"... his skin was pale and his eye was odd
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again"

I was torn on whether to put this here or on the AWH board, but the movie's subject matter and personnel tipped me to here.

This week I saw, for the second time, the excellent current Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical/operetta masterpiece "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (which closes tomorrow). In the course of looking online for ticket information, I stumbled across the news that Tim Burton will direct the Hollywood version, for a tentatively planned late 2007 release. Not too surprisingly, Johnny Depp will play the title role of the Victorian London barber who cuts patron's throats; no word on who might play the equally crucial role of Mrs. Lovett, his landlady and accomplice who uses Sweeney's proclivities to give a commercial boost to her meat pie shop ("The history of the world, my sweet/Is who gets eaten and who gets to eat"). I have my suspicions about Helena Bonham Carter, Burton's gal-pal and two-time star. Supposedly Jim Broadbent is in the cast, too, which is always good news.

I have mixed feelings about all this, but can't help being kind of excited. "Sweeney" is a natural for the movies, with its lively blend of black comedy, horror and melodrama, its very visual book and its eclectic and quite cinematic score. Burton seems a natural for the material (almost too obvious a choice, actually - I've thought before, "If this ever gets made into a movie, I'd bet Tim Burton would be involved"). I'm iffy about Depp - as an actor, the guy seems able to do just about anything and he's certainly plugged into Burton's sensibility. But can he sing (well enough)? This is a challenging part even for seasoned musical theater performers. Supposedly the notoriously demanding Sondheim had him audition and apparently either Depp convinced him or the check they gave Sondheim was nice and fat.

This could be a farrago, but for the moment I'm looking forward to it. Still, I doubt it will be as thrilling as the videotaped 1982 (?) stage performance starring George Hearn and Angela Lansbury, which introduced me to this show and finally came out on DVD last year.

"Swing your razor high, Sweeney
Hold it to the skies
Freely flows the blood
Of those who moralize"

I also love "Sweeney." My first concern is that Burton and Depp will go too dark and "arch" with it. It isn't a show that needs ham-fisted dramatic punctuation, which is the tendency with this kind of material.

Happily, I was introduced to the show in its original production, which I saw three times: twice with Cariou and Lansbury, and once with Hearn and Loudon.

My second concern is that Burton and Depp will neglect the humor of the show. It is a black comedy in many ways--although Harold Prince was very careful and concerned to avoid unintended laughter in the original production--and requires a lot more nuance than just being weird and nihilistic, which seems to be Burton's stock-in-trade.

Is Broadbent playing Judge Turpin? If not, that would be a good role for Christopher Lee, especially if they put Turpin's deleted song back in. Hell, it's too bad Lee never got to play Sweeney when younger, and by Sweeney, I specifically mean Sondheim's, not just the penny dreadfuly character done by Todd Slaughter and others. I suspect Lee sings a lot better than Depp. I'm still trying to track down CHRISTOPHER LEE SINGS DEVILS, ROGUES AND WITCHES, FROM BROADWAY TO BAYREUTH, but I've heard his cut of "Pretty Women" from it and thought he was great.

Ian, you're not the first one to think of Lee for Turpin; I saw that suggestion on another forum a few days ago. It struck me offhand as a nifty idea, and I suspected that he could probably sing, based just on listening to his speaking voice. Nice to have that confirmed! I'm not sure who Broadbent is playing (amusing trivia: he jumped ship from the movie of the "Hairspray" musical, where he would have played "John Travolta's wife"). I'd peg him for Beadle Bamford, meself, although he'd make a fine Turpin, too. But given Burton's clear fondness for Lee and the fact that Lee has already covered a Turpin number, I'd lay money on him.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, I'm pulling for the return of Turpin's initially cut number, too. It gets a volcanic version in the latest production, brilliantly performed by Mark Jacoby, with hellish red light glowing up through the wooden slats of the floor and rear wall of the stage. I can sort of understand if Sondheim at one time felt it was too heavy-handed or something like that, but it's so jaw-dropping I love it anyway, and I'd love to see Lee tear into it with all four fangs (so to speak).

