Sweeney Todd

Since the coming of the recent film version of the musical this unusual piece has become newly popular.  As with all Sondheim’s work “Sweeney Todd” does offer rare challenges and Merriman increased this with musicians in the wings and an extremely intimate venue.  To accommodate this, staging was kept simple.  This meant that superfluous ensemble action was removed ensuring that the story was immediate and accessible. 

Sondheim draws his complex characters with clarity and assists the listener with a score that is full of feeling and emotion.  Graeme Savage & Bruce Arnold provided excellent support while highlighting every nuance and expression contained in the wonderful score.    

Direction concentrated on the story and the characters avoiding too many frills and “musical theatre” traditions.  This ensured that the production had an appropriate dramatic feel and kept the characterisations accessible.  Well cast, the Director allowed the actors to assimilate their roles and there was a naturalness to the Gothic Melodrama which was most effective. 

William Stevens as Sweeney was very good, with a fine voice which certainly did justice to the score.  Being able to rely on the magnificence of his vocal quality, William was able to simplify his acting presentation so that the audience could easily follow the development of his story.  His brooding nature pervaded the whole production and seemed perfectly reasonable under the circumstances.

Petra Schofield brought her fine acting talents to bear on the role of Mrs. Lovett.  Her excellent diction ensured that her patter numbers were clear, and her eye for a moment of humour provided light relief for the audience.  The way she drove her advances on Mr. Todd certainly became appropriately irritating until finally he snapped and killed her: a relief for the audience too.

The supporting roles were all well crafted and it was pleasing to see a number of young actors performing well.  None of the roles in this show is easy and all have traps laid that the unwary actor can fall into.  Everyone seemed to be equal to their roles and music.  Owen Stephens sang with a simple lyrical voice, never pushing his voice even in the highest register and playing Anthony without being drippy.  Emily Steiner handled Johanna’s quirky musical lines apparently with ease and again didn’t fall into the trap of being “wet”.  Morgan Perry proved a very sensitive Tobias.

The ensemble work is pretty complicated in this show and the company tackled it without signs of the effort required.  Moving smoothly into position and picking notes from thin air, the members made a good clear sound and enhanced the feeling of anxiety the story depends upon. 

The general look of the production maintained a period feel while emphasising the Melodramatic elements.  Within the intimate space it echoed the Victorian Melodramas which were so familiar with audiences of the time.    

The simplicity of the production generally worked well, but it did mean that emotions were rather tame in their expression and I did not feel too greatly bothered about the characters.  The accidental murder of his wife (excellently played by Katie Salt) usually brings about sympathetic feelings and a great sadness for Sweeney, but it did come over as just another murder in the long sequence of bloodletting.  While it was commendable that the production didn’t wallow in the traditional musical theatre habits, a little more emotional interaction could have been used without detracting from the overall clarity of approach.  Even in a Melodrama such as this one should feel some connection with the characters.

This was an extremely successful presentation of this amazing work, which benefited from genuine performances, clear diction and some excellent tonality.  I’m sure all the actors enjoyed preparing and presenting this piece and the audience was greatly appreciative of a good night at the theatre. 

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