Is it just me, or is it kind of hard to tell from the first trailer for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street that this is the film version of the beloved Steven Sondheim musical? True, the trailer for the December DreamWorks release debuted last weekend in front of a very different DreamWorks film, the Ben Stiller/Farrelly brothers comedy Heartbreak Kid. But aside from a street scene with Johnny Depp sort of sing-talking to passers-by, then drawing out the lyrics "I will have vengeance, I will have salvaaaation," you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was another weird Burton drama with another weird turn from Depp, who boasts a white skunk streak in his bushy mane. Not that this is an outright musical with more sung-through dialogue than most Sondheim productions.
Of course, Sweeney Toddis not the only movie musical to soft-pedal its musical nature intrailers. To varying degrees, recent adaptations of Broadway hits like Chicago, Rent, Dreamgirls, and even Joel Schumacher’s Phantom of the Opera have downplayed their song-and-dance aspect. (The trailer for Phantom features lots of singing, but not a single shot of an actor mouthing the lyrics that are playing at that moment.)
Still, there are exceptions — most notably, last summer’s $118million-grossing hit Hairspray. The trailer for that popular tuner is chockablock with bothsinging and (gulp!) dancing. Guess at least one studio learned that whenit comes to marketing movie musicals, you just can’t stop the beat. Why do you think the studios are still so shy when it comes to promoting musicals? And is anyone really fooled into going to a musical by such tactics?
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Yeah, Thom, I was puzzled by the “Sweeney” trailer too…especially because the music is so good and some critics have called it Sondheim’s best (which is saying something). Perhaps studios think people (read: men) have an aversion to musicals and thus aren’t likely to see a movie if they see people singing in the trailer?
First of all, I think it’s generally silly to try to fool/trick people into seeing your movie by hiding the fact that it’s a musical. I have a hard time imagining in this day and age that somebody will honestly have no idea that they are seeing a musical until they’re already sitting in a theatre and someone bursts into song.
That being said, I personally know more than a few people that absolutely refuse to see a movie because it’s a musical. They just can’t get characters singing and dancing, and they will not see something if it’s a musical. (I don’t know why I’m friends with these people, since i LOVE musicals)
Also, in “Sweeny Todd’s” case, I can see them trying the trick because “Sweeney” is not something that’s as familiar and obviously a musical like “Phantom” and, like Gary said, it could come off as a random Burton/Depp drama. I guess if they DO fool someone, they’re not worried about the fact that they’d be ticked off…not as long as they’ve already gotten their $$
…and by Gary, I mean Thom…sorry.
If you look at the trailer for Chicago, they delayed having anyone singing until the end. Sexy women and murder scenes were edited in first.
I can sort of understand the marketing strategy, which is basically targeting the film at Tim Burton/Johnny Depp fanboys who may be turned off by the musical aspects of the film. Not only is it a musical, but also it’s a fairly difficult and complex one in terms of its score. Not many of the songs have anything approaching a melody. It’s not filled with simple poppy dance songs like Hairspray. People who know its a musical and like that aspect will still see it, but they are banking on getting those who don’t know its a musical interested in the film before they let them know its a musical so they don’t immediately write it off.
Also, maybe Depp can’t sing very well and they don’t want people to know.
It’s ridiculous to try and cover up a musical with a trailer, but I am going to give this one the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know WHY since this is my all time favorite show. I guess I just love Tim Burton and Johnny Depp that much.
In it’s defense I am going to go with the explanation that most of the dialogue in the trailer is taken from the same scene where Mrs. Lovett is bringing Barker/Todd up to speed on the current situation. So it would contain most of the pertinent information for a trailer audience.
On the other hand the song chosen to be shown is extremely “talky” and only succeeds in showing that Depp does not have the lowest notes in the range of the part. Maybe not the best choice. At least not for geeks like me that recognize details like vocal range.
Either way I will be among the first to see it.
There was definitely a shot of the ensemble singing “Masquerade” at the time the music was playing in the Phantom trailer. And that movie sucked, primarily due to the casting of the title character.
