The first thing to be said
about “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” which recently opened
at the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts, is that it is, well, long. From curtain
to curtain, with an intermission, the entire experience lasted well over three
hours. Yes, the musical itself, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and
book by Hugh Wheeler, is, in itself, lengthy, but the pacing of this
production, directed by Craig David Rosen, seems often to trudge more that
trot. That being said, there are enough high points to make the evening at BTA worthwhile.
Most theatergoers are
probably familiar with the plot. You have Sweeney (a.k.a. Benjamin Barker), a
barber who was unjustly sentenced to exile in Australia by Judge Turpin, who
lusted after Sweeney’s wife. Sweeney returns to London seeking revenge. He
meets Mrs. Lovett, a woman who runs a pie shop that sells “The Worst Pies in
London,” and sets up shop on the second floor of her establishment. Deranged by
his travails, Sweeney begins slitting the throats of his customers, providing
Mrs. Lovett with meat for her pies (she had previously been using pussy cats).
There’s a sub-plot, for Sweeney has a daughter, Johanna, who became the judge’s
ward. The judge now wishes to wed her, but she is in love with a young sailor,
Anthony Hope, who just happened to save Sweeney’s life while they were at sea
(the original story, “A String of Pearls,” was a highly successful penny
dreadful publication in the late 1800s, so you just have to accept such
contrivances). After much bloodletting, Sweeney finally gets his revenge, but
it is bittersweet.
So, what’s the draw of this
production about murder and cannibalism? Well, first of all there’s Marilyn
Olsen as the pragmatic pie-shop owner, Mrs. Lovett. She’s just about perfect in
the role, no more so than in her character’s signature song, the perversely
witty “A Little Priest” that ends the first act and details the possible
ingredients she might use in her pies. As the source of these ingredients,
Edmound Fitzpatrick as Sweeney is imposing and sufficiently obsessed. He and
Olsen work quite well together as the deadly duo. Then there’s Dominick
Ventrella as Toby, initially the front man for con artist Adolfo Pirelli (Rob
Pawlikowski) but later a waiter at Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop. He’s dead-on with
“Pirelli’s Miracle Elixer” and quite moving as he pledges to Mrs. Lovett that
nothing will harm her in “Not While I’m Around,” even if director Rosen has
Ventrella portray Toby as a spastic than just a simple-minded lad.
Rosen was sitting in the
audience the night I saw the performance, so he must have observed, or heard,
that Samantha LaMendola as Johanna often simply can’t he heard distinctly. Even
in her solo, “Green Finch and Linnet Bird,” the sequestered five-piece orchestra
seems to mask the lyrics. If she is miked (it wasn’t evident) then the sound
needs to be amped-up; if she is not (and given the size of the theater there’s
really no need for audio enhancement), then a director’s note about projecting
one’s voice might be in order. He might also ask Elizabeth Varda, in charge of
costumes, to find Beadle Bamford (Marty Posner) a different hairpiece – it
looks like he’s wearing a lacquered swim cap.
“Sweeney” is set in a less
than salubrious part of London circa 1890, and so its denizens are a dubious
lot. It falls to the ensemble – all 12 of them – to convey this atmosphere,
which they do, often filling the aisles as they perform the Greek chorus
function, commenting mainly on Sweeney’s actions in the often reprised “Ballad
of Sweeney Todd.”
All in all, this is a quite
engaging production of the Sondheim classic, especially given that Olsen’s
performance is worth the price of a ticket. As summer fare? Well, I guess
that’s a matter of taste…and mood…for “Sweeney” is dark and somber and, well,
possibly depressing, for just about no one gets out alive. To my mind, it’s an
autumn show, appropriate for when the leaves are falling, the daylight is
dwindling and ghosts and goblins just might be seen roaming the streets.
“Sweeney Todd” runs through
July 28. For tickets or more information go to www.brookfieldtheatre.org
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