Bury my lovely: Week in Review/The worst pies in London

With two days until Christmas, Rob got a pretty nasty cold. He is functioning, but still a might bit pathetic. Ah, but who I am to say, as I'm the biggest baby when I have a cold.

Rob and I finally finished all the shopping on Friday, and made it over to Mike and Dennis' Christmas party (Mike is the Vice President of Augie, and Dennis teaches in the music department). It was another night of standing around being awkward with people I didn't know, but David and Carrie where there with their two kids (they both also teach in the music department), so it's always nice to see them.

Yesterday, we decided to brave the rain and head out to see Sweeney Todd. Now, the majority of you who read this blog are probably actors, too, so just bear with me for a moment. I am a huge Stephen Sondheim fan. Being a musical theatre girl, and practically raised on his stuff, I tend to think Sondheim shits gold when it comes to musical theatre. I also am of the belief that Sondheim is musical theatre for smart people. His writing is art, not fluff like most of the shit that comes off Broadway these days. Now, it also depends on the show, whether or not it's good. He seemed to hit his stride in the 70's into the mid 80's. Most after that I could pass on. But when Sweeney Todd came down the pike, it was the stuff of legend. Based on the story of a wrongly-imprisoned barber who seeks revenge on the man who put him away, stole his wife and took in his daughter for his own, it was the stuff only a composer/lyricist could make work on the stage. Now, nearly 30 years later, the magical Tim Burton has brought it to life on the screen. Starring Johnny Depp at Todd, it was really quite a sight to behold. While I truly loved the film, there were many moments that I really didn't like. Depp's voice was quite good, and I was afraid we were going to see a Rex Harrison version of pitter-patter talk instead of the actual sung lines. His portrayal of Sweeney Todd, acting-wise, beat out any singing, however. Helena Bonham Carter (who I love!!) was brilliant as Mrs. Lovett. Not a singer by any means, she was fantastic as the woman who owns the pie shop under the flat which Mr. Todd resides. I hope all actors out there who can at least carry a tune see this movie, so they understand that it isn't always about how good you sound, but how you give life to the song. Alan Rickman, who always plays the bad guy, is Judge Turpin, the man who wrongly imprisons Todd 15 years prior. The thing is, I didn't get that bad/creepy vibe from him. He wasn't nearly as bad or creepy as Timothy Spall, who plays Beadle, the evil sidekick to Turpin (Spall is also always the evil sidekick in EVERY MOVIE). And as much as I adore Rickman in every movie I've ever seen him in, he just shouldn't sing. Many songs were cut, of course, because this is a movie after all, and plot needs to be moved along. I was glad to see they didn't cut "Green Finch and Linnet Bird", sung by Todd's daughter Johanna. However, considering the actress Burton got to play her, they should have. The child who plays Tobias, or Toby, was quite good, and man could that kid sing! Burton did an amazing job creating the dark and "shit" filled London. In Burton fashion, lots of creepy, dark CGI, barely any color with the exception of the red blood (at times, a bit too gory). All in all, it was very entertaining, and I understand it's a difficult thing to do, create such a masterpiece in the theatre and transfer it to film. You're bound to lose some of the magic.

It's been a while since I've included some pics of the babies. Ike and Maddy are the best of buds now, and I seriously mean that. When I'm playing with Ike and Maddy seems to think it's too rough, she'll bust in and try to reprimand me with her teeth. Ike is healthy (at last) due to his thyroid medication, and his hair has finally grown in. He looks like a dog, an alien no longer. He is so calm and mellow now, and we feel it's because he realizes this is his home now. We sure hope so, anyway!