to post a reminder on here for anyone who wanted to check it out, but I, uh, didn't. Oops. As for how I know, eh, I don't entirely. I'm not terribly old (20) nor have I been in a relationship very long (almost a year and a half), but I think a lot of it is it kind of reminds me (to an extent) of the relationships I would observe between my parents and their friends when I was younger. Plus I think some of it is still applicable for a young adult crowd, the broader themes in general. I mean, I don't want to come off as pretentious by saying I get some of it myself, but I like to think I do, and I'm sure it will be more relevant as the next decade or so goes by for me.

I'm also not too fond of the reusing poster art, but like you said, it's better than the one-disc, and at least it's not floating heads in space.

As for "Juno"... I just don't know. I have yet to see it, as I wasn't entirely won over by what I heard of it, but I was reading snippits of the screenplay online, and some of it just rubbed me the wrong way (especially that "Fertile Myrtle" bit between her and Rainn Wilson). Even my friends who liked the movie said it's good but certainly not one of the best pictures of the year.

Then again, I didn't really like "Little Miss Sunshine". Maybe I just dislike it when films try to be too indie.

[Disney Duster]

Yes I chose HeelJack because it has an actual person's name in it. I don't like using what everyone else uses, no one's called you that yet.

I really hope Company comes on again. But maybe I should just buy it. I mean it was so very good. I don't know. I guess I feel weird because the show was made a longtime ago and it's had 2 revivals so far, so I feel like I'm watching new stuff with old stuff. The difference between it and something like Sweeney Todd or Into the Woods is those musicals are set in certain time periods so they can be done differently, this was set in modern times and the production was done in the time it's set. I will wonder if they ended up "updating" it. I read a comment on BroadwayWorld that it captured a place and time that doesn't exist now but it was relevent in some places.

But it was awesome and I should still get it. There's no other recording of it, right?

Hmmm...well, some of the things they said I thought of in my own life, and like you said we'll probably get even more later. And of course what it tells us can be applied to our life eventually when we are about to make big relationship decisions. But you have definitely dated and loved people more than me so that helps you. I've only fallen for 2 guys. I came close to the conclusions they did, relationships with people will never be perfect, but is being alone more worth it?

I actually don't mind floating heads when they are done right (which hardly happens). For instance I don't mind most of the Platinum Edition floating heads. But that would probably not work for Sweeney anyway.

Yea Juno was good and I wouldn't mind it getting nominated for Best Picture if there wasn't a much better picture that could have taken it's place by the name of Sweeney Todd. I totally forgot the "Fetile Myrtle" part. As in I don't remember it at all. Perhaps I was away from the TV at that part (watched a boot at a friend's). Haven't seen Sunshine.