Review: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET at the Isaac Theatre Royal

Stephen Sondheim's epic musical thriller Sweeney Todd opened last night at Christchurch's Isaac Theatre Royal, its final stop on a tour across New Zealand. A joint collaboration between New Zealand Opera and Victorian Opera, this gritty and wonderfully stylised production emphasises the most operatic and dramatic features of this masterpiece of musical theatre.

Set in a bleak and industrialised vision of Nineteenth Century London, the barber Sweeney Todd has just returned to the city having been exiled in Australia for 15 years by the corrupt Judge Turpin on grossly inflated charges. Todd sets out to discover what has happened to his long-lost wife and child, and to seek his revenge on the despicable judge. Recognised and aided by Mrs Lovett, the enterprising owner of a pie shop on Fleet St, Todd rents the room above her store to reopen his barbershop, but has only one goal on his mind.

Sondheim's musical first opened on Broadway in 1979, and has since been performed all over the world by theatre and opera companies, the first operatic production being produced by Houston Grand Opera in 1984. The original source material goes back to 1846, in a serialised fictional story called 'The String of Pearls' about Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber. It was an instant success with Victorian readers, inspiring many different plays and adaptations. Sondheim himself based his work closely on Christopher Bond's 1974 play of the same name, and it was Bond who introduced the psychological aspects of the story and made Todd the anti-hero.

Starring in the title role is New Zealand's very own Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He brings great presence and power to this 'demonic' character, whose obsessive lust for revenge is chilling to behold. His resonant bass voice commands attention, and his determination and alarming strength of purpose is a force to be reckoned with.

Phillip Rhodes is commanding as Judge Turpin, riding that fine balance between the civility and the barbarity of the character, showing us just how thin the facade is between the gentleman and the monster within.

The ever opportunistic pie maker and business woman Mrs Lovett is played by the Australian soprano Antoinette Halloran. She brings an optimism and simple joie de vivre to the character, a stark contrast to the brooding Todd and Judge Turpin, though in her own way she is equally as calculatinG. Halloran gives a wonderful performance in 'The Worst Pies in London' with its complicated choreography with flour, dough and rolling pin precisely notated in the musical score.

Joel Granger is excellent as Tobias Ragg, the innocent but foolish boy who assists Mrs Lovett. His rendition of 'Not While I'm Around' was most heartfelt, and he held the audience captive throughout.

Amelia Berry and James Benjamin Rodgers play the young lovers Johanna and Anthony, the most optimistic and idealistic of the characters in what is a very dark world. Berry has a beautiful sweetness to her voice, and Rodgers brings a great assurance to the character.

The ensemble are in excellent form with a really polished sound, and they are given much work to do in this production, becoming the inhabitants of London and bringing the city to life. This is no stand-and-sing part, here they are constantly on the move, creating a wide range of scenes with a variety of different characters.

The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra under conductor Benjamin Northey provided a very clear and warm sound, allowing Sondheim's music to breath and unfold naturally with the action on stage.

The production design by Tony Award winner Roger Kirk is excellent. The set is vast and imposing, reflecting the machinery of the class system that the characters are all trapped in, each cog playing their part despite the utter indifference and hopelessness of their situation. The costumes are equally dark and grim, wonderfully Victorian and fittingly somehow it seems almost as if the characters wearing them are already dead.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is well suited to operatic treatment, its dark subject matter familiar to traditional opera audiences, with an intricate score and libretto of great wit. It is a great story that keeps you guessing, and a production you will remember for a long time to come.

Sweeney Todd is on from October 12 to 15 at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.

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