Bob:

I'm not really worried about that - most of Burton's movies are part-comedy, anyway, and Depp's a fine comedian.

Hmm... I would say "Sweeney" is more nihilistic at core than typical Burton, which usually has a sentimental core under the Gothic candy coating. I don't want them to neglect Sondheim's cynicism and real moral anger (yes, and nuance, definitely) in favor of Burtony funhouse trappings.

And I'm jealous of your Sweeney-viewing history. My friend Ryan has seen four productions, including the latest (which he had a mixed opinion on). He was torturing me with descriptions of the reputedly wonderful New York City Opera version from a few years back, which I missed, to my eternal anguish.

The most entertaining thing about searching online for information on this movie was reading the charmingly underinformed comments from very youthful Burtondepp worshippers at one fan forum. There were several iterations of "Danny Elfman isn't writing the songs for this? Why not?!" A couple of "Who does this old codger think he is, making *Johnny Depp* audition for him?!" And even one "Now that Burton is doing this, they should dump those old songs and let Elfman write new ones." We have to cut them a little slack, though - one of them piped up with "Sounds like this might be rated R, which means I won't be able to get in to see it." :)

I suspect cutting the Judge Turpin number from the show was motivated largely by Prince, not by Sondheim. (It did play in the NYC preview performances of the original production.) Sondheim told me that, while he wanted to write a scary musical, Prince was very concerned that audiences would laugh at efforts to be frightening. Sondheim countered that if the music was sufficiently frightening, audiences WOULDN'T laugh. It apparently was a point that Sondheim was never quite successful in making and that shaped a number of the decisions made in the original mounting. The show was still brilliant, but I'd like to see the intimate, scary show that Sondheim apparently set out to write.

I haven't seen the current revival, which may be an effort to get back to that creepy intimacy (?). I now live in LA and haven't been back to The City in several years--dammit--but the one excerpt I saw on the Tony Award show suggested that it tries much harder to be dark than did the original. (Honestly, I'm not sure I'd appreciate that; but ,until I've seen it, I obviously have no reasonable opinion, just worthless speculation.)

Michael, I agree with your assessment of the genuineness of the nihilism in Burton's movies. It is a kind of faux nihilism, a sour sugary shell on a piece of sweet candy. That's my concern. :) (And 'nihilism' probably isn't a good choice of words. Just general 'darkness' is probably more like it; and, like all of Burton's bag of tricks (IMO), it's just a visual darkness, not an emotional or spiritual one.)

Burton, yes, Depp, no. A strong Mrs. Lovett would help--the All That Chat theater board suggested Toni Collette, which I can see if the whole thing is going to hitched to Depp.

But, then again, maybe not Burton, either, who seems a spent force after a string of critical and/or commercial disappointments. I guess I can say I'm ambivalent about the whole thing, much as I love the show (and the Hearn/Lansbury version, which is on DVD, along with a good concert version showcasing Patti LuPone, whose Broadway run as Lovett ends today).

I live in LA and flew to NYC just to see SWEENEY and, in the course of a week, saw it three times. It was outstanding. I have always liked the show and I think this is the best production of it I've ever seen. Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris do things with these characters I've never seen before. Well, actually the whole cast does. Most of the characters (Joanna, Anthony, The Beadle, Beggar Woman, and even Tobias) are made stock and dull in most productions, the Lansbury version included, where here they are vital (Diana Dimarzio (sp?) portrays the beggar woman in a WONDERFUL way, she's scary, funny, and you really feel for her.) And for once Joanna isn't an annoying twit, she's real, and a little creepy herself. What with the family history and all.
Like many I was introduced to the show via the shot for TV version with Lansbury and Hearn, and while I liked it, I didn't Lovett. Ok, that was BAD. You can all shoot me, or slit my throat, whichever you prefer.
Anyhow, it wasn't until years later when I had the chance to sing the role of Tobias in a production that I really appreciated the show for what it is: a brilliantly funny, dark, sometimes scary and touching show.
Wow, I just realize that goes all over the place, but I'm lazy and don't want to correct it.

