Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Who would have thought that the urban legend of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with a dark theme of murder, revenge and cannibalism, could have been turned into a successful musical?  However, add some quirky characters and a spine tingling, operatic score, and you have a ‘recipe’ for success, which has been produced on Broadway, the West End and, most recently, a highly successful film in 2007, featuring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the titular roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett.  This is also one of my favourite musicals and I am glad to say I was not disappointed.

Producer/Director Andrea Hall, along with her team, has created a gothic journey into the seedy underbelly of old London town.  From the moment we entered, the mood of the musical was in place with atmospheric lighting effects, ominous smoke hanging in the air, and the sounds of a vibrant Victorian street.  The set loomed out of the gloom.  We could see Mrs Lovett’s Pie Shop, Pirelli’s Parlour and The Judge’s house, complete with balcony, and a backdrop of Victorian London landmarks.  The use of rows of raked seating ensured every seat in the house had a good view. 

From the first jangling chords of the organ, we were transported into the world of Sweeney Todd, as the whole cast marched onto the stage from all directions, to deliver the chilling opening ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ their accusing stares and red lighting effects all adding to the ambience – this was a gruesome tale and we, the audience, were now complicit and part of the unfolding narrative. 

Sweeney himself (Rob Callaby) dressed in a long black coat and with a white streak in his hair (a nod to Johnny Depp) takes us back to the beginnings of the story, where he is saying farewell to the idealistic young sailor Anthony (Oliver Norman) who has rescued him from drowning. London town is an exciting place to Anthony, but Sweeney has a very different view.  His past experiences have woken him to the corruption and evil within.  I liked the way Rob, as Sweeney, almost spits out the lyrics in his disgust and the tableau performed to illustrate his story.  They are rudely interrupted by the Beggar Woman (Rebecca Sylvester) dirty, barefoot with blackened teeth, her clothes ripped and torn, asking for ‘alms’.  I liked the way Rebecca played the role switching from pitiful creature, to lewd and leering her words full of innuendo, then back again, she also had a powerful singing voice. 

Sweeney meets the next character on his journey, Mrs Lovett (Jo Fitzwilliams).  I loved the way she used all the props to prepare a pie while singing the complex lyrics.  Jo was always in character with lots of little mannerisms, such as smoothing her apron or fixing her hair, and her witty rendition of ‘Worse Pies in London’ was wonderful.  Mrs Lovett had been Sweeney’s former landlady, and she realises he is Benjamin Barker, a man she had a fondness for.  Sweeney is out for revenge against Judge Turpin (Ged Dalton) and the Beadle (Mike Parker), who violated his beloved wife Lucy, stole his baby daughter Johanna and banished him. Reunited with his barber razors he sings lovingly ‘My Friends.’ I liked the gentle way Sweeney sang softly to the blades, despite the gruesome lyrics, and the way they gleamed in the blue light, as he held up his arm aloft, realising he can be a barber again. 

Johanna (Anya Bryant), his now grown-up daughter, is singing wistfully of her incarceration, comparing herself to one of the caged birds.  Anya was simply stunning as the fragile, yet steely Johanna and her soprano vocals were beautiful, with excellent voice control, singing with expression as she gave meaning to the lyrics.

To establish his reputation however, Sweeney must eliminate the competition, the flamboyant Italian Pirelli (Connor Ratcliffe) with his assistant Toby (Blaine Conneely.)  Blaine was superb as Toby, a real showman, prancing around the stage with impish glee, while pushing Pirelli’s miracle Elixir, becoming more frantic as Sweeney and Mrs Lovett slandered the product. Connor as Pirelli showed a good singing voice in the patter song ‘The Contest’ and I was impressed with his on-stage shaving skills.   I was also pleased to see real shaving foam in the bowls used in the shaving contest. Pirelli is defeated and recognising the razors, quickly realises Sweeney is Benjamin Barker, and tries to blackmail him resulting in Sweeney’s first kill.  The odious Judge, however, is Sweeney’s goal and when he loses his chance to exact revenge, Sweeney turns on Mrs Lovett and the audience.  I liked the way Rob, as Sweeney, came up to the front, snarling and threatening the crowd as he hollered for vengeance. 

In the highlight of the show, an enterprising Mrs Lovett puts forward her plan to deal with Pirelli’s corpse, turning it into a business opportunity, his innocent victims minced up and cooked in her pies.  The pair sing mischievously in ‘A Little Priest’ as they imagine all the different flavours that might come from different careers.   Rob and Jo were perfect in this tongue in cheek duet, with Mrs Lovett egging Sweeney on and Sweeney becoming her willing partner in crime.

The ensemble deserves a special mention for their powerful Greek chorus style telling of the story, taking on roles such as spectators at Pirelli’s Parlour and lunatics in the asylum.  They were our moral compass, challenging the audience with their unwavering stares and warning of the outcome of revenge.  I liked ‘God That’s Good’ where the unsuspecting customers gleefully gobbled Mrs Lovett’s pies, not realising their gruesome content, and the Asylum scene where they used long sticks to form the bars of the windows in Fogg’s Asylum.  

