Added: 4 years ago
From: AllanWo
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  • what is the students name?

  • God damn bro, do something with your eyes for fucks sake.

  • Johnny Depp watched this and took note im sure of it.

  • @abtr He totally does the whispered quality thing at the beginning

  • How it stops at the end, SS looks mental, no offense

  • "Um... Okay, so you did everything wrong in that last statement. You were great, though, Jacqui. Really perfect."

  • that guy sucks at acting

  • My God.

  • What an amazing Mrs. Lovett!!!!!!!

  • seriously...does that guy have ANY emotion!!!

  • "Make love to the razor" ... NO THANKS, BRAH.

  • He totally jizzed his pants @6:30 :)

  • Comment removed

  • I want Sondheim to be my best friend. :)

  • "Make love to the razor" ...ouch

  • That girl is incredibly entertaining. I'd love to see her playing Mrs. Lovett in an actual show.

  • im not a huge fan of this guy singing....hmmm

  • AllanWo, thank you - after hearing JOHNNY DEPP's voice in the movie I just cannot stand those singers - JOHNNY has the emotion that is needed, that is perfect !!!

  • @asderso while i agree with you, this singer has got a stronger voice, depp captures the emotion perfectly but his voice sounds a little weaker on the swelling parts such as the first 'my friends'

  • @StillLifeWithMangoes those trained singers lack that raw emotion DEPP transmits...

  • @asderso i know, thats what i was agreeing with. but you can't deny his voice is rather thinner and weaker at points.

  • @StillLifeWithMangoes, agreed - DEPP lacks professional voice training, whick supresses the emotion sometimes...

  • It's really just magical to see how much the performance improves in a short space of time.

  • These vids are priceless! I love watching him work with young talent. I wish I had him to push me out of myself at that age.

    And my father did a show with him. He's cray all right. Crazy like a fox.

  • These vids are priceless! I love watching him work with young talent. I wish I had him to push me out of myself at that age.

  • is it just me, or is it half the time sondheim looks like he's the one who is crazy!? but at the same time the look of pure pleasure from hearing the music, is definatly something i can relate to ^^

  • Mrs Lovett is really good at her part. She looks so desperate like the character should be.

  • He's such an insightful director. What an inspiration.

  • I keep staring at that huge vein popping out the left side of Sondheim's forehead.

  • Their operating space would annoy me, it seems very dull....

  • Isn't Guildhall meant to be a high brow acting school? Not trying to troll but the student seems a bit of a pleb...

  • @BWombat12 Agree, haha. This guy has no emotion, no passion, when he's talking to the razor he looks like an autistic person holding an object rather than a man holding his most epic tool of revenge.

  • Wow, this is awesome! I've never seen this before...sure explains a lot. Thanks!

  • wow that guy is a breadstick! there is no emotion, it's like he is going through the motions. ... god Sondhiem is a freaking genius!

  • @swissarmyremote This guy makes a breadstick look like Pacino at his craziest!!

  • What a genius. Sondheim always amazes me.

  • wtf? this guy can't act nor sing! it's terrible =/

  • they couldnt get a better sweeney?

  • I've never been more jealous of someone before. Just watching Sondheim teach this guy is awe-inspiring, it's incredible!

  • The girl is the daughter of Dame Cleo Lane (a renowned Sondheim interpreter) and Sir John Dankworth, and has a great career of her own—including playing Cinderella in the original London production of 'Into the Woods' by Mr. Sondheim.

  • that smirk that he has when he's talking about the lyric and the 's's in the music and UGH just, he's such a genius. It's so inspiring such to see Sondheim enjoying his lyric and music.

  • Nobody wearing a purple Izod sweater should ever be allowed to sing Sweeney Todd. Just sayin'.

  • @BillF1967 It's Lacoste. Just sayin'.

  • @BillF1967 Thats lacoste......but i get what youre saying.

  • UGGGHHH I WISH STEPHEN SONDHEIM WOULD HELP ME DEVELOP MY CHARACTER, THESE KIDS ARE SO LUCKYYYY.

  • I love Sondheim. I would absolutely love being directed by him. I mean, this guy, o's from being so blah in the beginning to pretty good at the end. Very difficult song to sing to.

  • Piano's not making it easy on that guy by constantly speeding up.

  • @AnimeIntroStyles4 said "Piano's not making it easy on that guy by constantly speeding up."

    actually that's how the piece goes

  • @sacredlunatic Yeah, but it's making him sing it worse. Be better for that guy if he were taking his time. That's what Sondheim keeps telling him too.