I’m going with Ceballoz about people not knowing they’re seeing a musical. When I saw “Dreamgirls” people started laughing when people opened their mouths to sing offstage. Now that can partially be attributed to some awkward editing decisions, but I don’t think people realized exactly what kind of musical it was.
I have noticed this trend of not showing singing for musical trailers as well though. I thought the “Sweeney Todd” trailer was visually quite appealing, but they should have had either a lot more singing or no singing at all, because Johnny Depp randomly singing in the middle of the trailer is just kind of awkward.
Not only do they hide the music, they completely avoid the meat pies. Not a mention. Mrs. Lovett in this preview is just a sympathetic ear.
i think studios aim to broaden the appeal of a musical by focusing on the story rather than the songs. sweeny todd has amazing songs – but do you think any of those songs are going to be catchy enough to get someone into the theater? sondheim is too lyrical. but the story of todd is a darker story that might get people in the seats who would normally be turned away from the word “musical.” i think it makes sense in that way.
i think the biggest problem with movie musicals today, though, is the bigger issue of reality. when you see a show on stage, you automatically believe the fantasy. costumes, choreography, sets – that makes sense. but movies today are all about reality, so it’s hard to accept that on screen. it’s hard to accept that two characters like mimi and roger speak three lines to one another during the whole movie of rent (they sing the rest of the time). willing suspension of disbelief needs to happen first in order for the audience to really enjoy the movie musical.
i am soo excited to see this movie…
EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee, I’m so amped!
OK NineDaves, it’s my turn to use the the Amy Poehler/Seth Myers voice – “Movies today are all about reality” – Really? Cars tranforming into aliens? Kid wizards? Spiderman? REALLY? I’m sorry, but if people can suspend their disbelief enough to want to watch hobbits and superheroes, someone breaking into song shouldn’t be that much of a stretch.
But, unfortunately, it is. Which stinks, ‘cuz I love musicals. Sweeney Todd is definitely a tough sell (and I say that even though it’s one of my faves). People looking for a feel-good Hairspray-type movie will certainly be shocked by the whole cannibalism theme. And the people who get off on blood and guts may find all the singing rather strange. So putting a trailer together that will appeal to both musical and terror lovers (and everybody in between) sure can’t be easy.
As for me, I’m counting down the days til this comes out!
It might be best for this movie to downplay the singing as much as possible. I adore “Sweeney Todd” and Johnny Depp…but his singing here is just AWFUL. Sweeney Todd is a baritone role that requires operatic singing, not this high, soft-pitched nasal pop whine.
sweeeeet. can’t wait to see this. i’ve seen a video of the london stage performance. the music and the whole gritty, claustrophobic atmosphere are wonderful. the Burton/Depp machine really couldn’t be a better choice to make Sweeney Todd a movie. bravo!
it’s worth noting that, like the blog entry said, this is a through-sung musical (almost an opera) and not one where people randomly burst into song. it’s much easier to stay in the story when the dialogue is sung to begin with (like with Shakespearean dialogue, you get acclimated very quickly when it’s all you hear), instead of being jarred out of spoken conversations by characters, ahem, “expressing [their] inner anguish through the majesty of song.”
Hiding the singing in Rent/Producers/Phantom is silly b/c those are name-brand Broadway musicals. Sweeney is not. Most people wouldn’t have heard of it, especially the Comic Con Burton crowd. This could get interesting. Hope it works.
1. They DO show singing – just not a lot. Still, it’s hard to see this trailer as for anything but a musical.
2. Given that not many people are familiar with the music, it’s not as if they can insert a brief bit of a song to get people nodding in recognition.
3. The music in Sweeney is not there for entertainment value – the songs aren’t “pretty.” And without the context of the plot and the moment, not much of Sweeney’s songs would make sense.
4. That they avoided spoiling the big twist with the meat pies shocked and impressed me. That level of self-control has me encouraged.
5. From all early reports, this is NOT an opera. Much of the score has been cut, but it remains a musical – a musical thriller. How successful it works in that form we won’t know until Christmas.
I totally thought the same thing when I saw Heartbreak Kid over the weekend: “Isn’t this supposed to be a musical?”
Whatever. The movie will be most excellent and, this way, the surprise of the song and dance numbers won’t be ruined!
