Sweeney Todd lives!

My friends who love the musical theatre of Stephen Sondheim as much as I do - and they are few, since I live in a rock 'n' roll world - have long wondered why I didn't like "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" the way they did. The show has long been considered one of Sondheim's best, and that's saying something for a man who has won a ridiculous number of Tony awards, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for his unimaginably brilliant "Sunday in the Park with George." Sondheim has created Broadway musicals for those of us who find most Broadway musicals a bit less...well, let's just say, less compelling than rock and its many offspring.

Sondheim, to me, is like the Beatles, just a step above everyone else around him. When I discovered him, belatedly, about 15 years ago, I felt exactly as I had when I first saw the Beatles 44 year ago - my world was shaken. I couldn't believe that someone had THAT much musical power and subtlety, that fine and complex a lyrical mind, and that much clear-eyed understanding of human beings, all rolled into one man. I was brought to tears repeatedly by his shows, especially "Company," "A Little Night Music," "Into the Woods," "Merrily We Roll Along," and "Sunday in the Park with George." And he cracked me up. And I couldn't stop singing the songs.

But others didn't touch me - "Passion," for one, "Pacific Overtures" for another - and even though I saw the 1989 revival on Broadway, "Sweeney Todd" just left me cold. I bought the video of the original 1979, listened to the album. And nothing.

That changed Sunday afternoon, when I caught a matinee of Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" at the Arden Fair 6 (a lousy little theatre, the less said about, the better). Even in the less-than-perfect setting - two old ladies behind me talked repeatedly through the film - THIS was Sweeney Todd as we were meant to see him. And I was floored.

It's over-the-top Grand Guignol, of course - if you have an aversion to stylization in film, you will find it "unbelievable" - but if you have a passion for great art, and especially if you've a Goth streak - you will find it, well, UNBELIEVABLE.

Here's the trailer, which really downplays the singing - the movie's almost all sung - but gives you the story and the look:



And here's something I found for the real Sondheim geeks in the crowd: I don't know what it's from, but it's the cast of "Sweeney Todd" doing a song from "Company," with new lyrics from the cast, not Sondheim. Both shows have been recently reimagined by director John Doyle, who did both shows with the cast not only singing the parts, but playing the instruments as well. I saw Doyle's "Company" last fall in New York - twice - and it was just amazing. So this is a bit of fun with that.

As I said, for Sondheim geeks only.