God That's Good!

I went to see Sweeney Todd tonight, and...yubbah.

I don't go much for modern Broadway. I love the Tin Pan Alley stuff, the wellspring of so many standards. But brothers Gershwin, Deitz and Schwartz, Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, et al, they were one of those historical flukes. Every once in awhile, an assembly of greats stumble on that perfect combination of art and commercialism.

But these days, what do we have? Andrew Loyd What's-His-Name, who never wrote a musical I'd willingly sit through? Sondheim, well, I can't think of anything else he's done I'd bother with.

But Sweeney Todd is the real deal. I don't love all of the music in it, I could do without Johanna parts one through eighty or whatever it is. But the good stuff is so good.

Maybe it's because there really is a hole in the world like a great black pit filled with people filled with shit. Or maybe it's because the story is such a great illustration of the futility of revenge.

Sondheim, to his credit, has absolutely ripped off Shakespeare here. When in doubt, make sure pretty much everyone dies in the end. Make sure they don't get what they wanted while you're at it. And make sure their best efforts at making things right only make them the worse.

In other words, great art follows the rules of real life.

I haven't seen the musical live, but I saw the TV production of the Broadway production back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Thing is, someone getting his throat cut at a distance is a considerably different proposition than a cinematic closeup with the realism Tim Burton would bring you.

The film is visceral in every sense of the word. And when you know someone's going to get it, it still freaks you out. No way I could ever let someone shave me with an open blade. Even when they don't get it, when you know they won't, you can't see that blade on a neck and not feel it.

Or, come to that, the horrible meat pies (before they stumble on the magic ingredient of human flesh), the roaches crawling about and the mold on the pie and all that. Eewwww!

Which is to say it's a hard movie to watch sometimes, but very worth watching. It's intense but tasteful, like Mrs. Renfro's Habanero Salsa.

Leaving the theater, I was so amped I found myself speeding. I didn't realize I was at first, but I looked in my rearview on the highway and I saw rollers. Cherry Lights approaching fast. I look down and see my speedometer showing 82 or 83 mph and I figure I can add another $40 or whatever in fines to the nine bucks I just paid to be freaked out.

I wondered if maybe the cop would be sympathetic if I explained that I just saw a movie that had my adrenaline flowing big-time. And then, instead of getting behind me, he blew past me so fast his wake rocked my car. I still wasn't at ease, because the last time I intentionally sped, 16 years ago, that meant the guy in front of me was getting nailed by that cop, but another was coming for me. But no, this time it was just the one cop.

And I don't know where he was headed or why, but it was way further on I-35 than I was going, and the dude was in a hurry.

But anyway, you won't go wrong seeing Sweeney Todd. Might make you a vegetarian, but hey....