Because the theater is dark on Monday nights...we celebrate it here.
Tonight, I thought it would be fun to compare different performances of the same song.
Of necessity, I am limited to very popular shows that have a strong presence on YouTube (and have embeddable clips! -- okay, links may be called for at some point but I try to embed everything).
So, friends, feel free to compare and contrast your reactions to the various performances of the Same Damn Thing in the comments.
Tonight, it's "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd because it's Sondheim, it's over the top, it's incredibly funny, and, well, Angela Lansbury just chews up the stage:
Patti Lupone, same song. It's a concert version but you can still get a feeling for how she probably did it on stage:
And then there's Elaine Paige. Apologies for the quality of the clip -- it was clearly recorded from somewhere in the mezzanine. And the sound quality is even worse than you'd hear if you were sitting in the mezzanine for this performance: phone cameras are like that. BUT -- we already know the lyrics, right? Watch her body language -- and then compare and contrast her performance with those of Lansbury & Lupone.
In all three cases, Mrs. Lovett is clearly barmy. What interests me is the differences in how the three great ladies portray the barminess.
Okay, maybe that's enough of that for tonight, b/c I don't think I can find a better version of this lagniappe:
And this part had me ROFLMAO -- it's so very New York, you see: