Sweeney Todd in Concert
Patti LuPone & George Hearn
DVD 0927462372 Musical
Here is a Stephen Sondheim musical that was preserved in its original staging on VHS starring the original Mrs Lovett, Angela Lansbury and George Hearn (who co-starred with Ms Lansbury in the national tour) as Sweeney Todd. One hopes that this recording will receive a transfer to DVD sometime very soon. In the mean time, Sweeney Todd in Concert starring Patti LuPone as Mrs Lovett and Mr Hearn re-creating his performance as Sweeney, has been preserved on DVD. This concert version of Sweeney Todd was orignally created for performance by the New York Philharmonic. A CD was made of this concert and has had limited release on the New York Philharmonic label.
This DVD is a recording of the concert version presented by the San Francisco Symphony, once again starring Ms LuPone and Mr Hearn, with some but not all of the supporting cast from the New York Philharmonic recording. It is an entertaining and credible performance, and one that I’m sure was worth seeing live. For those of us not fortunate enough to be able to attend these events, audio and video recordings are always worth having and watching.
It is wonderful to see as well as hear Patti LuPone, Davis Gaines (Anthony Hope), Timothy Nolan (Judge Turpin) and the rest of the cast perform in this incarnation of what is now a Stephen Sondheim classic. However, I still refer to my opening comment and hope the original will be available soon on DVD too.