Now on to the movie...I would LOVE to see Tracy Ullman play Mrs. Lovett. I am sure Helena Bonham Carter will play the beggar woman. As she's too young for Lovett, yet too old to play Johanna.
As for Depp's casting, it's almost too easy and cheap for Burton to have cast him. As much as I love Depp, I think he's wrong for this part. I think Kelsey Grammar would be good. He can sing, he's a great actor, and hell, he'd be a great match with Ullman.

Meryl Streep would be an intriguing choice for Lovett. Based on her outstanding (music, too) portrayal of Mother Courage in Central Park, she has the chops for it. And, if not, someone should cast her and her COURAGE co-star, Kevin Kline, in a revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, pronto.

Cue sound effect of gold coins jingling in satin pouch. :P

It didn't ding my wallet TOO bad. Thank god for the TKTS booth and student rush! I only paid full price for one show, which was the one I had bought in advance. Side note: the show is going on a national tour next summer, but I have NO idea if any of the revival cast will go with it.
Patti LuPone just told me there would be a tour of the show, I asked if she would be going with it and she just smiled at me. What a saucy minx!

And I just like using phrases like "saucy minx" just for the hell of it.

Curious, do you know Ms. LuPone (who would be wonderful in the film, which doesn't absolutely need a "star" Mrs. Lovett if Depp is aboard)? I'm always fascinated when Mobians write that they "just got off the phone" or "had contact with" so-and-so celebrity; I only get so lucky when a publicist patches me through for a piece I'm writing. [Of course, I'm friendly with Manoel Felciano, the revival's Tony-nominated Tobias, so it's not like I need Patti LuPone paging me with updates, but still... :) ]

Oh, my dearies, there's already talk that this screenplay (by John Logan?) cuts "Epiphany" and "Green Finch," so I wouldn't wonder that Turpin's "Johanna" is not on the horizon.

Yes, Prince did dislike the song. I was told by the original Turpin, Ed Lyndeck, that Hal said "This is one of those Steve wrote on the toilet."

Lyndeck gave a very Karloff-indebted performance, and I've always seen Michael Gough in my head, though he's way too old now and who even knows if he ever sang? (I've always seen Chris Lee as Straker in my own private SALEM'S LOT).

I saw the original production of SWEENEY 5 1/2 times - yeah, I second-acted it once. I've seen the "Teeny Todd" revival at Circle in the Square, and productions at Goodspeed, Papermill, and NY City and the Chicago Operas. Of course I saw the B'way version which just shuttered. I have very strong feelings about this one, my favorite musical. I will say that the original performances I've seen on a bootleg of the OBC are preferable, with all the shortcomings of a surreptitious one-camera shoot, to the taped version now commercially available (which I, luckily, have had on VHS all these years). By the end of the run Lansbury was playing more of an automaton than a human being, and Hearn is ham without the wry. I think, as he's aged, he's become a mellower, stronger Todd; still, Cariou's Golem-like, Caligariesque Todd remains definitive for me.

No, i don't know Patti LuPone, I just asked her this when I met her at the stage door one night after the show. And she's pretty good responding to email via her web site too. So, there you have it!

Ah, "Johanna". I wasn't sure which song people were talking about, but since I imprinted on the OBC recording, I've heard it. (And Cariou is definitive for me, too.) But if they really cut "Epiphany," this movie is dead to me. Fuggedaboutit. Not that Depp seemed right as Todd to begin with, but I was willing to give him a chance to win me over. But not without the epiphany, no way.

Internet buzz today reports that Streep is indeed in as Mrs. Lovett. I'm officially at lukewarm on the project, up from chilly.

Oh, Bob, step in to where it's warm, near the oven - not nearly big enough to bake all the pies we sell, ten dozen at a time!

If it is, indeed, to be Meryl, I guess they're seriously turning this into an older woman/younger man thing, which is valid. Could be fascinating.

Then again, I'm remembering that souondtrack of EVITA we all do NOT own, the one from the film which was to star Meryl...

