Have we all heard about the movie version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd? Hmmm? Well, here's a linksy. [www.imdb.com] I'm waiting for a trailer... any time now....

Yes! I heard about this a while ago, and I am so excited! Directed by Tim Burton, and starring Kitten's favorite!

I have a slow connection- what is it aboot?
I have never heard of Sweeney

Barbershop with mad barber.
Pie Shop Next Door.
Both businesses making a killing.

The expression "Sweeney Todd" was subsequently used as rhyming slang for the police "Flying Squad".

Our local barber shop is called "Sweeny Todd's" I always wondered why they do so well.

Here ya go Evil! [en.wikipedia.org]

I'm torn on this one - the story is ghoulish, it's directed by Mr. Burton and has Mr. Depp - should be my dream movie. BUT I've heard the score of this monstrosity before and it's truly awful.....like listening to a bag of cats. Maybe I can watch a subtitled version?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2007 08:57AM by xmorpheus.

I'm not a fan of Sondheim, either, but I think I might go see this one just because I've never seen it. Plus, 5 dollars to see something like this (AMC weekends before 12 rocks!) is infinitly better that $100.

It's definitely not your typical musical score... I guess I'm used to it, I've had to listen to 20th century music as part of my degree. Some of it is a bit tough on the ears, but if you've listened to lots of atonal and 12 tone stuff, Sondheim sounds like Rogers and Hammerstein in comparison.

I'm just hoping that Sacha Cohen can sing....

Allow me to assist you in any Sondheim phobia you may have.

Listen to this before you go see the movie, and you will have no problems with any of the weirder music.

(Warning, Schoenberg has been known to frighten small children, and belongs on a Halloween soundtrack)

[music.barnesandnoble.com]

*shudder* I had to study a bit of Schoenberg in a music appreciation class last year. I'm sure he has merits, but gosh that stuff is hard on the ears.

I'm madly in love with Sondheim, however--yes, much of his music is atonal, but once in a while he produces a wonderful melody, and his lyrics are always top-notch.

The wikipedia article (see the link provided by Kitten) is interesting but it doesn't have the space for the wider modern context of the Sweeney story.

It (and Sawney Bean) fits into the same category of eating human flesh as many folk legends (Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Red Riding Hood's wolf) by an outsider figure. Jasper has tapped into this nicely with the (related) dismemberment theme using the Gingerbread Man and Willy Winky.

Sweeney has also entered the realm of Fortean studies with attempts to back-trace it to an earlier 'factual' person and, subsequently, many people believing the story to be true, or at least based on an historical figure. One wonders why a fairly bland 'horror' story triggers such a popular response; much in the same way that a small time serial killer (presuming that there was only one murderer) at the turn of the last century is immediately recognised by most people whenever one mentions the "Ripper".

Perhaps it is the dehumanisation of the killings that are maccabre enough to find a niche in the race memory: Jack's autopsical splashfest and Sweeney's human-as-pie. Dismemberment - and subsequent gourmandising - of other humans may be something of which, as a species, we have a dim recollection which is triggered by the stories.

Damn, now I've salivated on the keyboard.

gourmandising....I can honestly say that that's the first time I've read that word.

There's this website that I went to after I had first heard some of the Sweeney Todd musical and wanted to read up on the story. It references some texts which are apparently of dubious credulity, so you can't take it entirely seriously, but it is a good yarn.

[www.crimelibrary.com]

I just enjoy gothic musicals. There's not too many out there.

Edit: In case there's anyone like me who happens to get into a random mood where they just want to creep themselves out, the rest of that website is something to look into. It's a @#$%& alternative to renting bad horror films.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2007 05:20AM by Tari.

Thomas Beecham (who was, in my opinion, an ar*ehole), but who was a good conductor, was once asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen.

His reply was: "No, but I once stepped in some.'

Well I didn't study music other than the usual piano lessons etc. But I just have a problem with something that's not pleasant to listen to. I fail to see the point.

But hey, that's just me - as long as someone likes it, then that's grand. But I really don't think I can sit through a movie of it, no matter the wonders of the movie in general. Atonal makes my teeth itch.

Hmm, thanks for the link Seh, Sounds Grotesque!

Is it in a serious tone, this Depp/Burton version?
HEY! I think I know where I heard of this before!

THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN! Am I right?
You know,
The butcher character and his customers.

This is a local shop, we'll have no trouble here....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Well, Sweeney Todd is definitely not atonal. It's less accessible music because it's more dissonant, but not atonal in any sense. Of course, I had a different definitions of atonality before I had to study it. Now I have been enlightened. True atonality makes me want to throw rocks at the stereo; Sweeney Todd is pretty cool, even if it is dissonant, but hardly atonal.

Actually, that reminds me of something I read in a biography of Sondheim: When Sondheim was studying composition he wanted to learn how to use the twelve-note scale (the kind of thing Schoenberg used--basically, they take the twelve notes of the scale and put them in some arbitrary order, then reverse and invert it and twist it all about, and use combinations of these to produce "music") but his teacher refused to teach him about it, because he said that Sondheim hadn't exhausted all the possibilities of tonal music yet. So he never did study true atonality. (Tari, since you've apparently actually studied composition, feel free to correct anything I've just said.)

A local shop, for local people, there's nothing for *you* here...
That's the one, yes!

I like a bit of atonality in my music, but, I'm an art student.

Oh good!

What on earth is atonality in music?!