  • From 6:15, Mr. Sondheim is really in it. It's a joy to watch.

  • @3:54 : His face is priceless.

  • I'm always in awe when I watch these videos and hear Stephen Sondheim talking about music. The man truly is a genius and he has such passion for music. It's inspiring.

  • hes going too fast

  • HE KEEPS SPEEDING UP XD

  • screw the razor! i wanna make love to Sondheim!!!!!!!!

  • good voice. but fast tempo.

  • Exaggerate? He hasn't any emotion to exaggerate to begin with x_x

  • Sondheim= amazing. This other dude is high school grade.

  • Haaaaaaaaaahahahaha their London accents are shocking! I know it's hard, but they barely sound English, let alone from Fleet Street.

  • I would pay so much money to have a lesson from Stephen Sondheim.

    If I had any money.

  • I like how he ignores every piece of advice and just sings it the same way every time.

  • It's so great to watch Johnny Depp's version of the song after watching this. You can see Johnny Depp doing all the things Sondheim said.

  • elmer fudd as sweeney todd

  • One of the finest songs in what can only be called the penultimate show in American theatre---heck, in American LETTERS--our own King Lear.

  • "A whispered quality":

    Speak to me, friend--

    Whisper

    I'll listen

  • This man is a genius.

  • @Carlyndra You mean Sondheim, I hope?

  • @KissMeQuenley Oh, yes, of course! Ha ha, not so much the other guy XD

  • @Carlyndra Oh, what a relief, dear, for a minute there I thought you'd lost your marbles.

  • @Carlyndra The man in the purple is not

  • Oh how I wish I could've been there!!!! Stephen Sondheim is my idol!

  • Imagine how great Sondheim would be with more talented actors. He could have gone beyond the obvious. I LOVE watching SS's face when he's watching the singers. Can anyone link me to more Sodnheim master classes?

  • Imagine how great Sondheim would be with more talented actors. Can anyone link me to more Sodnheim master classes?

  • Imagine how great Sondheim would be with more talented actors. Can anyone link me to more Sodnheim master classes?

  • Wow, that guy isn't very good is he!

  • this guy.... doesnt.... act.... the girls good though

  • look @ between 3:54 and 4:00. its like sondheim is saying "wow- what a twit!" LOL!!! i hope that he's never sweeny. maybe he should try the disney channel or something

  • XD! I nearly died at "Make love to the razor." xD I mean it sounds wise but in the end you think of something REALLY wrong... :3

  • Although he was not the best, I would be extremely scared/nervous if I were performing in front of other people, an amazing actress, and a legend...especially a legend that wrote the work.

  • I've been spoiled to Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd adaptation. Nobody does this scene better than Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. <3

  • I hope this Brian guy never played the role on stage because he's a no-talent idiot. Here is Sondheim himself giving the actor all these wonderful and useful notes about the character and how to play him but it's like he wasn't even listening.

  • ...........the guy with the beard has no idea what he is talking about. he obviously doesnt know what Sweeney is all about. i doube he has even read the musical. lmao =D

  • @Wigevil Hi wigevil, the guy with the beard is the text writer and composer of the musical. So I think he knows really all about Sweeney. The quy with the beard is the famos Stephen Sondheim.

  • @RockPopPiano lol i was only joking. i love Sondheim. one of my favorite composers. Follies was awesome. lol

  • @Wigevil Something tells me he does have a slight idea of what he is talking about. After all, it's his creation. Oh, ignorance is bliss!

  • @buticut lol i was just kidding i love Sondheim. i knew it was him. sarcasm. i guess i couldnt express it through text lol

  • @Wigevil Oh...for a moment there I thought you lost your marbles.

  • This lesson was truly fascinating to watch! I have a greater appreciation for the talented individuals, who sing this beautiful song and even more appreciation for Stephen Sondheim! He is amazing!

  • Sondheim is amazing :D

  • I am assuming that Jacqui Dankforth is the daughter of Cleo Laine and John Dankforth, VERY musical parents!

  • sondheim makes the weirdest faces

  • It's absolutely amazing how much thought went into this song from the rhythm of the song in the beginning reflecting Todd's mental state to the number of s sounds in a a lyric all driving the line of the story. It's a master class in story telling.

  • oh my god, what must it feel like to sing this in front of the broadway god?

  • making love to a razor would hurt like fucking hell xD

  • At 4.50, Sondheim's face. Just a beautiful sight; an artist absorbed completely in his work. Great man.

