“Sweeney Todd” Has Been Updated
The new “Sweeney Todd” production in Chichester, England, which is wending its way toward a 2012 engagement in London, won over many critics when it opened earlier this month. Not Matt Wolf, however, who says the show has been “defanged.” More alarming to me: the production, which stars Michael Ball (pictured) and Imelda Staunton, has been updated to the 20th Century. I look forward to a “Jetsons”-style adaptation, in which Mrs. Lovett sings not of “meat pies” but “meat pills.”
