Sweeney Todd at Royal Festival Hall

[burntcopper]

Bryn Terfel (Sweeney), Daniel Evans (Tobias), Maria Friedman (Mrs Lovett), Daniel Boys (Anthony), Emma Williams (Johanna), Philip Quast (Judge Turpin)

alysscarlet? Sooooo worth the money.

Okay, first up? First time of seeing/hearing Sweeney Todd. And yes, you could've knocked me sideways with a feather over the fact that Pretty Women is from this musical. (no, it's nothing like the Roy Orbinson song) Bare stage due to being RFH, great sound except for the orchestra intruding occasionally on the lower/softer notes.

V. well acted - Maria Friedman especially as Mrs Lovett is hysterical, and Bryn Terfel? Gah. The man just looms. And this is from someone who was up in the gods. Now I have no idea how Johnny Depp's going to be able to pull it off, because now I have the image of Sweeney Todd being very, very physically imposing. Philip Quast is shorter and skinnier than him, and considering how big he is... (seriously. they hugged outside the stage door and there's a good few inches height and shoulders difference) Philip Quast doing his patrician with corrupt undertones best. Daniel Evans as Tobias is just... awww. :pats him on the head: And it doesn't help that when that boy shaves (last seen as George Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George, which he'll be taking to Broadway - andromakie, beg, buy or steal if it's the same production that started at the Chocolate Factory, it's worth it for the staging alone) he de-ages 20 years and looks 12. TWELVE, people. Emma Williams agrees with me. When he removed his hat during rehearsals, (shaved head too) the director didn't recognise him. 'Where's Daniel gone?' '...He's standing right next to you.'

Everyone really good, just a few notes on the people I'd not seen before :

Bryn Terfel? amazing voice, great actor, it's just... it makes it clear how different opera singing vs. musical singing is. His diction is ... not that brilliant, because it kept being sacrificed for the sound. Several moments where you realised you couldn't hear all the words, unlike with the others where you could hear every word, being musical actors. (opera vs. musicals further emphasized by me sitting next to opera-goers who in the interval said they kept missing bits because they're used to subtitles and thus don't listen all that carefully for actual words, just the sound)

Daniel Boys as Anthony? Oh, my. Amazing. Voice is just ... guh, great actor, great stage presence. Looks like there's a reason he wasn't given musical songs, or romantic musical songs on ADWD. On tv he was good, but live and actually acting he's stunning. You think he was great doing swing numbers? Nothing compared to musical. Though yeah, still kill to see him doing more swing or something like Guys and Dolls.

miniosiris? I have another Philip Quast signed program and photo with and you don't. thpppppbbbbt.

Comments

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

YayYayYay! Is it Saturday yet?

I've never seen Bryn Terfel live, so I'm looking forward to that. You're right, he must be bloody enormous if he's bigger than Philip. Interesting comment about the diction.

I can't wait to see Daniel Boys live. I always thought he was fantastic and I can't wait to see him in a musical.

Looks like you managed to find the stage door then. How long does the performance run?

BTW, are you thinking of coming to Legend 2008 in May or are your Robin of Sherwood days behind you?

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

performances are thursday to saturday - only four of 'em, which Bryn comments on about the technique/ how much stress he puts on his voice in the program. Not to mention something like three days rehearsal. Stage door is as you come in from waterloo. (Daniel Boys had apparently disappeared out of a different door with his agent fairly early)

...Honestly? I hadn't even thought about it, due to having dropped off the lists a few years ago. I'll have a look round.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

ooops, forgot - a few hours? didn't check since I had my phone turned off.

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I just wondered how long each performance ran. I know it's only 4 performances which is why I risked a matinee (assuming all the cast would still be there). :-)

Daniel Boys' agent is John Barrowman's manager/agent Gavin Barker. Glad he's taking an interest!

Legend 08 has only just been announced but I think they've updated the website at http://www.roslegend.co.uk/

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

:snicker: Emma Williams was a bit gobsmacked when we went 'oh, Gavin was here? Cool.' Apparently it's not normal to know the agents' name. We reassured her that we're very *polite* stalkers.

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

How can anyone not know Gavin, he's ubiquitous, lol!

Looking forward to the show this afternoon. I'm leaving early in case I have trouble getting there because of the Tour De France.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

I popped over from alysscarlet's LJ to read your review - I saw the show yesterday afternoon, and was curious to know whether Daniel really was as good as I thought (I don't have the best ear in the world), or whether I was just swayed by personal prejudice. I'm glad to hear I wasn't. I met him at the stage door, and he was adorable - and tiny!!

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

wow, really? I could see that he was smaller than Phillip Quast and Bryn Terfel, but then they're quite big men, so you expect everyone else to look smaller. And I could've sworn he looked like one of the bigger ones amongst the ADWD lot.

Hmm. Considering that Daniel Evans (Tobias) is also tiny, maybe this means that theatre people only come in two size - tiny and over 6'.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

I'm 5' 3", and neither Lee Mead (who I accosted in the street last time I was in town) nor Daniel were very much taller than I am - I would guess 5' 6" for Lee and 5' 5" for Daniel. Which probably means that even Lewis was only 5' 10" or so. My experience of TV actors has been that they're generally much smaller than you'd have thought, too. Maybe it's something to do with the Napoleon complex.

[akadougal.livejournal.com]

Hello toots, just dropping past to say hello and to tell you I've recently become addicted to Bryn, so am well jealous. Not going to Galactica this year (boo!), unless you have really good tips for selling comics on ebay? Wendy

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

:sigh: can't go either due to moving shenanigans