I saw Sweeney Todd in the theatre. The movie; I’ve never been so fortunate as to see it live. However, I was first introduced to it by my beloved junior high orchestra teacher, Mr. Meyer, and have loved it ever since. At the point the movie came out, I already owned the Angela Lansbury version on DVD.

So there I was, in the theatre, and the first thing that struck me was that something was missing. Specifically the song that held the whole thing together. It wasn’t even over the credits, beginning or end; the end credit music wasn’t even based on its theme, which I was certain it ought to have been. When I grumbled about it to people, the answer I was given was that it was too “stagey.”

Well, yes. It’s from a stage show. Specifically, it’s from a fairly operatic musical about a barber who kills people while shaving them and gives them to his landlady to be cut into meat pies. It’s pretty hard to make that not-stagey, and there are plenty of things that did make it into the movie that aren’t exactly cinematic.

It’s a criticism I dislike, honestly. Yes, all right, the stage and the screen are different venues, and movies got better once filmmakers stopped thinking about them as filmed plays. However, there are plenty of theatrical tricks that translate well to the stage, and there have been several movies that took theatrical approaches to film, though I’ll confess there’s been some mixed success there.

Okay, part of it is that I really like some stuff that’s stagey as hell. A lot of Sondheim, really; one of my favourite running bits in the stage show of Into the Woods is the fact that the cow is fake, complete with a handle in her back, and she’s actually picked up and carried offstage at one point. And in my opinion, the only way to get Sunday in the Park With George and Assassins right is to embrace the artificiality of the original setting.

Actually, several musicals have been made where the more theatrical aspect has been embraced at least in places. The first two that spring to mind are Chicago and Evita. Both live in a bit of a demi-world between reality and unreality, and I think that would work particularly well for Assassins. They hinted at it a bit in Sweeney Todd, but Tim Burton never quite committed. Really, they didn’t need to go full-on Chicago, with all the musical numbers happening in an alternate reality, but the way some of them do in Evita is close to what they ended up doing anyway, and that’s where the ballad could have gone.

I’m fairly passionate about musicals, you may notice. Honestly, I suspect that, if there were a market for big-budget movie musicals still, actual ticket prices of theatrical musicals might edge down some in expectation. At least, I hope; there are musicals I’ve never been able to see because I can’t afford $70 for just the ticket, never mind the miscellaneous expenses of getting to Seattle. And that’s assuming touring companies get there, not always a guarantee.

So, yes. Make movies of musicals, for preference starring people who can actually both sing and act, and embrace the stage. The audience will be there. I mean, I will if I can find a babysitter, anyway.