A "Reimagined" Version of Sweeney Todd

And by "reimagined", apparently they mean they're going to do it badly.

So if you were jealous of my Sweeney Todd tickets at the Everyman Palace Theatre last night, sorry I wasted your emotions. (ABBA would be disappointed.) I mean, don't get me wrong, it had some good parts. But let's just say it's a good thing they rehearsed "A Little Priest" (the last number of the first act) so much because I thought about leaving during intermission.

Alright, I'm being a little harsh. Turns out the production was done by the Cork Operatic Society, which means the singing was great. There was also a 30-piece orchestra playing the score, which was also really cool to see. However, they should have advertised it as a musical review of the songs from Sweeney Todd, because then they could have gotten away with the complete lack of acting. Cara O'Sullivan was a guest star, and while her voice was incredible, she was very much out of place. While the other actors were at least trying to seriously play their parts, she seemed to be making a mockery of the role she was playing. They put her in a costume that was absolutely out of the style of everyone else's, and she totally hammed it up. I was annoyed. I found out afterward that she is one of Cork's favorite local singers, which made a little more sense as to why everyone else in the audience loved it. I understand why she's one of their singing pride-and-joys, because like I said before, her voice is incredible. But honey, you can't use your voice as a crutch when it comes to musical theatre. Anyway, Sweeney Todd himself was pretty entertaining, but only because he played his role as the most epic part that ever existed. Anthony tried really hard to do an English accent, but failed. The only redeeming parts in the cast were Mrs. Lovett who was fantastic (but a great actor can only do so much without anything to play off of). The girl who played Joanna had the most incredible, effortless voice, but they had her in an outrageously fake blonde wig when she was obviously very brunette. And lastly, one of the very minor ensemble characters was so committed that I ended up watching him the whole time.

The bottom line was the set was lame, the makeup was WAAAY too heavy (if you're going to give someone sunken eyes, at least stay in their natural eye socket - I'm pretty sure there aren't any raccoons written into the book for Sweeney Todd) and the costumes were not great (Tom Bernard would have cried), the acting was forced, the theatre staff was unprofessional, the orchestra members got up and walked around the auditorium at the interval. Basically, it seemed like they tried to put on a show with as little money and effort as possible and thought no one would notice. I did. There were times I wanted my money back.

However, the singing was impressive. And I can say I've seen Sweeney Todd.

Sort of.

Whatever, I'm going to the Cork Butter Museum. And then the airport. And then London. And then Austria! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE ASTRID AND THE VENNINGDORFS!!!! It feels a little like going home. :)