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musicals, Sweeney Todd and Eli Stone
Feb. 14th, 2008 07:42 pmOk, so here's my beef with musicals - they contain singing and dancing. Which doesn't sound so bad at first, but considering that the musical numbers tend to drag on and on and on for hours, repeating the same handful of lines and notes until even the catchiest tune makes my ears bleed, it's more torture than entertainment.
Secondly, since the point of musicals is the singing and the dancing, the plots tend to be paper-thin and the characters one-dimensional. Which I find highly unsatisfying. I like to have something to sink my teeth into!
Which is why I was quite disappointed with Sweeney Todd - the only character with any kind of depth was Mrs. Lovett (and possibly Toby). All the others were cardboard cut-outs: cruel horndog judge, revenge-obsessed murderer, young romantic and beautiful virgin. Meh.
As for the plot, because the characters were so uninspiring, I couldn't be bothered to care about their fate. Not to mention that I found it very difficult to buy a lot of what was happening - the young lovers falling madly for each other after seeing each other once through a window? :eyeroll: Or Sweeney being affected by the death of his wife? As if! The only thing he cared about was killing the judge! He showed absolutely no interest in his daughter, so why should his wife be any different? What was particularly maddening, though, was that there was so much potential there - Sweeney's wife was horrified by what she suspected was going on. Wouldn't it have been great if she and Sweeney actually found each other and tried living together? Oh the beautiful conflict of her apparent virtue and his desire for revenge! How he'd have appreciated Mrs. Lovett then! Wouldn't that have been a thousand times more interesting than what we actually got? :sigh:
In more uplifting news, I have recently discovered the funniest TV show in recent years - Eli Stone. I started watching it because I love Johnny Lee Miller, and because I adore Couch Baron, who is recapping 'Eli' on TWOP. I had no idea the show would be so hilarious, though. Johnny turned out to be a genius when it comes to comedy - check out this reaction shot from the first ep if you don't believe me:
ROTFALMAO!
Secondly, since the point of musicals is the singing and the dancing, the plots tend to be paper-thin and the characters one-dimensional. Which I find highly unsatisfying. I like to have something to sink my teeth into!
Which is why I was quite disappointed with Sweeney Todd - the only character with any kind of depth was Mrs. Lovett (and possibly Toby). All the others were cardboard cut-outs: cruel horndog judge, revenge-obsessed murderer, young romantic and beautiful virgin. Meh.
As for the plot, because the characters were so uninspiring, I couldn't be bothered to care about their fate. Not to mention that I found it very difficult to buy a lot of what was happening - the young lovers falling madly for each other after seeing each other once through a window? :eyeroll: Or Sweeney being affected by the death of his wife? As if! The only thing he cared about was killing the judge! He showed absolutely no interest in his daughter, so why should his wife be any different? What was particularly maddening, though, was that there was so much potential there - Sweeney's wife was horrified by what she suspected was going on. Wouldn't it have been great if she and Sweeney actually found each other and tried living together? Oh the beautiful conflict of her apparent virtue and his desire for revenge! How he'd have appreciated Mrs. Lovett then! Wouldn't that have been a thousand times more interesting than what we actually got? :sigh:
In more uplifting news, I have recently discovered the funniest TV show in recent years - Eli Stone. I started watching it because I love Johnny Lee Miller, and because I adore Couch Baron, who is recapping 'Eli' on TWOP. I had no idea the show would be so hilarious, though. Johnny turned out to be a genius when it comes to comedy - check out this reaction shot from the first ep if you don't believe me:
ROTFALMAO!
