Oh my GOD Mrs. Lovett is INCREDIBLE! Her accent, her R rolls, just beautiful! I'm only halfway through Worst Pies in London, but she is absolutely one of the best I've ever heard, and I've heard so many it's in the double digits!!!
Thank you so much for this! It is my favourite version of the show, probably because it was the first I ever heard. I only wish I could have seen it on stage. I managed to record it from the radio, but my elderly cassette tapes are no longer playable.
Weak Johanna and Anthony, as always. Best were Chris Groenendaal and Sarah Rice and Betsy Joslyn (before she went all out of tune later in the tour) and also Lisa Vroman
The plot doesn't really allow for a strong Anthony and Joanna. Anthony, amidst all the gothic horror, seems unbelievably naive for a sailor who has "sailed the world and seen its wonders". And Joanna, despite shooting the asylum owner, rarely progresses beyond the stereotypical melodramatic soprano.
@@joshuakohlmann9731 All of the characters are archetypes in a way, the show takes the lead from its setting and the popular form of entertainment of the time. Victorian melodrama used overly simplified characterisation’s and Sondheim makes great use of the same technique. Anthony and Johanna are meant to be a foil to Lovett and Todd I think. None of the characters are straight-forwardly ‘good’ or ‘evil’, there’s a lot of nuance but there’s a broad strokes approach to the painting of the characters on a surface level. Anthony and Johanna still have an ark despite this imo,
@@wrendennehy2051i agree! i believe sondheim wrote anthony and johanna as a subversion of the romantic hero and the ingenue respectively. most people play these characters earnestly, but i believe anthony was intended to be played as a normal boy (if a bit naive) who becomes obsessed with johanna and is driven nearly mad by it, while johanna has been driven insane by her years of isolation and is desperate for escape, even desperate enough to manipulate anthony into thinking she loves him. betsy joslyn did an incredible job at playing johanna as a bit insane imo! someone once said that there are no sane characters in sweeney todd and while i think anthony and johanna are meant to give some hope to this otherwise bleak story, i think they are far from the exception to this rule
My favourite version of this show ever. This should be available as a recording.
Denis Quilley was an absolute gent, he bought the band a round of drinks every interval. Nice chap!
Love it! Thanks for posting !!
Oh my GOD Mrs. Lovett is INCREDIBLE! Her accent, her R rolls, just beautiful! I'm only halfway through Worst Pies in London, but she is absolutely one of the best I've ever heard, and I've heard so many it's in the double digits!!!
The legendary Julia McKenzie, my favourite Lovett- so authentic to the Victorian setting
Brilliant recording! Thanks v much for making this available :3
Oh thank you, thank you, I've been looking for this for years!
Thank you so much for this! It is my favourite version of the show, probably because it was the first I ever heard. I only wish I could have seen it on stage. I managed to record it from the radio, but my elderly cassette tapes are no longer playable.
LMAO the ensemble sings Tower of Bray and Sweet Polly Plunkett too 😂
I don't know why, but it scared the hell out of me when the chorus joined in with Polly Plunkett.
The Tobias, however, is wonderful.
Bruh why do Anthony and Johanna sound so terrible?
Weak Johanna and Anthony, as always. Best were Chris Groenendaal and Sarah Rice and Betsy Joslyn (before she went all out of tune later in the tour) and also Lisa Vroman
The plot doesn't really allow for a strong Anthony and Joanna. Anthony, amidst all the gothic horror, seems unbelievably naive for a sailor who has "sailed the world and seen its wonders". And Joanna, despite shooting the asylum owner, rarely progresses beyond the stereotypical melodramatic soprano.
@@joshuakohlmann9731 All of the characters are archetypes in a way, the show takes the lead from its setting and the popular form of entertainment of the time. Victorian melodrama used overly simplified characterisation’s and Sondheim makes great use of the same technique. Anthony and Johanna are meant to be a foil to Lovett and Todd I think. None of the characters are straight-forwardly ‘good’ or ‘evil’, there’s a lot of nuance but there’s a broad strokes approach to the painting of the characters on a surface level. Anthony and Johanna still have an ark despite this imo,
@@wrendennehy2051i agree! i believe sondheim wrote anthony and johanna as a subversion of the romantic hero and the ingenue respectively. most people play these characters earnestly, but i believe anthony was intended to be played as a normal boy (if a bit naive) who becomes obsessed with johanna and is driven nearly mad by it, while johanna has been driven insane by her years of isolation and is desperate for escape, even desperate enough to manipulate anthony into thinking she loves him. betsy joslyn did an incredible job at playing johanna as a bit insane imo! someone once said that there are no sane characters in sweeney todd and while i think anthony and johanna are meant to give some hope to this otherwise bleak story, i think they are far from the exception to this rule