Variety reports that the inevitable Helena Bonham Carter has been cast as Mrs. Lovett. It had a shot with Meryl Streep or Toni Collette as Lovett, counterbalancing the deficiences of the lead, but without a frame of footage being shot this can pretty much be written off as a Tim Burton vanity project. Maybe Harve Presnell and Marni Nixon can dub the singing voices. :)

Slightly off topic, but am I the only one disturbed by Tim Burton's output over the last few years? He used to deliver some highly original pics but recently all we have gotten is remakes and adaptations (SLEEPY HOLLOW, PLANET OF THE APES, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and this). Very disappointing for me.

Adaptations (if not remakes) are the stock-in-trade of many directors. I wouldn't mind so much if they were good films; the only one I like, more for its storybook ambiance than anything else, is SLEEPY HOLLOW. [BEETLE JUICE and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS are Burton's only "originals"; ED WOOD is a quirky biopic, and PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE adapts a TV character.]

Much as I'd like to see a bigscreen SWEENEY TODD, I'm half-hoping this one falls apart before it reaches the soundstage. I'm skeptical, to say the least, about its chances.

Cruel of you to mention Toni Collette as a possibility! Sigh. Well, at least the production design will probably be interesting ...

It's also tough for me to warm up to this Burton SWEENEY production. I saw the highly-underrated Circle In The Square production with Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler (and there certainly was nothing "teeny" about the talent and passion displayed on that stage) and also the recent Broadway revival. For years, I've been filming and cutting trailers in my head for my own fantasy SWEENEY movie. Some of my fantasy casting included John Lithgow as Sweeney, Susan Sarandon as Lovett, and definitely Christopher Lee as Turpin. And possibly Michael Palin or Terry Gilliam in a cameo as the Asylum Doctor. The movie in my head looked rather like THE ELEPHANT MAN with the Eastmancolor and camera movements of PEEPING TOM.

It now sounds like its just going to be a Tim Burton Club movie, with no one to challenge his ideas. A lot of people here are right about Burton's over-rated black licorice coated confectioneries, containing far more production design whimsy than any actual thematic depth or "darkness".* Depp, while quite a talent, tends to indulge in silent movie eye-rolling histrionics in Burton's films. If Depp could throw away all that style and deliver a darker, deeper, and more truthful performance on the level of DONNIE BRASCO, perhaps he could work. But I fear we're just going to get a wide-eyed and cartoonish barber much like Depp's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and SLEEPY HOLLOW work. Carter is a great talent too, but such unsurprising and not-so-appropriate casting. Streep would have challenged Burton, giving the friction sparks to make things more interesting. Carter definitely is better for the Beggar Woman. It looks like I only win with Christopher Lee.

I would have preferred a director who already has experience directing a musical (I'm not counting CORPSE BRIDE) and has a real grasp of how to use musical montage, operatic styling, and grim thematic content. Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma are two guys who really could have made intense and fascinating TODDs.

Cutting "Epiphany" from TODD is about as intelligent as cutting the "I shoulda been a contender" monologue from ON THE WATERFRONT. It's probably not the only number they will cut. Sigh. A proper SWEENEY really needs to be long, with an old-school Hollywood intermission in the middle. Maybe they could film it all, and keep the uncut musical for the eventual extended DVD version? There are certainly enough musical lovers in the world to make that profitable.

*To keep from totally bashing Burton, I will say that I really liked PEE-WEE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, much of CORPSE BRIDE, and bits and pieces from some of his other films.

I've been out sick for two days, and I was at home wondering if Helena will make pies with her hands and play the harmonium with her feet!

She is a superb actress, even if she has no appreciable neck, and I look forward to seeing what she brings to the role. This is going to be a much more sexy Sweeney, with the leads both being in their forties, and Bonham-Carter, pun intended, quite a dish!

"Hey! Hoy! Sailor boy! Want it snugly harbored? Open me gate, but dock it straight, I see it lists to starboard."

I've had no real need for a sexy SWEENEY; I'd just like a SWEENEY that bears some resemblance to the Sondheim SWEENEY. Why couldn't Burton be enamored with Streep or Toni Collette, if that's how he casts all his films?

