Review: Ohio State's SWEENEY TODD a Demonic Dive into Thrilling Theater

A chill in the air in Ohio State's Mershon Auditorium Friday evening was not entirely due to the unseasonable snowflakes that fell from the sky outside. Rather, a hair-raising performance of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" by the Ohio State University Opera and Lyric Theatre greatly contributed to the spooky atmosphere, sending shivers up the spines of those who dared to delve into the world of this dark musical thriller.

Accompanied by the Ohio State Symphony Orchestra, "Sweeney Todd" opened with a powerful show of musical talent by the cast members, whose faces were dramatically lit by harsh spotlights placed on the edge of the stage above the pit orchestra. The result was jarring, with the washed-out faces of the ensemble standing in stark contrast to the darkened stage set with a multi-layered construction consisting of several levels of catwalks and stairways.

Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, "Sweeney Todd" is a Tony Award-winning musical that follows a murderous barber named Benjamin Barker (Brian Hupp), who returns to London under the name Sweeney Todd after 15 years of exile in Australia. Seeking to punish Judge Turpin (Thomas Petrushka), who raped Barker's wife, Lucy, and took their daughter, Johanna (Kate Merryman) as his ward, Todd sets his sights on killing the judge and his servant, Beadle Bamford (Daniel Stein).

Todd enlists the help of Nellie Lovett (Emily Brand), the owner of the pie bakery under the Fleet Street barber shop, who joins in on the sinister plot by suggesting that Todd's victims be used as filling for her meat pies.

Brand and Hupp both wholeheartedly embraced their macabre roles with gusto and conviction, peppering otherwise horrifying conversations about death and killing with witty banter and sly wordplay. The puns in the act one final number, "A Little Priest," relieved the tension that had been building throughout much of the first act, and the actors' enthusiasm over a flippant conversation about cannibalism elicited several surprised laughs and guilty giggles from those in the audience.

As the curtain rose after intermission to reveal the stage bathed in blood-red light, the ragged canvas backdrop hanging in tatters like sheets of moth-eaten gauze, the second act began. Packed with much more drama and action than the first, the lead-up to the grand finale was a destructive tour de force that did not slow down until the stage lights blinked off, bringing the audience back to reality.

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" was the Ohio State University Opera and Lyric Theatre's final performance of the 2015-16 season.

More information about the Ohio State Opera Program can be found on the School of Music's website.

The Mershon Auditorium is located at the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St., on Ohio State's Columbus campus.

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