Note: this is not a review. Critics have been asked not to write a review until the film's opening date on December 21. Just putting that express disclaimer out there...
I learned on Friday afternoon that a special advance screening of SWEENEY TODD meant for the Broadway community (theater journalists, producers, press agents, actors, writers, ect) was being held on Sunday night. Why was I not invited beforehand? Who knows. It's an ongoing problem that will hopefully phase itself out as I become more well-known as a theater critic and as part of the theater community. Anyhow, I made a few phone calls, made some emails, and was luckily able to get a single ticket into the screening by the end of the day.
Stephen Sondheim, who was apparently the "host" of this screening at the E-Walk Regal Cinemas on 42nd Street, came out to greet us before the film, wearing his trademark oversized sweater. Sondheim urged us to accept the film on its own terms - to consider not a film adaptation of the Broadway musical, but a film BASED on the musical. He then introduced two more unexpected guests: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, both of whom gave only a wave.
Then the film started. As I described earlier, I can't write a review. But let's just go over some visual impressions. That's kosher, right? You might find those reading a feature article about the film, or merely watching the preview trailer.
Expects lots and lots of blood. I mean, the implications of seeing a SWEENEY film became suddenly clear: we now know what it's really like to see a man's throat get cut. A red paste is not merely shed onto his threat, as in the original Broadway production. Nor is blood poured into a bucket, as in the minimalist John Doyle revival. No, blood comes gushing out. We now know what Mrs. Lovett might look like as she burns inside the oven. And the barber shop customers, upon getting killed, don't go feet first down Sweeney's special chair to the bake house; they go face first. We get to watch as their heads smash into the hard floor. During "Little Priest," we see Todd and Lovett look out the window and see a fop, a priest and lawyer to inspire their lyrics.
This has been quite a weekend for theatergoing: CYMBELINE at Lincoln Center, Andrea Marcovicci's Rodgers and Hart show at the Oak Room, FIGARO at the Metropolitan Opera, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION on Broadway, and finally SWEENEY.