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End-of-Day Videos: "Sweeney Todd" on PBS

Things to watch on a Friday night: a symphonic “Sweeney,” or cast-album commentary tracks for “Bridges of Madison County.”

It’s 5 o’clock (EST) on a Friday. Sure, you should be going to (or doing) a play tonight. But if you’re looking for things to watch tonight from the comfort of your own home, at 9 pm, PBS will air the New York Philharmonic staged production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The show features opera star Bryn Terfel as the demon barber and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lovett. Also in the cast are Philip Quast as Judge Turpin, Christian Borle as Pirelli, Jay Armstrong Johnson (currently on Broadway in On the Townas Anthony Hope, Erin Mackey as Johanna, Jeff Blumenkrantz as the Beadle, Kyle Brenn as Tobias Ragg and Audra McDonald (of Broadway’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill) as the Beggar Woman.

The production originally ran March 5–8 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. A preview containing of Thompson’s rendition of “Worst Pies in London” is below—and a (favorable) review of the show for the Sondheim Review by our very own Rob Weinert-Kendt is here.

 

Or, if you don’t feel like using your eyes, then take a listen to composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown and actress Kelli O’Hara talk the music behind the short-lived Broadway run of The Bridges of Madison County. A new track-by-track commentary series for the Bridges cast album is now available on YouTube. Part 1 of the series is below.

 

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