Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Posted by Horror Grinder on December 21, 2007

Review by Jeffery J. Timbrell

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is like the Titus Andronicus of Musicals.

Fans of Greek Tragedies tend to either love or hate Titus, because it is an excessive experiment in lunacy that spends most of its time parodying and ripping the guts out of the genre.

Fans of musicals either love or hate Sweeney Todd for similar reasons.

Most of the time, musicals are sort of like a genre of storytelling dedicated to MEATLOAF music. They’re stories told by melodramatic songs that usually have titles that sound like expressions on Hallmark cards. In a musical every single emotion or achievement is raised to epic or preposterous levels, as Joss Whedon demonstrated in his musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a character coming out of a dry-cleaners joyfully dancing down the street declaring “THEY GOT THE MUSTARD OUT.” So yeah, if you love Meatloaf, if you can’t get enough Meatloaf, than musicals are probably a holy genre for you. If you hate Meatloaf, there is a good chance that a lot of musicals will have you running to stick your head in a chipper shredder to block out the noise.

Created by Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story, Gypsy) Sweeney Todd is like Satan’s musical. (more…)

Stabbed first by Fatally Yours