Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street Deluxe - Complete Edition by Nonesuch

Product Description: Stephen Sondheim's Grand-Guignol blend of opera and musical theater is a perfect match for director Tim Burton's gothic sensibility. The result of their encounter is a superb screen musical that, despite early fears from the show's fans, preserves most of the score ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" being the most egregious loss) and, perhaps even more importantly, its spirit (regular Sondheim orchestrator Jonathan Tunick did the new arrangements). And yes, Johnny Depp can sing. Granted, singing in a movie is easier than it is onstage, but still, Depp is at ease with the material, if a little thin-voiced. Helena Bonham Carter is a bit more problematic as Mrs. Lovett (there's a reason this character has been played by the likes of Angela Lansbury and Patti LuPone on stage) and her take on "The Worst Pies in London" tries hard but lacks gleeful gusto (she fares better on "By the Sea"). More convincing are Sacha Baron Cohen, appropriately outlandish as Pirelli ("The Contest"), Jayne Wisener as Johanna ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"), and Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin (a good duet with Depp on "Pretty Women"). Sondheim fans won't be disappointed, and the film should also bring new converts into his world. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

5 stars a soundtrack by Sondheim, what more could you want?
Great set of songs sung by some great singers, not much more to say then that.

4 stars Absolutely breathtaking
I don't like blood or gore, but I absolutely ADORED this movie and music :-D And did I mention I'm not a Depp fan, either? He and Helena Bonham Carter were born for these roles. The music is clever, unique, unusual, and not really boring- these are the characteristics of a Sondheim musical :-P My husband and I fought over this CD for a couple of months Lol :-P Give this CD and movie half a chance :-D!!! I also LOOOOVED that they had the lyrics in the booklet, soooo awesome :-D!!!!! I had "The Worst Pies in London" down pat (with the rolling pin!) for a while there :-D

Sincerely,
Jessica R. (dorkyj2002)

1 stars ugly ugly sounds
all i can say about this is "worst singing ever"
the toilet flushing sounds better than this soundtrack

5 stars Try the priest!
My friends and I, on a whim, went and saw the movie and were completely surprised at how dark and at the same time how hilarious it truly was! We had to get the soundtrack and memorize the songs. The songs are funny and differ from up beat to mellow. Johnny Depp surprisingly has a really great singing voice.
The songs are a lot of fun to memorize and sing a long to while driving down the road or out in public with friends. Seriously, this is a great buy. I wanted it badly on CD.

In this version of the CD, all of the songs come with it. That means that a few of them, like the final song, aren't edited and fit with the movies format. This may not be what everyone wants but it's exactly what I wanted and what I prefer. I liked the songs in the movies format, and this one includes everything I wanted, including part of the talking scenes. Great buy!

5 stars Sensational, if abbreviated, rendition
The care that the Sondheim score receives here is truly remarkable. It's very rare for Hollywood to truncate such a huge (or any) score so successfully. Yes, much is missing. But what is left is the choicest of morsels. The cast is uniformly excellent, even if they're not professional singers. And the orchestrations are superb.

I had many doubts about this, but every single one was for nothing.

My only complaint is that much of the underscoring and the end-credits medley are left off this cd. It's all quite beautiful and deserves to be heard here.

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