Uh, all of you congratulating the makers of the trailer for not spoiling the meat pies plotpoint should, you know, probably stop mentioning it yourselves.
They’ll sell it as another great-looking Tim Burton film, and viewers will be dissapointed when they see that it is a musical. From what I’ve seen, promoting it as one thing when it’s actually another never works in terms of audience love. Open Water, for example, was despised by most audiences because it wasn’t even close to the horror movie it looked like in the trailer. I for one loved Open Water, and from what I can tell from this trailer I’ll be thinking Sweeney Todd is freakin’ awesome once I see it.
My in-laws went and saw Dreamgirls and I had to hear for months afterward from my father in-law how he couldn’t believe it was a musical and how much he hated it. I kept wanting to say “DUH!!!!” I don’t know how you could go into any movie not knowing it was a musical.
Many audiences don’t like musicals, but NO audiences like being lied to. I’ve heard a lot of people get pissed off about finding out too late that something’s a musical; it creates a backlash for the film that wouldn’t be there otherwise.
I don’t think most Burton or Depp fans are so stupid that, despite what the trailer shows, would not know that this is a musical. I love trailers for movies that I have been waiting to see, such as this one. Hardly ever does a trailer make me want to see a movie that I am not already interested in seeing.
I have been interested in Sweeney Todd ever since I heard about it. It has everything that I love in a movie all rolled into one. Such as Burton, Depp, period pieces, musicals, and horror. I can’t wait to see it.
If Burton really has scaled down the songs, I’d be very surprised; Sondheim has been clutching this musical to his breast for years and I really doubt he’d turn it over to Burton if he didn’t believe he’d completely respect the material. Same with the casting of Johnny Depp. I’m sure Sondheim had to be cool with it before he’d allow it to go in this direction.
This post was kind of pointless. I don’t know why it bugs me, but maybe its just how this section of the website has just become pointless overall. I mean, this trailer is hardly the worst offender, but more than anything, whether he’s partly talking the lyrics, you can’t mistake that for anything else but a song.
Again, I don’t know why I’m complaining, considering this is the same part of the website that keeps posting those inane fake conversations.
I’m not too worried about this trailer. With such a hard sell like “Sweeney,” I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more and more singing as the newer trailers come out. It’s a question of acclamating the audience to the material – and putting up a bunch of clips of Johnny Depp singing isn’t quite gonna do that right off the bat.
I, for one, am supremely excited. It looks awesome.
I don’t agree that this is a pointless discussion; quite the contrary. This is about marketing, and whether it’s honest to disguise the fact that a musical is indeed a musical. Now, in terms of “Sweeney Todd,” maybe they could have attacked the genre full-on: “It’s murderous” (“At last my arm is complete!”)… “It’s macabre” (“These pies are so… unique”)… “It’s… a musical.” (“Swing your razor wide, Sweeney…”)
The big thing about SWEENEY is that it is not a typicall movie musical. I have seen many comments referencing DREAMGIRLS which is a very typicall musical. SWEENEY is a great story with incredibly deep characters who happen to sing.
I just hope Sondheim’s music is not sacrificed to make the bloody story less musical. Though it is not a musical, the music makes the story so much better.
I really liked the trailer. I teach Musical Theatre in a high school, so I am obviously part of the target audience for this film, but I thought it was obvious that he was singing…I thought, “Well, at least they didn’t shy away from the fact that it’s a musical”. Sweeney Todd is nothing like Hairspray, and should never be marketed along the same vein.
My students and I are all geeked out to see the film. We’ve been walking the halls singing, “I will have Vengeanccccce…”
I think that fans of Johnny Depp (guys and girls alike that find him hot) will want to see him sing…it’s Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett that I’M worried about.
One more thing. I think the trailers to “Chicago,” “Hairspray” or “Dreamgirls” were pretty clear that these were films with “musical numbers,” but the scenes they showed were all stage (or TV) performances. What may indeed have surprised some viewers when they actually got into the theatre was the fact that they were really Movie Musicals, and people spoke to each other, or to themselves, in song during offstage situations. I think the next trailer to “Sweeney” should (and probably will) feature the music more, and perhaps even mention Sondheim.