The Judge and Beadle played good parts as the real villains, a perfect example of double standards and hypocrisy behind closed doors.  Ged had a lovely duet with Sweeney ‘Pretty Women’ and his singing voice was very good. I also liked his scenes with the Beadle.  Mike as the Beadle was a sidekick to the judge with an evil streak, shown through his bullying of Anthony and his acceptance of the Judge’s lifestyle.  I liked his scene with Mrs Lovett, showing off his singing skills, oblivious to the desperate Mrs Lovett who tried to strangle him. 

Oliver Norman as Anthony showed good character development, initially over excited and positively brimming over with delight at finding Johnanna, to despair at losing her.  The realisation that Sweeney was correct about the corruption, and the grisly horror he sees with his own eyes, showed his world view had been shaken forever.  His vocals were good and his duets with Johanna were performed well.  

Anya as Johanna was wonderful, creating a complex character that went above the usual female love interest. This Johanna was feisty and slightly on the edge of insanity as she had no hesitation grabbing the gun off Anthony in the Asylum.   Her manic duet ‘Kiss Me’ further highlighted her personality through her inner monologue, chattering at twenty to the dozen, constantly worried about being caught and what she will pack and having to be reminded, by her would be paramour, that she would be safe.  Her final scene with Sweeney was well done, as disguised as a sailor, she bargained for her life against her own father, saved only by Mrs Lovett’s screams. 

Rebecca Sylvester as the Beggar Woman was another well observed character, always lurking on the sidelines and her dislike of Mrs Lovett was obvious.  I liked her licking her lips as she desperately tried to pinch a pie.  Again, her character was a harbinger as she tried in vain to warn about the evils within and she played the part well lurching from lucidity to lunacy.  I loved her scene in Sweeney’s parlour, cradling an imaginary baby as fragments of her former life re-surfaced.

Blaine Conneely as Toby was another fabulous character, his innocent charm showing through as he latched onto the motherly Mrs Lovett, beautifully singing ‘Not While I’m Around’ not realising she was the true monster.  His final scenes in the bakehouse were truly chilling as the terrible truth finally dawns resulting in him becoming insane.   

Finally, our gruesome twosome themselves.  The relationship between the two main characters was excellent as their mutually beneficial bond developed.  Jo was excellent as the cockney working-class Mrs Lovett, outwardly fragile but with steely interior, she was the driving force behind the damaged Sweeney, who she exploited to access her dreams of gentility.  Jo acted with her whole body from rolling her eyes at the Beadle to wiggling her bottom as she tried, in vain, to seduce Sweeney with her vision of a middle-class seaside retreat.  She was totally immoral but with a charm that fooled everyone around her including Toby.  She was a gossipy genial hostess to her new customers and saved her cruelty and vitriol for the Beggar Woman.  Her final scene, desperately, trying to reason with an implacable Sweeney, were chilling, her words of platitude sealing her fate as Sweeney got the upper hand. 

Sweeney himself was a damaged man changed by the cruelty of circumstance.  Rob played him with a brooding air but with shades of light and dark.  He showed a dark humour in his interaction with Mrs Lovett hinting at the Benjamin Barker he once was, and his furious breakdown in ‘Epiphany’ was very well done, even Mrs Lovett’s constant prattling couldn’t calm him down.  This Sweeney was a man whose thirst for revenge was the one thing keeping him going.  Once the terrible truth about his wife was revealed, his last revenge was on the woman who lied to him about it, and then he could die and calmly accept his fate.

Costumes were good and in keeping with the Victorian theme.  I liked Mrs Lovett’s red and white striped dress, mirroring the Barber shop pole, and the white nightdresses worn by the Asylum in-mates.  The costumes also reflected the status of the scene, such as the ladies in simple woollen shawls and mob caps, for the street scenes to opulent velvets, smart suits and feathered hats and capes for the more affluent customers.  I also loved the red bushy wig under Toby’s hat and the long blonde wig for Johanna. 

Props were excellent, creating the themes of the pie shop and the tonsorial parlour.  I was impressed with Sweeney’s chair - even though it did have a slight hiccup!  The trays of freshly baked pies which were eaten by the cast, all added to realism, and I liked the newspaper featuring an article about the missing Pirelli.  The hired set was wonderful, and I like the way the cast were involved with changing scenes and rotating the Pie Shop to reveal the sitting room.  I also liked the way the colour red was used against a largely monochrome background, for example the quill used in the letter and the woollen muffler which Mrs Lovett held chillingly to Toby’s throat. 

Even though the music was not provided by a live orchestra, it still managed to convey the mood, so that the incredible score was able to tell its story too as it echoed around the school hall. Well done to Musical Director Peter Coughtrey-Wellsted, for coaching the leads and ensemble in the harmonies and duets in this very complex score resulting in a powerful production.

I am also pleased to confirm that the programme and posters fulfil the criteria for inclusion in next year’s Poster and Programme competition.

Congratulations to everyone involved with bringing this production to gory life, whether costumes, props, lighting, sound effects or stage crew, everyone has worked together to create something magical, that left audiences gasping in delight and recoiling in pure horror as the story unfolded - I am sure they will never look at a pork pie the same way again!

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