Sweeney Todd

Yesterday, I watched Sweeney Todd by Repertory Philippines. Yes, Sweeney Todd — The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!

The first part was a bit boring, I've been yawning the whole time (all through Act 1 I think) until Sweeney Todd started murdering people during Act 2, providing meat for Mrs. Lovett's meat pie shop (eeek! yes, human meat!) The rest kept me awake! The music made it better — the voices, the songs, the lyrics and the live orchestra. Filharmonika, conducted by Gerard Salonga, did really great.

While everyone praised the performance of Audie Gemora as Sweeney Todd, I was more impressed with the acting performance of Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Mrs. Lovett. I guess I'm always into witty and bitchy characters, while I compared Audie Gemora to Johnny Depp of the 2007 movie. haha! Don't get me wrong though, he was awesome, and among all characters, his voice was the best, he was just not as scary as I imagined! Generally, the musical's great, a 3-hour real musical thriller. It wasn't extremely bloody, but it was quite bloody and violent enough. not for kids! Like the movie, it made me want to skip beef patties (and empanada and the like) for the next few days. hehehe.

Sweeney Todd's my first non-kiddie live musical — first was Emperor's New Clothes, 2nd was Aladdin, both by Repertory Philippines too. Now that I've seen both genres, looks like I'll stick with their kiddie musicals, which are funny and interactive, definitely better for the whole family. (shorter and cheaper too. haha.)