"Sweeney Todd"

Have you noticed how many barber’s shops there now seem to be in our high streets? There are two within a parade of shops near where I live. Seeing this show is enough to suggest caution that, where a building adjacent to the barber’s is a pie shop, then both the haircut and the content of the pie might be questionable.  More important notes of caution, however, lie in the complexity of its music, with around 80% either sung or under-scored.  Now in its 70th year, this company has all the experience which this dark, demanding, almost operatic show requires, albeit that many of the present cast have served only a fraction of this time. The result was a show which sounded musically superb as vocals, whether solo, chorus or in the often-complicated duets and quartets were supported by an excellent orchestra. Paul Laidlaw, usually to be found in charge of the Spa Orchestra in Scarborough summers, has clearly spent much of his autumn and winter ensuring that this company was equal to the task.

To describe some of the parts as minor roles seems to belittle their importance and even inaccurate since they all have a vital part to play. All were excellently performed with great confidence, be they young lovers, beggar woman or what.  Maximus Mawle as Anthony made an impressive debut and can surely look forward to playing many principal parts in his extremely promising future. His youth, his appearance and, most of all, his superb singing voice were ideal for this part.  Madeleine Hicks was also an excellent choice as Johanna, the love of his life and their quartet (“Johanna”) with Todd and the Beggar Woman was a fine example of the ability of all the cast to cope with the demands of the score.

The part of Pirelli is not that large as he becomes the first of Todd’s victims but Martin Lay extracted every ounce of humour from his portrayal, with his amusing Italian and then Irish accents.  His apprentice, Tobias, lasts rather longer and, indeed, delivers the final blow in ensuring Todd meets his end. The character is portrayed as one with a learning difficulty, but Jonny Holbek’s performance here was perfectly pitched to show how such a person is not entirely without intelligence. Craig Kirby had joined the cast in the part of Judge Turpin only three weeks before opening night after unforeseen circumstances forced the withdrawal of York stalwart, Rory Mulvihill.  So convincing was his portrayal of this villainous role that his appearance in the curtain calls was greeted in the same way as that experienced by similar characters in pantomime. Richard Bayton made a good job of his role as Beadle Bamford and his parlour songs were a further rare source of amusement in the show. Clare Meadley also impressed as the Beggar Woman who turns out to be Todd’s wife, mistakenly thought to have long since died.  The ensemble has less to do than in some shows, more of a Greek chorus here, but nevertheless an essential contribution. 

The two major parts, Todd and his neighbour, Mrs. Lovett, do their best to keep alive the retail trade in their part of Fleet Street, even if the same cannot be said of their customers. Neil Wood, as the murderous barber, succeeded in arousing sympathy for his wrongful conviction, although the way he seeks retribution may not.  He was in fine voice with excellent delivery of his songs and dialogue.  Julie-Anne Smith returned to the company after an absence of 15 years and gave a superb performance as the pie-making shopkeeper. It would have been easy to play her as something of a caricature rather than the credible, albeit rather eccentric individual we saw. Her song “A bit of priest” (and there are a lot of them in York) is a well-known highlight of the show and hers was a memorable rendition, her excellent diction allowing us to enjoy Sondheim’s clever rhymes.      

The set was simple but worked well, even to the extent of the barber’s chair’s slick disposal of the bodies whilst excellent lighting changes added to the drama of the plot and the music. The show and its story may not be to everybody’s liking but there should be no argument that this was a memorable production of it. 

Incidentally, I find there’s a Cornish pasty shop next to one of the barber’s shops near me, so I think I’ll stick to fish and chips from around the corner at least until memories of this show start to fade. That could be quite a while.           

      

      

 

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