Feel better, Bob.

Yes, Toni Collette was in my prayers for the last week. She can do anything.

Variety has confirmed the casting of Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli in the SWEENEY TODD film. It's "a couple of weeks work" for the actor, Variety says. Once you've been Borat, Sondheim's a breeze.

I had been stumping for Alan Rickman, and he's going to be Judge Turpin! I would guess his vocals would be cut down to "Pretty Women." Ain't no way they're gonna include his masturbatory "Johanna," and I fear that one of my favorite pieces in which Turpin sings, "Ladies in Their Sensitivities," may also face the axe.

SWEENEY TODD begins filming in London

The Gentleman Ghost??? Anyone have a clue who that is? I figured Lee for the Asylum Doctor. Check the above link for some impressive names in the crew.

I LOVE Timothy Spall as The Beadle! He did his own singing in the long but rewarding Topsy Turvy. I hope we get to see him as Alfred Hitchcock some day, either on stage or on screen.

Well, here's his chance: Ryan Murphy Tabbed For Hitchcock Flick, though I think I still prefer my choice of Ian McNeice (who'd, amazingly, have to drop some pounds).

I've read that Anthony Hopkins is the Hitchcock-of-choice for Murphy. Star name, you know.

But Hopkins, by his own admission, HAS NO BUTT!

Holy...! All this talk of Hitchcock projects I'd never heard about before has major thread-derailment potential, especially given that we're talking about my hands-down favorite filmmaker. FYI for those who haven't bothered to click the link yet, there's discussion there of another Hitch movie also in development.

I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Hopkins as Hitchcock, even though inadequate glutinage can certainly be fixed with prosthetics. I used to count him as one of my favorite actors, in his post-SILENCE glory days, but he seems to have been treading water for a looong time now, and he's now a lazy go-to guy for eccentric old guy and/or English old guy roles. Plus he carries a lot of baggage, as a "star name," that could get in the way of his convincingly incarnating a figure who's so iconic in his own right. Spall seems like he'd be a good choice.

Oh, yeah. Baited breath.

As for SWEENEY... eh, I'm less and less excited about this as it goes on. All this talk of cut numbers just depresses me, and I like all those performers but doubt the singing abilities of most of them. Lee seems such a no-brainer as the Judge that I'm still surprised he didn't get that part.

Didn't Depp sing in CRY BABY?

Nah, he lip-synched. At any rate, everybody auditioned for Sondheim and supposedly passed muster, so...

And hey, pitch-correction's da bomb!

The "Gentleman Ghost" sounds like another add-on to shoehorn Lee into the story, like Willy Wonka's disapproving father.

I'd hate for the first feature film version of a Sondheim show since A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC 30 years ago to be a dud, but I'm not real encouraged.

I forget what it was we saw him in very recently - some police procedural, probably - but McNeice seemed to have halved his previous size. Maybe he read your post. Or he's been on the John Rhys-Davies Diet.

Hey, Jeff, I'm counting on pitch-correction to make this film work! I'm very excited, still, because I know that, unlike the film of Rent, this one has a director with passion for the property and its look.

Also, that unfortunate Night Music should have been given to another director. Hal Prince is a theatre god, but Vincente Minnelli he ain't.

Maybe a "Gentleman Ghost" is one of Sweeney's former victims: "He shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again..."

I think I lost a lot of respect for Hopkins when he agreed to play Nixon. I mean, WHAT was he thinking of? $$$$$$?

ADDENDUM! According to a poster on All That Chat, the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is sung by ghosts, since the movie opens in a graveyard.

Well, then he's perfect!

Okay, now the casting makes sense. Lee is probably the lead singer of the chorus that keeps popping up like part of a ghoulish Victorian version of Greek tragedy, intoning "He trod the path that few have trod...did Sweeney Todd...the Demon Barber Of Fleet Street!" His voice is perfect for it, and since the chorus is singing to the audience, we might get Lee looking right at us sitting in the dark. Sweet.

I still say give him the Asylum Doc as well. Lee is so good with different voices, just slap a wig and some make-up on him.