Tags
Sweeney Todd at the Hippodrome last night. Musical or opera?
Maybe some debate as to whether this is pure musical or could be classed as somewhere between the two, but Sarah said it counts as opera and her opinion on music matters is definitely good enough for me. It was also performed by the Welsh National Opera so I’m counting it as an opera, albeit possibly opera-lite.
There was a mixture of Todd’s dark vengeance and madness and Mrs Lovett’s wonderful cockney comedy, with plenty of throat slitting and meat pies along the way. Also throw in the ancient Greek style chorus roaming the streets of London as lunatics from an asylum.
The WNO’s staging and performance was very good, though I would like to now go and see a more traditional opera and one that also has a happy ending which leaves less of a trail of blood across the stage.