Attend The Movie of Sweeney Todd

First of all, this is not being written on my new computer, but more on that later. The big news is, I saw Sweeney Saturday night and not only did it not suck, it was superb. Finally, a movie musical that ranks back up there with Chicago. There is very very little to complain about and a lot to love. Seeing the entire thing from start to finish, the singing styles as seen in commercials and previews makes so much more sense. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are played as ghostly figures outside of real life, yearning for alternate realities in which they each can be back with the person they love. So, their breathy, missed note style of singing works wonders. Like the best movie versions of musicals (think Cabaret, the Sound of Music, and Chicago), Sweeney succeeds by not just replicating the stage show onto the screen, which was Evita's and Phantom's (and to a lesser extent Hairspray's) downfall. This is a movie that stands on its own. The story is similar, with some cuts (no flagellation scene, shorter versions of most of the songs, particularly those at the end of the stage show's first act and beginning of the second act), some expansion (a phenomenally menacing scene inside Judge Turpin's house between the Judge and Anthony, more courtroom scenes), and some rearranging (the second act Joanna comes before God That's Good). Most importantly, there's one long story arc carrying the story along instead of a first act arc and a second act arc, which works well when there's an intermission, but can really slow down a movie. Everyone is perfect for their roles, but Alan Rickman and Jamie Campbell Bower are the true standouts as Turpin and Anthony. Dante Ferretti's cinematography really muted Tim Burton's worst instincts and the movie is a visual treat. Mot importantly, the music sounds fabulous. Jonathan Tunick did a superb job with the orchestrations (how delightfully unusual for a Broadway pro to actually have the resposibility for orchestrating a Bway score for the movies), and Paul Gemignani's music direction was masterful (there, something about the Gemignani family and terrific productions of Sweeney). Unlike most splashy musicals, there are no group numbers here. There's no Welcome to the Sixties, no Cell Block Tango, no Do Re Mi, no America, no Mein Herr. All the songs are solos or duets, which for the mos part is in keeping with the original score, but all occurances of The Ballad of Sweeney Todd have been cut as well as the chorus in God That's Good. However, this allows the movie to feel much more intimate and emotionally impacting. I imagine this is the chamber musical feel that Sondheim had originally intended and it certainly works. Go see it, and often, it's an experience not to be forgotten.

Now, as I mentioned, this is not being written on my new computer, but it's not as big of a problem as it could be. There was still drama on Friday waiting for it to finally arrive. The UPS guy usually comes between 10 and noon, so when it didn't arrive by noon, I began obsessively checking the tracking. Then, around 3:30, my boss said we could leave, which is the first time in history I've ever not wanted to leave early. So, I gave the receptionist my cell phone number and ran some errands in the area, and finally, around 4:15, just as I was giving up and about ready to head home, I got the call that it arrived. I picked it up and rushed home. First off, the bag I got with this is so much better than the one I returned to Circuit City. I was then afraid to actually open the computer, but the screen was not cracked and there were no obvious defects. It started up and initialized fine and so far is running well. However, when I attempted to install the driver for my cell phone modem, it failed, so I cannot connect to the internet (it's been too disgusting all weekend to take it to Starbucks or Borders to try the wireless). I sent an email to T-Mobile customer support asking if there's an updated driver for Vista, abd hopefully I'll hear from them before the trip to NY, otherwise I'll have to lug the old piece of crap with me. Other than that though, it works fine, although I cannot figure out how to turn on the built in camera, and I'm a little concerned that the built in card reader doesn't show up under My Compute, but since I don't really ever use memory cards, I'm not too concerned about that and am hoping that if I do insert a card it will then show up, like a USB flash drive. So, that's about it. I'm heading home tomorrow afternoon and hopefully will get some good showtune CD'S on Tuesday from someone in my family willing to lie to themselves. Happy Holidays, I'll see you in New York.