i agree that tveit is a great actor and if we're going purely off of the acting, then yes he slayed severely as sweeney. but i still don't think he was right for the role 😭 josh groban might sound sweet but aaron tveit sounds *young*. he's the same age as len cariou was when he originated the role on broadway, but he sounds so much younger. which in many ways is a plus, but for sweeney todd its a negative. like, i think if tveit tried he could still pull of young, bright eyed anthony; he is not selling the older, jaded ex convict who just got back from serving hard time in australia. i don't think he brought the gravitas that the role of sweeney todd requires, and i don't think there are many tenors out there who could. and again basically every leading role is written for a tenor, so can they just stay in their lanes like...

Hey Mateo, I just wanted to write some words of encouragement. I’m sorry to hear about your breakup, and I cannot imagine the pain you have been dealing with. We are all here for you. Nonetheless, I want to congratulate you on the amazing review for your musical in Canada! Your hard work and talent are truly paying off. Keep moving forward-we're all cheering for you! Man, as a random college kid in St. Louis, I would love to see the day when Tommy Rhodes gets into American soil, specifically broadway theaters! Best wishes, Paul

I am thrilled beyond measure to hear that the vibrating butt plug chess scandal has been made into a musical… and wishing you all the best.

I don’t know how to express how much I love everything about this.

I would so love to watch this live!!

Valjean: Why should I save his hide; why should I right this wrong (Losing faith) Mateo @3:40 : He-eh-ven! Valjean: Who am I? Two Four Six O ONNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~! (instant faith regain)

Gawd I am so happy that I found your channel. As a novice musical theater writer I am always looking for series like these that help me analyze the great songs note by note! Love your analysis on the effect of breaking expectations on listeners! I could truly appreciate song like never before!

Thank you for making this video!!💗 I'm not sure if you will ever see this, but this really helps me understand how to convey the emotions in this song in preparation for my performance next week. This was just what I needed to understand the importance of delivering the belting part well, and it made me appreciate the song all the more. I absolutely loved how you told the story. I never knew the full backstory, which is why when I sing it, it lacks the emotions it needs. The immense effort you put into making this video was greatly appreciated. Again, thank you so much. :DD🫶

Sondheim has no rivals. He's the epitome of his art form. My favorite moment in Into the Woods is in fact a pair of songs: it's how Your Fault's counterpoints lead into The Last Midnight and how both songs relate to each other. The lyrics are also terrific. I'm Brazilian, the songwriting tradition I feel more connected to has a different flavor. But anyone vaguely interested in songs should see Sondheim as an absolute master of the craft. He's right there with Schubert, Puccini, McCartney, Michel Legrand, Jobim, each one in his own lineage but equally impressive songwriters.

I'd love to see a revisit of this with the soundtrack out now!! Incredible video!

Your dramatic conclusion about the progression of the entire Ken journey is perfect. I chuckled hearing all that.

Bitter aging alto here, this drives me crazy. I'm so tired of everything being pitched so damn high. I've lost my upper range, so I've had to learn to live with singing everything written for women an octave down.

Never would have taken Sweeney as anything but a baritone, but after I saw Tveit live, I'd be hard pressed to ever look back at a better Todd. Edit: Let me reiterate...seeing this show live was transformative.

What a lovely video! The show is the first show I fell in love with when I saw it as a trial on PBS I am not proficient in music reading or theory, but I’ve been singing the songs since I was old enough and maybe before lol It was so cool to see the intention behind the music. I went to college from vocal music even though I couldn’t read music. I just had a talent for singing and so the words “music theory“ filled me with terror because obviously that degree did not work out. Thank you for giving me a taste of music theory with this lovely video❤

Great video - so happy to have found your channel. The chords you were playing at 3:58 remind me of the opening of What I Did For Love, another beautiful song. Thanks for a wonderful analysis!

Look, I’m enthusiastic at the best of times, but I sincerely think this was one of the best analysis videos I’ve ever seen. You gave us all the music theory, all the dramaturgy, and real insight into just why this song and show cuts so deep as a queer story. Your playing and performance and teaching were all top tier and really, really inspiring. Thank you!

Maybe do the funeral scene from Parade? “No, it don’t make sense.”

She is also playing someone who is slightly inebriated-this isn’t her first vodka stinger!

Great analysis.

I'm kind of surprised that you didnt mention ragtime or jazz in your explanation of syncopation.

Thanks for this video! Whereabouts in No-one Mourns the Wicked does Schwartz use the chords again that he uses in "a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with me?"

So many great moments in "Moments in the Woods". The genius of "if life were made of moments..." and then the "and/or" resolution always hits me Brilliant analysis of a truly brilliant song.

Ooh, man, colour me *immediately* interested in this show. I'll definitely be following this one closely, I happen to be very interested in musical adaptations of horror movie for the multitudes of ways they can be handled.

