Review: SWEENEY TODD at Shaw Festival

From it's ominous sounding opening organ chords, Stephen Sondheim makes it clear that you are in for a macabre evening of theatre as his masterpiece SWEENEY TODD begins. What sounds almost too gruesome to be appropriate for a musical has over the years had audiences and critics alike arguing whether this is a musical comedy or opera. Since it's 1979 premiere it has been staged world wide by some of the most notable Opera companies in the world, from English National Opera to the Paris Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. An updated staging is happening this summer at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York with noted Wagnerian bass Greer Grimsley playing the title character.

The Shaw Festival has pulled out all the stops on it's elaborate production, staged by exiting Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell. Sets designed by Judith Bowden suggest a multilevel industrial building on Fleet Street in London, with some nods to the original stage designs of Eugene Lee. Here we meet the brooding Sweeney Todd, a barber who returns to London after being exiled and essentially ripped away from his young wife and daughter years before. Determined to take revenge on those who wronged him, he returns to his old shop building to meet Mrs. Lovett, a down on her luck meat pie maker. Their ensuing co-dependence forms the arc of the story, with Sweeney's throat slit victims being used as the filling for Mrs. Lovett's pies. Book writer Hugh Wheeler, along with lyricist Sondheim have woven a story that uniquely balances gore with comedy, making the evening more palatable.

Ms. Maxwell has assembled a fine cast, mostly made of seasoned actors who sing, complemented by some notable singers who act. Benedict Campbell as Sweeney and Corrine Koslo as Mrs. Lovett are prime examples of actors with pleasant enough singing voices, but who shine more so in their acting than singing. And in this vocally challenging piece, often one was left hoping that the vocals matched the intensity of their acting skills. Mr. Campbell gives a nuanced performance as the off kilter barber, building from inner turmoil to intense rage by his "Epiphany." His voice lacked a full range of colors and one wished for more abandon and bloom in it's upper reaches. Ms. Koslo found all the right comic touches that make Mrs. Lovett so endearingly daft. Her physical humor helped mask her inner sinisterness. She employs a strong belting voice, but the softer singing passages and the wordiness of "God That's Good" resulted in some lost lyrics. Koslo's charming demeanor helped make her the underdog that yearned for a happier life, despite the fact that her desire was for a murderer.

Jeff Irving shone as the young suitor, Anthony, who courts Sweeney's confined daughter, Johanna. Irving's clarion young voice was perfect and his rendition of the love song "Johanna" was spot on. Unfortunately Kristi Frank as Johanna was much over parted in the difficult high lying soprano passages required of the role. Marcus Nance, as Judge Turpin, holds the young Johanna in captivity, aided by Jay Turvey as the Beadle. Mr. Nance's operatically trained bass voice was forceful and he was given the opportunity to further command the stage during his often cut number of self flagellation, "Johanna." Nance's inner turmoil was palpable and gave depth to yet another demented mind in this dark tale of Sweeney Todd. Turvey lent some levity to the evening with his parlor song singing in Mrs. Lovett's sitting room. Shaw Veteran Patty Jamieson was given the juicy pivotal role of the Beggar Woman, imbuing her with hysteria and humor. Meanwhile Andrew Broderick was the boy Tobias, who aids Mrs. Lovett in the pie shop. Broderick is given the plaintive "Not While I'm Around" to sing. His innocence and sweet singing voice helped to lend humanity to this gory tale, albeit from the mind of a mentally challenged child.

Ms. Maxwell makes full use of the stage, aided by the excellent lighting of Alan Brodie . Brodie delineates each playing area with everything from sharp, stark bright lights to the contrast of the smoky eeriness of Mrs. Lovett's subterranean baking area. Costumes by Bowden were period specific, but often with an edgy 21st Century nod. The talented ensemble of strong singers served as the Greek Chorus of commentators while also melding into the action, with a high point being their transition from commentators to mental patients in an asylum. It was a pleasure to hear the orchestra, conducted by Musical Director Paul Sportelli, accompanying the choral singing--Incidentally, much of of their music had been completely eliminated from the ill conceived 2007 film version starring Johnny Depp.

In Sweeney Todd we find Sondheim as a master of tension building, while humanizing characters that often seem inhuman. The Act I finale is so beautifully crafted that when Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett list all the professions of his possible victim's in "A Little Priest," the audience becomes as gleeful as they are in conjuring the images of everyone from killed priests to fiddle players. Campbell and Koslo started coyly and built to crazed murderers by the end of the act. Similarly the reprise of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" sung by the Entire company at the end of Act II was chilling as each cast member stared directly towards the audience retelling the intense story of the evening's bloody proceedings. In the final moments a descending panel of broken windows drops in front of the cast suggesting that all The Players are indeed crazed enough to be locked behind the bars in Bedlum.

SWEENEY TODD plays at the Festival Theatre of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario through October 19, 2016. For more information visit shawfest.com

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