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The Demon Barber of the Orchestra Pit
Oct. 7th, 2005 09:37 amSaw the revival of Sweeney Todd last night. One of the more bizarre revivals I've seen. Directors reviving a show frequently seem to feel they have to do something "new" and "different" with the show. This took it to new levels.
There was no pit.
The actors were actually the pit. Seriously. They were all onstage, all the time, playing their instruments. Sometimes they sang or talked while playing. Sometimes they set their instruments aside for a scene and then picked them back up. So Mrs. Lovett is up there prancing around in a sparkly black dress, an apron, carrying a tuba.
They all played at least two instruments, too.
There was a lot of other random symbolic stuff. The fancy chair was actually a little white coffin that Sweeney carried around, caressing lovingly. Death was symbolized by another character (not the one killed or killing) slowly pouring blood from one bucket to another at a different part of the stage. The characters rarely interacted with each other - most of the time, they just stared out into the audience, looking haunted. There were entire scenes between two people conducted with them on opposite sides of the stage, with the other actors wandering around between them with their instruments.
Very Three-Penny Opera. The problem is, I don't particularly like Three-Penny Opera.
It was...interesting. Creative, and impressive as hell (a cast who can sing, act, in some cases dance a bit, and play two or three instruments a piece?). But I'm not really sure whether I liked it.
There was no pit.
The actors were actually the pit. Seriously. They were all onstage, all the time, playing their instruments. Sometimes they sang or talked while playing. Sometimes they set their instruments aside for a scene and then picked them back up. So Mrs. Lovett is up there prancing around in a sparkly black dress, an apron, carrying a tuba.
They all played at least two instruments, too.
There was a lot of other random symbolic stuff. The fancy chair was actually a little white coffin that Sweeney carried around, caressing lovingly. Death was symbolized by another character (not the one killed or killing) slowly pouring blood from one bucket to another at a different part of the stage. The characters rarely interacted with each other - most of the time, they just stared out into the audience, looking haunted. There were entire scenes between two people conducted with them on opposite sides of the stage, with the other actors wandering around between them with their instruments.
Very Three-Penny Opera. The problem is, I don't particularly like Three-Penny Opera.
It was...interesting. Creative, and impressive as hell (a cast who can sing, act, in some cases dance a bit, and play two or three instruments a piece?). But I'm not really sure whether I liked it.
