Sweeney Todd

Saw a production of Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre last night. J. got some last-minute tickets at a discount. There was a part of me that expected to hate it for the simple reason that it is a musical, but only a part, because I had seen it on Broadway many years ago, must have been 1989 or thereabouts, and I recall having liked it, although I remember no details aside from the general premise of the famously macabre story. Well, last night I did not completely hate it. To be sure, the "musicalness" of it grated on my nerves - the hokey love songs and the overwrought, hyper-theatrical singing style that instantly screams "Broadway" and makes me want to plug my ears. But there were a few redeeming qualities as well - seriously creepy set and costumes, generally solid vocals (with the exception of Anthony and, on some songs, Johanna, whose love story side-plot was kind of pointless anyway) and Sondheim's score that was surprisingly modern and dark, especially on the theme song (reprised throughout the show).

Above all, however, the reason Sweeney Todd works is because it has a hefty dose of tragedy. Todd is a tragic character, and the ending is only somewhat happy, in that the bad guy gets it, but so does everyone else. Only the young lovers - largely irrelevant as I pointed out - live. The thing basically ends in a blood bath. Great art, and even decent art, must reflect either the emotional state of an individual, or some essential aspect of the human condition, on a deep level, and to do that, it must contain a great deal of tragedy, for it is tragedy, more than anything else, that defines our essence and our interactions with one another. That is why most musicals miss the mark by a mile, and why Sweeney Todd gets closer than most despite staying largely true to form.