It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I have been studying like mad for the LSAT (fingers crossed that it is doing me some good).
This past Thursday, October the 2nd, I went to see one of my favorite plays. Sweeney Todd is playing in Nashville right now!!
The basic premise of the play is that Sweeney Todd, a barber, sneaks back to his home land of London after being exiled for life over a trumped up charge that he was innocent of in the first place. Sweeney is trying to find his wife and daughter. Upset when he hears that his wife killed herself over being assaulted by the judge who sent Sweeney away, Sweeney lets his evil out. He starts slitting throats to gain his revenge. Mrs. Lovett is the patron of the meat pie shop under the apartment where Sweeney used to live with his wife and daughter. She recognizes Sweeney for who he truly is, but sees his return as an opportunity for a love connection. When Sweeney begins slitting throats, Mrs. Lovett has the idea to make Sweeney's barbarism beneficial to her business too. In the end, everything begins to crumble for the odd couple.
So, Sweeney Todd is playing at TPAC through the Nashville Repertory theater, from October 4th - October 25th. You need to go see it! In my (not even close to professional) opinion, this play was great. The actors' voices were not always right on pitch, but on the whole, they transported their audience right into London.
Matthew Carlton, who played Sweeney was just ok in my opinion. His voice was pretty good, but it just felt like he wasn't totally into it. I just wanted him to let go a bit. I mean, he is supposed to be playing a man who has totally lost everything good in his life, a man who has turned to gruesomely murdering people to make himself feel a bit better. I just didn't completely feel it from him. I thought Johnny Depp did a much better job with the overall desperate, murderous feel that Sweeney should have in the recent film version. I really wanted to just go ask Mr. Carton if he could just let a guttural growl loose. I feel like it would do him some good with filling this role.
He just looks evil doesn't he?
Mrs. Lovett, played by Martha Wilkinson truly stole the show. She was funny. She was a great singer. She was Mrs. Lovett. I believed that she loved Sweeney down to her toenails, and that she would do absolutely anything for him! She played her part so well. I mean, I wanted to be Mrs. Lovett by the time I walked out of the theater.
Judge me how you will…I've loved this play ever since I read it, and watched a film of the Broadway rendition with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in college. Think on that one for a minute…the same woman played Mrs. Lovett and Mrs. Potts.
Below are a few pictures of my trip to London in college. You know I had to track down fleet street!
Meredith was pretending like Sweeney got her.
This is Hen & Chicken Court (off Fleet St)
This is me being Cwindy Todd for halloween one year.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Go see it!
