- Audio CD (28 May 2007)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
- Label: RCA
- ASIN: B0009941IE
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 20,994 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Product details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd | |||
| 2. No Place Like London | |||
| 3. The Worst Pies In London | |||
| 4. Poor Thing | |||
| 5. My Friends | |||
| 6. The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd | |||
| 7. Gren Finch And Linnet Bird | |||
| 8. Ah, Miss | |||
| 9. Johanna | |||
| 10. Pirelli's Miracle Elixir | |||
See all 17 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Pretty Women | |||
| 2. Epiphany | |||
| 3. A Little Priest | |||
| 4. God, That's Good! | |||
| 5. Johanna | |||
| 6. By The Sea | |||
| 7. Not While I'm Around | |||
| 8. The Judge's Return | |||
| 9. The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd | |||
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Despite being known for her televised sleuthing these days, Angela Lansbury once managed to both spook and delight Broadway audiences as the maker of very particular delicacies in Victorian London. In this macabre extravaganza, Lansbury's Nellie Lovett is the accomplice of Len Cariou's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. After he slashes his victims, she turns them into her meat pies' main ingredient. For this most ghoulish of shows, Sondheim looked for inspiration in the way the music is used in horror and suspense movies, particularly in the soundtracks of Bernard Herrmann. The winner of nine Tony Awards in 1979, Sweeney Todd may not be Sondheim's most accessible score, but its operatic complexity (it is almost entirely sung-through) makes it darkly spellbinding. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Not your typical Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd marked Stephen Sondheim's transition from more traditional shows to larger, almost operatic enterprises. To my mind, it is Sondheim's most satisfying achievement. I saw Sweeney shortly after it opened on Broadway and it remains one of my most vivid theatrical memories. This double CD set goes a long way towards recreating that magic. The story of a wrongly-accused barber who returns to London in search of his beloved wife and daughter and, not finding them, turns to slitting his customers' throats and turning them into pies might not sound like the basis of an enjoyable experience. But Sweeney Todd has just the right combination of Victorian melodrama, high camp, low characters and very dark humour to draw anyone into its spell. And then there is the music. While not the sort of Rodgers & Hammerstein score in which every other song becomes a standard, there are still plenty of musical highlights - such as the comic "Worst Pies in London", the macabre "A Little Priest", the beguiling "Johanna", and the surprisingly tender "Not While I'm Around". The songs are all integral to the plot and this double CD set is a virtual recreation of the show. The performances are all excellent - a reminder that Angela Lansbury did some quite good things before she became a television sleuth. But towering above everyone is Len Cariou as Sweeney in a performance so magnificent that you wonder why he was never so good again. Maybe because he never did another Sondheim musical. And Sondheim is the real star here. Listen to Sweeney Todd by all means. But not alone - and certainly not in the dark!
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
"Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is closer to the operatic world of Verdi and Donezetti than it is to Rogers & Hammerstein or Lerner & Lowe, and there have been times when it has been performed in opera houses as well it should. This show is replete with arias and quintets, duets and chorus numbers. More than any other American "musical" I can think of, there are different characters singing different things at the same time, just what you would expect to find in an opera. Besides, like an opera, most of the main characters are dead by the time the curtain rings down.
This is Sondheim at his best, coming up with some of his most beautiful melodies in a show where the "hero" and "heroine" cut people's throats and bake them into pies. Consequently while you have "Not While I'm Around" sung by a poor boy to his surrogate mother and "Johanna" sung by young Anthony to his intended, you also have "My Friends" sung by Todd to his set of sharp razors. Sondheim has always delighted in such ironies. The highlight of the show/CD is the trio of numbers that ends Act I. From the sweet duet between Todd and the Judge ("Pretty Women"), to the savage intensity of Todd's "Epiphany", concluding with the ghastly humor of the Todd and Mrs. Lovett in "A Little Priest."
Angela Lansbury is a wicked delight as Mrs. Lovett, and a revelation to those who do not remember that she was always a strong performer in musical theater ("Mama," "Gypsy"). The appropriateness of her voice was driven home to me when I saw a road production of "Sweeney Todd" with June Havok (yes, the original Baby June, older sister of Gypsy Rose Lee) who had the great timing of the vaudeville stage but who sang everything about an octave lower than originally written. However, it is Len Cariou who steals the show. "Epiphany" is a dramatic tour de force made all the more wonderous by the fact that it is being sung. If only I could sing, this would be the role I would most want to perform and "Epiphany" the song I would most love to sing.
One of the joys of this 2-disc set is that it includes the song "Johanna" which was cut from the show, which has the Judge (Edmund Lyndeck) flagellating himself while sneaking a peak at his young ward through a keyhole. Similarly, the entire original version of "The Contest" is presented. Warning: in this production a steam whistle is used, primarily when Sweeney draws his razor across somebody's throat, in a particularly effective bit of stagecraft. If you listen to the opening song with the volume up too high, you are going to get blown away.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Although the amazon site includes the wrong sound samples above (they are from the LaPone revival), this item is indeed the original cast recording with Lansbury and Cariou. Even better, it's been remastered and includeds 2 bonus track not featured on the original (and much more expensive) RCA double disc. What a find!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stunning Show, great performance
Little to add to the other superlatives written here but 2; This is the complete show not the single disc highlights. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nick
Sweent Todd
Fantastic - the definitive and original CD version of Sweeny Todd. Love Jonny Depp and Alan Rickman, but you can't beat the original.
Published 5 months ago by Andi
Indeed genius
I had the pleasure of being in the pit for some youngsters performing this recently on the fringes of London. I think it should be on the curriculum wherever possible. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. A. G. Bungay
Musical Genius!
This now legendary recording of Stephen Sondheim's Muse, Angela Lansbury and the incredible Len Carior is a timeless classic. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. R. A. Williams
Amazing!
I wish I could have seen the premier production of this show. Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury are absolutely stunning. A perfectly cast show full of wit, dark humour and horror. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2009 by R. Morrison
GREAT RECORD OF A GREAT SHOW
I have seen many Sweeneys over the years from Alun Armstrong (wonderful actor, perhaps not the greatest singer) to Sir Tom Allen (excellent on both fronts but in an overblown... Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2006 by Klingsor Tristan
Antidote to 'Oliver!'
With this show, Sondheim nails the myth of a cosy Dickensian London flocking with endearing cockneys and benevolent toffs. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2003 by T. Swinton
Sondheim... A genius.
Sweeny Todd. The most famous barber of Fleet Street. Stephen Sondheim's work is always fantastic, and this is no exception. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2002 by "randomhajile"
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