The View From Kalamazoo

Alas, it appears from the soundtrack listing for Sweeney Todd that Johanna (Mea Culpa) (see it at the end, after Pirelli) has been cut out of the movie.

I think it’s one of the most powerful pieces in the musical, but seems often to be left out by productions…a shame, because the parallel of Turpin’s full-on decent into dementia to Todd’s with his Epiphany is masterful Sondheim. Dark, disturbing, demented…delightful. Judex ergo cum sedebit, quidquid latet apparebit: nil inultum remanebit.

(And I have to admit that I’ve rather wondered how Burton would handle the judge scourging himself to orgasm, since he wouldn’t have to stick to the staging as shown in the above clip and in the Barcelona performance, as well. O curiosity!)