Put in the theatre section, but of course watched on video

I thought I may have been being a little dangerous watching this so close to the new one being released, but I figured I’ve given it a good month in advance to give me time to “forget” it; and I felt slightly duty-bound to watch it first, even if it did make the new one pale slightly.

I needn’t have worried. Compared to the other filmed-for-TV Sondheim musicals I’ve seen (“Into the Woods”, “Sunday in the Park”, “Passion”), this has surprisingly large room for improvement. Though I’d looked forward to seeing a dressed version of the show with such a great cast, I’d honestly recommend the later concert version (in which George Hearn reprised the role of Sweeney with Patti LuPone as Mrs Lovett) more, let alone the live touring version I saw a few years ago (if that was good, I’m sure any version that comes by you will be fine; heck, the Kevin Smith directed portion in Jersey Girl with a 9-year-old girl as Mrs. Lovett was a thrill, lol, can we say unbreakable show?)

Really, I think once Tim Burton’s version is released, this one will really fade away. Hearn and Lansbury are a fine pairing as Todd and Lovett … but Lansbury’s work on the Original Broadway Cast recording is in my opinion much stronger, and like I said, Hearn in the later concert version; leaving the only reason to get hold of this recording that it is (at present) the only way to see a full, dressed production of the show in the comfort of your own home. I don’t know yet if Burton’s version will be as overwhelming a masterpiece as I expect it to be … but it would be a shock if it doesn’t at least blow this recording out of the water. That said, of course, the show here is as powerful as ever. The ending never fails to shake me, almost as if I never see it all coming. So much is held for the last precious moments and it just all comes crashing down at once. I really can’t wait to see how that is dealt with in the new movie – most particularly on Johnny Depp’s part.

[note: (sadly) merely watched on DVD but I couldn’t think what section to put it in]

This could be the most concise review I ever write, lol: simply, in the words of the show itself,

“What the f*ck, what the f*ck,
What the f*cking f*cking f*ck!?”

Okay, no I’ll elaborate. While this musical isn’t as great in the music and message departments as I’d both like to see and expected to see, it still achieves a powerful result by being, simply, the mindf*cking equivalent of watching the entire canon of “The Jerry Springer Show” (and any number of its imitators, and the ads that air with them … let’s just cut it short and say, all cultural horrors) condensed into a 2 hour period. What the show does best is illustrate the mixed messages mass culture sends people.

“The one thing that sickens me is violence. Unless it’s on TV, in a controlled environment.”

David Soul is fantastic, I’d even say a revelation, as Jerry; I can’t imagine anyone else but Springer himself in the role.

The lyrics aren’t exactly sophisticated – eg,

“Mama gave me smack on the asshole,
Mama gave me smack on the head,
But mama gave me smack with a monkey wrench,
And now I am dead.”

Yet somehow, perhaps like the show it’s based on (yes I confess, I’ve been known to watch it – it’s a been a few years though – in fact, I have to confess, it has sort of played a major role in my life at one time), it’s hard to take your eyes off. This show is insane, obscene, profane, and all those lovely bad things, but most of all it’s overwhelming.

There will be those who get nothing out of this show and there’ll be those that are outright offended by it but I don’t think it’s actually offensive at all. It’s too crazy to offend any thinking individual. So Jesus and the Devil face off and use c and f words, God eventually show up, the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross; but really, would any of this be so out of place on the actual show? As is stated in the surreal second act, it’s merely doing “the mirror thing”.

“Energy is pure delight,
Nothing is wrong and nothing is right
In conclusion, f*ck you … f*ck you all!”

Ultimately, this isn’t particularly groundbreaking or great in any way. But it’s one of those things that, once you see it, you realise, it had to be done eventually, ‘cos it makes so much sense. It’s more a time capsule than a work of art, and ignoring any significance it may or may not have, I found myself laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes at least twice, so bottom line – it’s worth checking out.

“Accidentally shot by a man in a diaper trying to shoot a member of the Ku Klux Klan – not exactly the epitaph I was hoping for – but maybe it’ll look good in Latin.”

I feel kinda lucky to have been given the opportunity to see this – it’s a production of Joseph Heller’s play by the Oxford University Drama Group that’s headed for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. My stepdad works in the Yorkshire Air Museum and they wanted to “try it out” somewhere before the real production: they couldn’t have picked a better location, a big ol’ air hangar full of wartime aircraft.

I have no idea how they’re going to stage it in Edinburgh, but I’ve gotta say, this setting, and the very cosy audience seating (there can’t have been many more than 50 people there, and we were in three blocks forming a semi-circle round the ‘stage’, with the actors entering from all angles) was something special. This play thrives on chaos and this whole seating arrangement really puts you in the thick of it.

The cast is around 10-strong but pretty much everyone plays a number of different characters. Again, this adds a lot to the chaotic nature of the play. Someone will die onstage only to come back on as another character – then that character suddenly “dies”, or like, everyone thinks he’s dead, only he’s not … uh, it’s hard to explain, but I just love the chaos. I had issues with the disjointed nature of the movie version of Catch-22, but as a play it makes so much more sense. When people are juggling this stuff live right in front of you, you can really appreciate more the complexity of the back-and-forth catch-22 dialogues.

The actors were all great, I mean it’s a testiment to the whole production that even though the audience was small, it never felt at all uncomfortable, people were laughing all the way through.

Like I said, I don’t know how they’re gonna stage this in Edinburgh. I think it’ll work just as well anywhere since the play has so many great lines, it’s very funny stuff. I really don’t think they could beat this air hangar setting though, it was a pretty awesome thing to witness. I’m not a play person in general, I’d always choose an overblown musical extravaganza over a pure theatrical talky drama type deal, but it’s always great to get swept away by an unexpected staging, and this thing really worked for me.