SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD
Derby Theatre and Colchester Mercury

at Colchester Mercury

28.10.2016

Never have those strident organ chords sounded so menacing.

They herald a dark, powerful production from the Mercury's Artistic Director Daniel Buckroyd. Behind a grimy grey tarpaulin, Sara Perks' compact set waits for the action to begin. On the revolve, parlour, pie shop. bake-house and Sweeney's sinister salon, plus a lovely pageant cart for the street mountebank Pirelli. In the shadows beyond, inn signs to suggest the rest of Fleet Street. Outside in the foyer, the columns have barber-pole stripes, the ushers have aprons stained with gore ...

The cast of ten is supported by a local community chorus – they shine in the big scenes: the satisfied customers, the gibbering maniacs. This means that much of the other chorus work has a chamber feel – the quartet at the end of the first act, the trio after the first murder,

An impressive cast of principals, led by Sophie-Louise Dann's nervy, playful Mrs Lovett – clutching her cleaver as she hatches her new business plan - and Hugh Maynard's brooding, obsessive barber, his anger simmering beneath the surface and exploding in moments of terrifying rage. Kara Lane makes a strong beggar woman, Julian Hoult a reptilian Beadle. Outstanding singing and acting from David Durham as the corrupt Judge Turpin, and from Simon Shorten as Daniel O'Higgins, aka the fake Italian barber. The two young lovers, who pale slightly in the writing against all these grotesque villains, are engagingly played by Jack Wilcox and Christina Bennington. The boy Tobias is given a charming, ingenuous character by Ryan Heenan, and Daniel Buckley is Jonas Fogg, proprietor of the lunatic asylum. And, like most of the company, he's a versatile member of the ensemble.

Buckroyd's production is hard-hitting, uncompromising in its handling of the darker themes. But of course there is humour here too, notably from the eccentric Mrs L – the Little Priest number a show-stopping delight, as it invariably is.

Michael Haslam is the Musical Director, tucked away with his band in the upper darkness. Like those opening chords, the general tone is harsh and loud. Not all of Sondheim's clever, tricky lyrics were audible, though, and it was noticeable that one of Sweeney's most successful numbers was his tender hymn to his long-lost razors.

This was an uncut “musical thriller”; while it was good to have the – agonisingly realistic – tooth-pulling sequence, for instance, three hours, including interval, is a long time to concentrate on the complex lyrics and elaborate settings of Sondheim's operatic penny dreadful. Could do with just a little trim, perhaps.

Production photograph: Robert Day

SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

16.12.15

Sondheim's Sweeney ? At the Old Court ? Mine certainly not the only eyebrow raised when the listing appeared.

But the production – CTW's first full musical for many a year – has proved a resounding success both financially and artistically.

Catherine Bailey's take on the show is necessarily spare and intimate. Exactly the way Christopher Bond's drama was done when it first caught Sondheim's eye. We enter past the harmonium and the man-size meat grinder waiting in the wings. The set – built in the auditorium to accommodate the notorious salon above the pie shop – is a grim Dickensian façade, with ghostly dustsheets above. The action begins with a sombre procession, before Toby draws us in to the story.

A damaged child, huddled in a strait-jacket. Tobias Ragg is often a young boy in the melodrama, much less often in the musical, since for him, as for all the principals, the writing is a real challenge. Charlie Borg makes an excellent job of it – comedy and tragedy alike: his last appearance, hollow-eyed and grey-haired, sets the tone for the emotional finale.

No surprise to see the excellent David Slater nail the title role, a riveting performance which makes the character human in his deranged passion, and effortlessly navigates Sondheim's melodic lines. But a revelation to hear CTW regulars revealed as fine vocalists: Dave Hawkes as the “abominable judge”, Chris Edwards as the revolting Beadle. And Debbie Miles as a memorable Mrs Lovett, holding her own with Slater in the duets, with excellent comic timing as well as hidden depths in, say, Nothing's Going To Harm You. By The Sea is superb, with a grumpy Todd and a fetching pair of bathing belles.

Tom Tull's fine voice as Antony, blends operatically with Jade Flack's tragic Johanna. No operatic fireworks from Harry Sabbarton's Pirelli, alas, but a sprechgesang approach which works surprisingly well.

The chorus copes superbly with the challenges of the score – good to see figures slumped at the end of the alley, and the constant presence of the heap of rags concealing Marie McNulty's beggarwoman. Though more sensitive, oblique lighting might help her melt into the shadows. The uplighting for the barber shop is very effective, however.

I've seen many Sweeneys but the powerful intimacy of this version is something special. And, at the end, after the bloodbath and the curtain call, the Stage Manager rushes on to wipe the gore from the Fleet Street floor lest the Demon Barber claim another victim ...

SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD

SODS

at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff

11.11.15

for Sardines

“What did they do to you?” asks an appalled Mrs Lovett. Benjamin Barker has returned incognito from Botany Bay, and we share her concern. Les Cannon's Sweeney stares impassively from craggy, emotionless features. “His face was pale and his eye was odd ...”

He's not alone. The chorus stand in weird lighting – belting out the opening number rigidly looking straight ahead. Only their eyes turn to Sweeney.

