The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Over the weekend, we took a road trip to the capitol to see my favorite musical, Sweeney Todd. It was a magical evening, in that we found the theatre without getting lost in the maze of one-way streets, and, upon leaving, we got to the freeway promptly, and avoided the construction area. By the way, the show was good, too.

It was my first experience with theatre-in-the-round, and being a traditionalist, I could see how much easier it could have been done on a proscenium-arch stage. However, because of the configuration of the venue, and even though we were in the penultimate row, we were quite close. Unlike the Johnny Depp film version, the performers could sing, and there was no blood. Come to think of it, most of the best musicals have been bloodless and melodic.

Earlier, in the afternoon, I had seen the John Travolta Hairspray on TV. Not my kind of music, and way too much dancing. It made the later Sweeney Todd the major palate cleansing of my life. Indeed, a magical evening.

ANOTHER "BY THE WAY:" The theatre was packed at $50+ per seat. What was that about a recession?