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How will "Sweeney Todd," with singing and dancing and throat slitting, play in Detroit?
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Sweeney Todd opens at Fisher March 17
How will the live musical "Sweeney Todd", or "Soylent Green, the Musical" as I like to call it, play in Detroit?
I always liked Charlton Heston, even after I discovered he was an arrogant, gun toting right-winger. And one of my favorite Heston movies was always "Soylent Green", the 1973 film classic (at least in my mind) where the surprise ending of the futuristic film was that the new food supply for the overpopulated planet was actually the elderly. Yum.
And I remember thinking: Someone should produce a musical about eating humans for profit. Perhaps Stephen Sondheim? Okay, maybe I never actually thought that, but it would have been cool if I had.
But, I digress. Stephen Sondheim's brilliant play, "Sweeney Todd" opens at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit on Tuesday, March 17th. Is the Detroit theater audience ready for blood, guts and gore on stage? Even if they're singing and dancing, slicing someone's throat is still slicing someone's throat. And if you've seen the movie version, will it be possible to see anyone else in the lead role other than Johnny Depp?
While watching the movie, I recall thinking how that 30 years ago or so the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" audience would be eating this up. Pun intended. They would put on little skits in the audience. Dress up in Sweeney costumes and throw muffins at the screen.
The big question now is, are there enough of these people around to come out to the Fisher for this show? In this bad economy, does anyone actually have $60 per person to buy a decent ticket? And since the Rocky Horror crowd is getting up there in age, are there any senior citizen discounts available.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this new Sondheim production is that there is no orchestra and the actors have to play whatever instruments are available to enhance the great score.
Honestly, I'm really looking forward to this. My grandma and grandpa would have loved it.
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