I saw this production probably a month or so before this was taped...


...at a Saturday matinee at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco, back in the early '80s. A few weeks later the play closed in S.F. and moved to L.A. Exact same cast. I was sitting in the mezzanine. I paid $16 for the ticket. The theater was maybe 3/4 full.

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I bet it would have been great to see with the same cast and it not like they had very far to go how 16 for a mezzanine seat that is pretty good, but today I don't think you can get that for a ticket to any of the current shows, or even a performance of this. When you went was it known or announced at the time that you went the they would be taping a performance of this musical in Los Angeles.

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The original "Sweeney Todd" went on tour right after it closed on Broadway, and I think came straight to SF's Golden Gate Theater with much of the original cast -- Angela Lansbury, George Hearn, the guy who played the judge, the guy who played Toby, the guy who played Pirelli, etc. It played in SF for a few months. My understanding is that it wasn't exactly a hit. That's why I was able to get in for such a cheap price. Like I said, it was 3/4 full for a Saturday matinee. It was one of the last weekends before it closed in SF. I remember reading that it went on to L.A. I had no idea at the time that they would be taping it for Showtime. The Showtime version came out about six months or so after I had seen it on stage. Pretty much exactly the same show.
BTW, I saw George Hearn on stage maybe 10 years later in L.A., in the mid-1990s, along with Glen Close, in the musical version of "Sunset Boulevard."

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George Hearn wasn't the original guy to play Sweeney Todd, that honor goes to Len Cariou. But either case I am sure it would have been interesting in seeing the show before this taping. And I am surprised that Angela Lansbury, didn't bring in a bigger crowd to the show.

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