Attend the tale...

Sweeney Todd had its preview night last night, and everybodys mothers and sycophantic friends who got free tickets said it was a great show. I'm a little too close to it to offer an objective opinion, but there are a couple of things worth sharing:

• The chorus--especially the ladies--is tight. I've NEVER gotten the musical chills at a Theatre Memphis show before (and they've put on shows where by rights I should have), and there are no fewer than three places where I'm all like, "DAMN, what was that?"


• There are moments in the show that you may not have ever heard or seen before--particularly a moment at the end that both telegraphs the big plot twist and heightens the sense of tragedy; so even if an audience member's memorized both cast albums from the original production and the revival, they'll have a (slightly) different emotional experience here.


• It goes without saying, but if you've only seen the Tim Burton movie, you've never seen the show. I can't speak for everyone in the cast, but honestly I'd just as soon forget that the Burton movie ever existed--perhaps we could call it "non-canon" or something, like it was bad Sweeney Todd fanfic.


• I'm holding all of my long notes to the very end.

So, everyone buy a ticket to Memphis and come see.