Trip to see Sweeney Todd

So I drove up to Pittsburgh yesterday for my (semi-psychotic) trip to see the 2005 traveling Broadway version of Sweeny Todd. I am very glad that I went because the show itself was fantastic and I had a great seat. I stayed at a hotel about 3 blocks away making it easy walking distance. I didn't really do anything aside from drive up to Pittsburgh (approx. 4 hours), find the place the show was playing, pick up my ticket, find a hotel, get settled and change for the show, and then go to the show.

I listened to the 7th book of Harry Potter on tape for my drive (which was fantastic! I now have about 13 hours left... ok that's a lot haha - the whole thing is about 21 hours long!). Listening to the tape is great because you can really really picture what is going on, it is almost like watching an epic movie. The narrator is wonderful, I had heard great things, but now I have seen (or heard I suppose is a better word) the light.

The show was great. I already knew what to expect in terms of the production. The 2005 revival is special because all the characters play the orchestral instruments on stage (meaning none of them leave the stage and there is no orchestra or chorus since the characters sing that as well). I think all in all there were about 9 people... Fogg being the only one who only had a tiny speaking role and spent the rest of the time playing the stand up base. Anthony and Johanna played the Cello, Tobi played the violin, Pirelli (played by a woman) played the acordian, The Beadle played the piano (primarily), The Judge played the trumpet, the beggar woman played the clarinet (primarily), Mrs. Lovett played the bells and the tuba, and Sweeney played the trumpet and the bells. This means that the sound is not nearly as loud and bombastic as the original staging (which is a little disappointing since I do love the spectacle) and on the whole the production is mostly about the music and the songs (there were no set changes, very few props, and perhaps the only slightly disappointing part, no chute/oven). But all in all the show was great, and the cast was truly excellent. I would adore to see the original version of the show as well someday, with the huge chorus, full production and gigantic orchestra, since in the end that is more my style. But on the whole it was a really good show. Some of the people in the traveling cast were from the 2005 revival, and the woman who played Mrs. Lovett had actually done it on Broadway opposite the original Sweeney! Needless to say, she was most excellent and had a fantastic voice for the part. They kind of skipped over doing the accents, but I don't really care about that. The only thing close to a complaint I might have had was that it wasn't louder... I've grown accustomed to Sweeney blasting out my ears... but I think that's really just an extremely minor thing haha, since it wasn't like they were doing anything wrong. It was really a top notch production.

Pittsburgh on the other hand is an absolutely horrible place. I can't imagine living there, it seems awful. I'm sure there are good parts outside of where I was (downtown) but it certainly didn't seem like there was much. Thank goodness I didn't end up teaching in a city like that, it would be unbearable. Even the people seemed a little strange and backwards. Gross gross city.

Ok now I have to get to grading, I promised all of my students full progress reports, and some of them really need to see them in order to be shocked into doing more work by seeing how bad their grades are already.