| And Groban's interpretation felt like the signature of this staging. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 07:51 am EDT 03/13/24 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 07:48 am EDT 03/13/24 | |
| In reply to: Not to be morbid, but... - DistantDrumming 04:05 pm EDT 03/12/24 | |
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| Fully agree about the Groban Sweeney. It's the only one - and I've seen every billed NYC Sweeney from Cariou on except one - that fully captured Benjamin Barker, the man whose origin story defines the entire plot trajectory. From the top, the humble barber was fully visible and present, which made the accumulated rage and tipping point into violence human-scaled. Many shouted me down, missing "the scary Sweeney" in Groban's bewilderment. But to my ear, the Barker Sweeney is first and foremost in the Sondheim songs, his "Joanna" in the second act so heartbreaking in its irresolution of grief. As he murders, he is overwhelmed by the untenable spot where he's been forced without escape. I'm not suggesting that the Barker elements were missing from other Sweeneys (though I didn't really see much of it with the one-note Hearn), only that Groban - this skinny, bearded everyman - managed to remint the story with a whiff of reality, which made the tragedy uniquely compelling. It is a morality tale of a special sort - injustice as causal in society - and it's reflected in this performance. I didn't miss being more frightened, but then - a subjective response - serial killing by a human being never strikes me as anything but tragic. | |
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