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| Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| On the evening I saw the show, the audience applauded the murder of Judge Turpin. As much sympathy as a viewer can have for Mr. Todd at that point in the story, it is very clear that he is a serial killer who has murdered many seemingly innocent people. What does validating the motives of a serial killer with applause say about our society? Would love your thoughts. | |
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| re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: conciergekey 07:19 pm EDT 04/05/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Quite frankly, I'm just tired of audiences applauding at anything and everything. At Sweeney, they also scream and shout like it's a concert. Incredibly annoying. |
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| re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: J.Collins 02:21 am EDT 04/05/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| I haven't yet seen this production, but is it possible that the applause are a response to the 'theatrical moment' (i.e. a combination of staging, score, performance etc) They've been viscerally moved and affected by the moment and want to respond? Just a 'theory'... | |
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| re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 09:10 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| It says absolutely nothing about our society. Judge Turpin's the bad guy and he gets his comeuppance. It's not more complicated than that. | |
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| Michelle Williams (Thomas Kail’s wife) on “Sweeney”: It’s a comedy. | |
| Posted by: kieran 09:09 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Link | Michelle Williams |
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| re: Michelle Williams (Thomas Kail’s wife) on “Sweeney”: It’s a comedy. | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:36 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Michelle Williams (Thomas Kail’s wife) on “Sweeney”: It’s a comedy. - kieran 09:09 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| I'm not sure she meant to suggest that it was primarily a comedy, although she did say at one point "But it's a comedy." I think most people would say it's a serious piece with comic moments or sections. Jack Lemmon once talked about going to see the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire again and again from standing room. Eventually, he clocked the laughs, and then went to every other show in town and counted up the laughs. Streetcar got more laughs than any other show on Broadway at the time, but would anyone call it a comedy? Sweeney is a mix of tragedy and melodrama, with laughs, and lots of melodramas, thrillers snd even tragedies have laughs. |
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| re: Michelle Williams (Thomas Kail’s wife) on “Sweeney”: It’s a comedy. | |
| Posted by: Thom915 01:55 pm EDT 04/05/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Michelle Williams (Thomas Kail’s wife) on “Sweeney”: It’s a comedy. - AlanScott 09:36 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| When I talk about a production of "Death of a Salesman" which I directed, I often say that we got every laugh that was in the play and people look at me funny but it is, especailly in the initial scenes a very funny play before it turns serious and then tragic and if you get the people to laugh, they will likely like the characters even more and then feel the pain even greater. As for Sweeney though, I think it is less of a tragedy than a melodrama with quite a bit of dark humor thrown in and I think both the Prince production and this production get that. I think the current production perhaps is a bit funnier than the original but nothing really that isn't meant to be in the show. | |
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| re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: Ncassidine 04:58 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Is this a serious question? The entire point is that you're rooting for Sweeney Todd. |
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| re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 06:39 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - Ncassidine 04:58 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| I think the point of the question is that audiences are rooting for Sweeney Todd. I saw the original production, Doyle revival, and other productions as well. I do not think I ever saw an audience root for anyone in this play. The question whether the times have changed so much that we cheer for serial killers, or if the production interprets the work poorly is a good one. In most good productions, the audience sympathises with Todd, but does not think slitting throats and cannibalism are worth cheering for. |
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| re: Would love your thoughts. | |
| Posted by: Dale 04:15 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Saw the original in previews in 1979... not much laughs then! | |
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| re: Would love your thoughts. | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:52 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Would love your thoughts. - Dale 04:15 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| I think during the original run, perhaps even more so during previews, there were performances where the audience didn't laugh much. In my experience, they were a minority of performances, but there were definitely audiences that either didn't get the humor or felt it was all too serious and forbidding to be funny or may have perhaps been unsure whether laughter was appropriate. Re applause for the murder of Judge Turpin: My memory from seeing the original production 10 or 11 times is that most of the time there was no applause, but once or twice there was a small amount of applause. |
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| re: Would love your thoughts. | |
| Posted by: dramedy 04:21 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Would love your thoughts. - Dale 04:15 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Applause is different than laughs. | |
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| Spoiler warning) | |
| Posted by: dramedy 03:40 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Sweeney Todd on Broadway last week (spoiler warning) - raregems 02:22 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Spoiler on 40 year old revival? Anyway, I don’t think the applause is for Todd doing the deed as the judge getting what he deserves for his evil deeds that started this whole evening of revenge. If the judge hadn’t convicted Benjamin barker on fake charges, then we’d be witnessing a quiet evening of Todd and his wife and Lovett being jealous. | |
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| Audience emotional investment in that dark moment is the piece’s strength | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 05:20 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 05:16 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
| In reply to: Spoiler warning) - dramedy 03:40 pm EDT 04/04/23 | |
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| Turpin is the prime mover in destroying Barker’s entire world. The drama is visceral, and the strength of the show - its vivid creation of an immoral ecosystem wherein innocent lives are swallowed whole by evildoers - lies in its ability to inspire gut responses in the audience. Any number of us can cheer or even applaud the judge’s violent comeuppance without being advocates for vigilante justice outside the boundaries of fiction. It’s a dynamic baked into the DNA of melodrama. | |
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