Moments like these – the Bedlam scene is another – stand out in SODS' ambitious production of the Sondheim classic, directed by Ian Gilbert.

It's a show that asks a lot of everyone – soloists, chorus, orchestra, techies. And audience, still in their seats three hours after that opening chorale.

The score is demandingly operatic – it's often done by proper opera companies, in fact – and SODS' twenty-strong chorus, a few fluffs apart, does a remarkably professional job. Musical Direction by Elizabeth Dunlop.

Partners in crime Todd and Lovett are compellingly played by Les Cannon and Ashley-Marie Stone. His granite determination, her slatternly guile make an effective pair. His powerful Epiphany [chorus boldly placed to face upstage] is followed by the deliciously tasteless A Little Priest, both performed with flair and gruesome gusto.

Joining them in the dangerous streets of Victorian London is a fine company of singing actors: Scott Roche as the Beadle – superb at the harmonium – Declan Wright as the fresh-faced matelot, Maddy Lahna in excellent voice as his Johanna, Paul Alton mortifying the flesh as the evil Judge and Oliver Mills making a most promising SODS début as young Tobias – his Not While I'm Around with Lovett very touchingly put over, and an athletic turn in the Miracle Elixir sequence.

Occasionally we might wish for a better range, more sustained tone, but vocal shortcomings are usually made up for by the dramatic delivery, and the stunning staging.

The lofty set, with its staircases and its upper room, works well. After the interval, Mrs Lovett's new-found commercial success brings her a makeover, the signage is changed, and the new barber's chair is delivered. It looks damned awkward to manipulate, and the stunt razors don't always do as bloody a job as they might. But there are plenty of magnificent moments – Barker's wife in flashback, the Beggar Woman [Laura Mann] recognizing the room and remembering her baby girl, the pile of corpses, the bodies down the pit.

The sound design is bright, meaning that almost every word is audible, though at the expense of some light and shade. The lighting too, though brilliantly effective, could have been more subtle, with more gloomy corners to match the mood of the melodrama.

Despite one or two longueurs, this assured production is a Sweeney Todd to relish, for Sondheim's haunting score, the tale's black humour, and the brooding, burning presence of the Demon Barber.

SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD

Shenfield Operatic Society at Brentwood Theatre

14.06.13

Even by Sondheim standards, this is a challenging piece for any company, amateur or otherwise. Often operatic in its style and in the demands it makes on its singers, especially the chorus.

Louise Hunt's excellent ensemble responded magnificently, boldly navigating the reefs and rapids of the score, and always visually effective, whether as masked revellers, lunatics, bathing belles, black-backed gulls or assorted Londoners. I liked the Pirelli bounce, but standing and delivering diagonally worked well, too, as did the backward glance on the Fleet Street exit.

The show opened with pools of red [not much actual gore in this version] and a London Peculiar, as a couple of coppers start the familiar narrative.

Two principals in particular manage the tricky double of music and melodrama: Kerry Cooke is a magnificent corseted Mrs Lovett, and Louise Byrne excels in the smaller, but crucial, role of the mysterious Beggar Woman. Ian Southgate, too, was a confident Anthony, deftly delivering solos, duets and those tricky quartets, as he strives to rescue his Johanna [Lauren Ramshaw] from the clutches of the creepy Turpin [Hugh Godfrey]. Less assured vocally, but a strong dramatic presence, was David Pridige as the dark-eyed, brooding Benjamin Barker [aka Todd], driven by his desire for vengeance. Strong support from David Ward's Beadle – excellently sung and impressively acted – from Joanna Hunt as Tobias and Rick McGeough as the devious mountebank Pirelli.

The small space was very effectively used, from the dumb-show back-story to the quick and the dead returning for the final chorus. A four-sided truck – complete with antique chair and chute – was a versatile stage, even becoming the end of the pier for the By The Sea idyll.

The unseen orchestra was directed from the keyboard by Adrian Ure, who did an excellent job of bringing Sondheim's ballads, songs and snatches to life.

SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD

Chichester Festival Theatre

18.10.11

I thought the 30s setting might be a problem. Pointless, gratuitous, self-indulgent.

In the event, it mattered very little. And it did give the design people [Anthony Ward] some great opportunities to create a fantasy of the grimy, grubby corners London of the inter-war years, cracked tiles, broken windows, metal shutters and grilles. And the people, too, the menial downtrodden Londoners in their offices, in the asylum and Mrs Lovett's popular pie shop with its gaudy neon sign.

Adam Pearce first to appear, first to sing, typically detailed character work from a cast impressively strong in depth. Peter Polycarpou was excellent as the Beadle, as was Gillian Kirkpatrick as the Beggar Woman.

But the standing ovations, inevitably, were for Ball and Staunton, both seasoned musical theatre stars, and both incredibly good in Sondheim's blood-soaked melodrama. Ball, with his brooding presence and golden voice, and Staunton's precise comedy timing, worked like magic, and brought out all the pathos and the humour of this dark revenge drama.

There's much talk of a transfer to town, a second hit for Chichester this season. I'm not sure that the circular metal walkway over the thrust would work, but this dream casting could surely not be improved.