  • i love how sondheim knows EXACTLY what he's doing!

    He puts the s's at the beginning on purpose and everything! I love that man.

  • "Make love to the razor!" - probably the most painful thing one could do. Sondheim is priceless. You've gotta love the man. Done wonders for musical theatre

  • These comments are so much harsher than Sondheim's constructive criticisms, hehe.

  • The girl in this video is absolutely FANTASTIC.

  • the guy has no feeling in this face. You cant sing a song if you dont mean it. In that point you have to BE Sweeney who lost everything except his knifes and they´re the only way to get revenge for him. He is craving for the judges Blood runing down his razzors. And if you sing a song like that you have to feel this emotion and express it. Not just in your singing. In your face, your voice, your movements and your whole body. Every muscle should move like you really mean it.

  • @RomanaRohden So true. The folks who think Susan Boyle is the end-all, be-all in musical theater should look at this video.

  • for the guy, his voice is great, but his acting is just plain, and bland. For the girl, her acting is wonderful, and shows the contrast, but her voice just.. doesnt sound right for me, so really it should be his voice ability with her acting, and her acting with his voice.

  • The girl is horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

  • The guy can sing, but he's passionless. He's boring.

  • What year was this filmed? Does anyone know? Sondheim looks much younger in this clip than he is currently so this couldn't have been recent.

  • It was about 1985

  • The young lady singing Mrs. Lovett's part's hair should have been the dead give away, I suppose. I thought it might be within that decade; but for all I knew, she was just making it big and wild for her part that day! haha

  • @AllanWo

    1984 for the South Bank Show.

  • @DustinHahnMusic I lol'd. Obviously 80 grainy video footage and the 80's clothes and hair kinda gave it away for me.

  • @djaj1990 I thought the young lady who was singing Mrs. Lovette's part might have been trying to get into character with her hair being the way it was. Also, people who pursue the arts as a career tend to be really poor and have clothes that reflect that... so I wasn't really sure.

  • @DustinHahnMusic never mind Sondheim - look at the studio and the other people in it! And their clothes! Jeez!

  • @rickyp2b You should chill.

  • The movie can in no way be compared to the actual musical! The movie is a sad attempt which was poorly done.

  • @JJBurgwin : That's a matter op opinion. I wouldn't call it poorly. Far from it.

  • These two are so lucky. They have one of the finest musical theatre teachers they could ever hope for.

  • I'm thinking about singing this song for a senior recital and this video is a real godsend. To hear exactly what the composer wants from his own mouth. How often do we get that opportunity?

  • I found that the woman did very well. She sang not so much unlike the girl in the movie.

    Ad the guy didn't do so bad. He coulda hadmore feeling, but his singing improved, and his eyes shined when they met the razor near the end.

  • The boy is not showing great acting skills, but he gets better at every suggestion. This is all about overcoming your own limitations. That's why Sondheim is pleased in the end. If the boy was George Hearn already, he wouldn't need to be at music school, would he?

  • "Don't be afraid of overacting" is quite an elegant way of saying "c'mon man, show some emotion, for God's sake"!

  • how lucky!!!!! they are..

  • She has an awful voice! He has no acting skills. Terrible performance.

  • "Make love to the razor." God I love Sondheim!

  • I wonder why he keeps saying "thats good..." when he's so awful. but if the actor had been good from the beginning, we would not have heared Sondheim's great tipps...

  • I like how the actor is so awful, he completely ignores Sondheim's notes. What a freagin idiot. He is being given amazing notes by the man who wrote it, and he doesn't care. This guy should go to hell for pride in his own skill as to ignore the playwright and master.

  • @bighappytallboy, yeah---but I bet it was terror rather than pride that froze him up.

  • He is pretty bad!

  • make love to the razor buy it dinner!! take it to a movie, feel the razor......oooooo razer love next on taboo!!!

  • :O I love all of Sonheim's comments... brilliant. I think the guy is a little bored though... YOU'VE GOT SONDHEIM RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, GET A BIT OF ENTHUSIAM!!! haha

  • The real marvel is how generous and efficient he is at communicating how to sing this song. My goodness what a privilege it would be to work with this master artist.

  • Masterful.

  • She clearly outperforms him, but he has a nice voice

  • "Make love to the razor."

  • I laughed sooo hard at that.... All I am gonna say is ouch

  • @ACherimoya ouch =X

  • this guy has a good voice, his acting is just so bland.

  • I agree, his eyes never narrow and his head only moves up, down, side-side and his body is essentially a tree stump.