Marsha Norman, as we know, is a Pulitzer winning playwright. We can very clearly see she is not a lyricist. She often plays for drama more than she does for lyrical weight. But, as you said, it hardly matters when the score is so brilliant. Also, to elaborate on what you said in the beginning of the video about this being very much for a classical tenor and bass (which I assume you meant bass-baritone), this song was done down a half a step on Broadway because the capacity of Broadway singers is usually just a bit less on account of the fact they have to do eight shows a week. Sure, it may seem more crazy on paper to belt a bunch of high A's and A#'s like Evan Hansen, but a truly powerful dramatic tenor G is nearly impossible to pull off for so long eight times a week. Mandy Patinkin, very much a tenor, sings it down a half a step. I'm doing this for a recital soon, and I'm also a classical tenor who has the capacity for a high C, but even I struggle to keep this song under control. It's so dramatic and demanding that it really is like a piece from an opera. This is something I love about Secret Garden.

This was an awesome analysis! I honestly stumbled on this video looking for a more lyrical/character/contextual analysis of this song, but having it analyzed musically was actually so much better so that you get a better idea of how the song should be performed! I’ll definitely be keeping this video in mind if I ever get to sing this song publically!

Jennifer Nettles covers this song as well and it's beautiful.

Great breakdown between the music and themes Love how you use the music to signify the ambivelant feelings of the mother

I think he should have played Anthony instead of Sweeney

Thank you so much for this analysis of such a beautiful song. I've loved it and now I know why!

Joe Locke's voice in this song has taken up residence in my head.

I saw the performance Aaron was awesome

This is so cool and interesting

The fact that this thing isn't in 6/8 makes counting it a nightmare in the Orchestra pit. Because it's in 6/8 but each thing that feels like a beat of 3 quavers, a whole bar. Those 2 opening chords should be 1 bar each. The whole groove in the drum kit is totally "low - 2-3 High - 2-3" Every second bar is the second half of the groove. Kick-tense-tense|Release relax-relax. Same problem in "Ireland" too. But that's worse because it sometimes slips into a 4/4 where the quarter-note is 1/3 the speed of the quarter-note in the "3/4" that should be 6/8. as in... the 8th note in 4/4 is the same speed as the quarter note in 3/4. The 8th should stay the same... indicating this is in 6/8 but written dumb (yes I recognize a few "Short" bars (like when 4/4 turns into 2/4 for a bar)... but that's what the time 3/8 is for.) Anyway, I'd love to have a chat with whoever decided 3/4 is the new 6/8 down under the Orchestra pit some day.

My mind was blown once i realized the woods literally represented the "woulds." Fuckin' genius!

I could not agree more. I just finished playing Archie in our school production, and it was one of my favorite shows I’ve been a part of. I absolutely love Lily’s Eyes to pieces. It was easily my favorite song I’ve ever sung in musical theatre. That key change at the end is just so impactful, and this is a fantastic breakdown of what makes it so amazing. I would love to hear a breakdown of “How could I ever know” one of these days too, as that last section of the song is so so so beautiful.

Not to be that guy bringing up a different topic than the video, but I am DYING for your reaction to the newest Wicked trailer :P.

Can you do sheets for the piano part??

I saw Teeth! Super fun. What a crazy show. Great cast!

Whenever she says "I'll never be this happy again" in the really melancholy 3/4 section but she's literally talking about happiness, I think of how it's foreshadowing the darkness that's about to consume her life when it gets to the end of the show and she says "before me? no, all is over for me"

OMG! I can't decide what I enjoyed more, the analysis of the song or the singing! I so love this! When I go back to Toronto, I will come and see your shows...

Bridges is SOSOSOSO underrated, I'm still so mad it wasn't a success. Hopefully it will be like everything else JRB has done and be bigger as a revival one day lol.

Gracias por este video!! Desarrollas muy bien. Me ha venido muy bien para mi TFG, amo este musical y hay poca información sobre su análisis!

I saw Aaron live. I was so nervous because of him being a tenor. I was completely BLOWN AWAY. He was terrifying and yet somehow he humanized Sweeney at the same time. And his voice was just incredible. The videos don’t do it justice

Fantastic analysis. You put into words why I liked it so much but I could never really quite explain. I'm no musical theatre nerd like you. I knew that I loved the song, but I didn't know why. Thank you for breaking it down for me in a way I can understand!

We love a Sondheim breakdown, simple ideas using the same motifs in different keys, but so clever! Great video!

He could have gotten some heavy metal style vocal work done. I know that you can flex your voice with different techniques 🤷

amazing analysis man, lots of details you caught that really make a difference when you think about them. Fantastic job!

This song and motif set the stage for my1998 thesis, in which I argued that we're exploring Freud's balance of Id, Ego, and Superego. It. Clearly sets unfettered ego and Superego in place .

So happy I stumbled upon this whilst researching my new vid on Legally Blonde! 😍

100% agree that a lot of musicals that are based on films completely miss the point! Such wasted opportunities. I guess that's what happens when producers their main/only goal is to make money. Very interesting vid! I subscribed :) x