Shock and Awe

I am in total shock about Sweeney closing. I an sitting here on the verge of tears. I can't even begin to describe how I feel about this show.

I first saw it back in April. I made the trip to see Renee in Manon, and to meet up with Maureen and Iris, group friends from London. In addition to the opera, Sarah told me that I just had to see Sweeney. She had been several times and loved it. I had seen the show before, at Lyric Opera of Chicago with Bryn Terfel in the title role, but didn't remember much about it. All I knew about the production on Broadway was that it starred Patti LuPone, who I knew about in some distant reaches of my brain. It's funny, I knew who she was, but now I can't for the life of me think how I would have been familiar with her. I knew she was a Broadway legend though, and I was excited to see her.

I remember the exact moment during that first time seeing the show that I was hooked - the second Michael Cerveris as Sweeney emerged from the coffin and sang his first lines "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd." Chills just ran up and down my spine. So much fierce intensity, and that voice. I was engaged from that point on, and just tried to take everything in - the story (which I had completely forgotten), the music, the action, even more unique because of the structure of the new production. The cast was made up of 10 people - they were the actors, the singers, and the orchestra. I'd never seen anything like it before.

I mentioned Patti LuPone (The Patti) before - yes, I'd heard of her, but actually being able to see her on the stage - completely amazing. ___________________ just fill in your own adjective, I can't come up with a superlative dazzling enough to describe her. I just tried - and nope, I still can't do it. The more I think about it, the more amazed I am that I had the chance to see this great artist on the Broadway stage. Why didn't anyone tell me about her sooner? Would I have listened?? Maybe I wasn't ready for her before now... Who knows? Naturally, after that first time, I wanted to visit the stage door. This was an entirely new phenomenon for me. I knew people did it after operas, but I didn't know that you could do it after broadway shows, too! I got a picture with Michael Cerveris after that first meeting (that sound was me swooning over the keyboard! I think I am better now though) and got The Patti's autograph (was too nervous to get a picture with her though....).

When I got home, I got the broadway cast recording and started adding (The) Patti's recordings to my library. The transformation was complete - I became a devotee of the show's and of Patti's. I lived and died with them at the Tony's - I knew more shows and more Tony scoop than I did about this year's Oscars.

When we heard that her last show was going to be July 2nd, I knew I had to be there. We were hoping that she would be renewing her contract, but who could tell for sure??In fact, I got a ticket for July 1 as well. I mean really. What if it was her last one? I couldn't miss that. We found out later that the contract had been extended - for Patti and Michael both, so July 2nd (and July 3rd actually...) was not our last time seeing her. Each time I saw it was better than the night before. Since I knew the show better, I could watch for different things. Each time I saw it differently, and each time, I loved it a little bit more.

We made plans to reconvene in November to see that last show. I know it's not that far away, but it gave us time to prepare. To accept. Now, it's going to close in about a month from this Thursday. Like before, I know I need to be there.