    I'm sure the vast majority of this is nerves. Hell, if Stephen Sondheim was coaching me I'd be sweating bullets (and wanting his autograph so badly).

    I liked Sondheim's Henry V reference as a tool for that last line. In seeing George Hearn's interpretation of "AT LAST, MY ARM IS COMPLETE AGAIN!" I'd know to basically scream :P

    Lovett was AMAZING and the accompanist as well!

  • His voice is too, in comparison to the general standards for musical theater. He may be able to find a genre that fits his voice, it is well developed, but it just doesn't have that dramatic timbre that's so important in musicals.

  • @beatle925 This is a problem that many actors struggle with. Some are either too bland or too animated. Others are good actors who confuse subtlety with blandness or emotion with volume.

  • @beatle925 Actually, the singer SUCKS! Horrible, terrible. To work with Sondhiem, a crime.

  • you can just see Sondheim going OH MY GOD I WANT YOU TO SHUT UP in his head at the beginning...

  • Ugh give me that knife! This guy is SO wooden!

  • This guy rushes, and he is sharp every once in a while.

    BRB being a picky singer.

    Also, MAKE LOVE TO THE RAZOR!

  • 6:17 and 8:07 haha. Sondheim's expressions are so funny.

  • I just saw a semi-preffesional production of this, and they had Sarah Litzsinger come in from broadway as Mrs. Lovett, and she was FANTASTIC!!!! Much better than Helena Bonham Carter played the role. I really love Helena, but I didn't care for her performance in that.

  • "Dont be afraid of over-acting"

    I.E IF YOU DONT START ACTING IM GONNA KILL KILL J00

  • i thought he did a great job... i think Sondheim was really enjoying it because he was doing ti so well... its not about blurting out "i'm crazy!" its a more introverted thing.. and I think this guy nailed it.

  • I thought so too. Actually, I thought they both did a good job. What an incredible opportunity to be taught by Stephen Sondheim!

  • this guy has NO acting talent whatsoever....

    ..... /yawnz

  • Wow. Wouldn't that be incredible, to be coached one-on-one with the man who WROTE THE MUSIC that you're singing? What an amazing experience.

  • Sondheim is SO HOT !

  • Sondheim's like "this guy sucks!!!" Thank god for Johnny Depp...years later. lol

  • if u really listen to johnny depp he is the type of actor that can sorta "speak-sing" when listening to the original production of sweeny todd the male vocal part is soooo good! but i do agree with the part that this guy needed a lot of help...

  • In my opinion Depp's version is really boring and anything else but funny. I've seen the show in New York (1980), in Barcelona (1995) and in Madrid (1997) apart of dtfferent DVD's and there's no one worst that Depp's movie. We must search for new versions, I agree, but to improve it, not to destroy it.

  • Johnny Depp's movie dissapointed me a lot. They made a love story out of a funny horror script. No strenth, no expressions not even good voices. You never get the thrill that Landsbury, Bearn, Cariou, Dorothy, brought to the show. Even the girl in this video is much better than the one in the movie. Mrs. Lovett must be funny, mad, misterious, dirty... not a soft voice girl in love... Shame on that movie.

  • Movies and scripts are meant to be altered , if we were a society that had no diversity and versions it would be so.....boring. Yes they made it funny to give another version

  • I am not bitter "BUT" if these guys deserved to go to a private school to study theater, then so do I.

  • make love to the razor

  • I love Sondheim's expression while he's singing.

  • She's a fantastic Mrs. Lovett.

  • hahha i beat sodheim must have hated teaching him but hes just trying to be kind to him johnny depps versions tis way better this actor rushes it to much

  • classically in the stage versions, it had a slightly faster clip than in the film. Johnny Depp's Sweeney was sort of stoned. Never got too excited about anything.

  • this is GOLDEN. to have such an artist explain the method and rhyme behind his creation is immeasurable.

  • LOL @ 3:53

  • guildhall in london? gsmd?

  • :( I love you.

  • If Stephen Sondheim was coaching me, I'd be killing myself to give him what he wanted.

  • Ditto! I'd probably die if I was in the same room as him let alone singing his song in front of him!

  • but his teaching style is so nice I bet I'd be more than happy to give him what he wants

  • My god!!!!

    i'll kill 2 have a coutch like him.

    such a terrible actor.

  • Agreed.

  • Sweeney takes all of Sondheim's fantastic notes and throws them in the rubbish bin! I mean, he's a terrible actors and he never putss the right inflection when he sings. Lovett is alright but her accent is too forced.