Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd

Long time no blog! I'm wrapping up my final semester of college, which has resulted in too many papers and projects, and not enough time to write a new entry.

On November 14, my job as an usher at my school's theater finally paid off when I got to watch our student production of Sweeney Todd for free. I had to stand the whole time, and it's not like tickets were expensive to start with (only $10 for students), but I was excited to watch it just the same.

My school is very conservative, and that's generally been reflected in the fall musical. My freshman year it was Damn Yankees, and last year it was Thoroughly Modern Millie. (I'm not sure what it was the year in-between, as I was in London at the time, but I'm sure it was a show in the same vein.) So it was quite a surprise when it was announced that Sweeney would be the show this year.

I don't have the time to go into too many details right now, but I loved the show. Great sets, a talented cast, and funnier than I'd expected. I had the pleasure of seeing it again the following afternoon, this time as an actual audience member, and was glad for the opportunity to catch some of the lines I'd missed the first time around (as I'd escorted late arrivals to their seats).

Then over Thanksgiving break I watched the 2007 movie version, to compare. It was interesting to see the adaption, but I still strongly prefer what I saw on stage. I'm not sure how much of this is due to our specific cast, and how much comes from general differences between the musical and the movie, but I found our Sweeney to be much more understandable and our Mrs. Lovett to be much more personable than their counterparts in the film.

I was also highly disappointed that one of my favorite songs, "Kiss Me," was cut from the movie. Not only is it entertaining (It was a gate! It's the gate! We don't have a gate!), but it allows for further development of Johanna. I loved her in the musical, but didn't care for her much in the movie.

I now have 25 pages of a novel to write, and one week to complete it in. So long, farewell, and I'll blog again once finals are over.