I wouldn't be at all surprised if this ended up going straight into the Eugene O'Neil theatre. I wouldn't expect SWEENEY to play much more than September-October.
The announcement was made today by the show's New York producers, The Routh/Frankel/Viertel/Baruch Group, co-producers of Doyle's current Broadway production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
I have a feeling that it will go into the Belasco. The Eugene O'Neill would work out well, but I just have the feeling that it will go into the Belasco.
MARGARET: "Clara, stop that. That's illegal." - The Light in the Piazza
"I'm not in Bambi and I'm not blonde!" - Idina Menzel
wow! so freaken excited!!!! Oh and I highly doubt Sweeney Todd will close before the fall. Its doing great, just recouped and has at least a 9 to 12 month life in it!
So excited to see Raul without the flying car! Not that I didn't like the flying car...
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.~Office Space
First, congratulations to the cast, et al, because this production is absolutey glorious and as if he hasn't had it made already, this performance being on Broadway is going to make Raúl's career. He's a genius.
However (this is going to sound extremely backhanded and rain on the parade), while I'm happy -- because now more people will get to see this, and maybe Raúl will win the Tony -- I stand by what I've been saying since I flew out to Cincinnati, which is that transferring this show, unless they magically get Bee to vacate Circle in the Square, is going to be an enormous mistake and a disservice to many of the really wonderful attributes of this production.
Lets officially start the group prayer for a rush ticket policy.
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.~Office Space
I understand your thoughts Em, and I never thought that Doyle's SWEENEY would work outside of the thrust seating at the Trafalgar Studio (which is configured apparently the same as the Watermill where the show started) but it transferred fine to the Wyndam and to the Eugene O'Neil. It may have lost "something" in the move, but overall the concept still works.
Like SWEENEY, I bet there will be some changes made to the show (by Sondheim's request) for Broadway.
I don't argue about there being "lots of life" left in SWEENEY, but the show's musician/actor concept makes replacement casting a lot more difficult and truthfully I think the current cast/producers will be more than elated for the show to run even one solid year. Plus, I don't think the producers are going to risk wearing outthe welcome of Doyle's concept.
I don't know if this has been mentioned in another thread, but did Doyle make cuts to the script of COMPANY as he did with SWEENEY?
Well, for the record, several friends of mine saw Sweeney on the thrust stage in London, and then they saw it here, and still just shake their heads and go "it was better in London...." That doesn't mean it's bad, surely.
And, of course it's totally plausible for Company to be re-staged and to work out just fine, and still be quite good -- but people will probably still say "it was better in Cincy...." Which, whatever. This is clearly about the money.
I think that with Sweeney, it was a bit more difficult to have the change be a detriment, because IMO, a show like Company -- about a community and its outsider -- thrives on intimacy, which is going to get lost.
The only cut I could discern was Tick Tock, but that's been talked about a lot.
Well, yes I would say in many ways that SWEENEY isn't as special as it was in London - and partly that has to do with the space and partly it has to do with the raw energy of the show there - including the pitchy cast.
COMPANY actually has a bigger cast than SWEENEY so on that level it will at least fill out the space of a Broadway stage better (in terms of intimacy).
It will just be - different. Probably a few cast changes too, don't you think?
I think by cutting down the size of the stage space that's used in Sweeney on Broadway, they've done what they can to eliminate the "problem" presented by having a small cast. They've sort of built a smaller stage on the bigger one, if you will.
I guess some casting changes are probably inevitable, but casting was *already* kind of difficult, so maybe not as many as you'd think? We shall see....