Caught in its final week of an extended run at Birmingham, this new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd has gained significant acclaim. As I found myself in the city for other reasons, I bought a ticket.
Playing demon barber Sweeney this time around is Ramin Karimloo, already lauded for playing leading roles in Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Love Never Dies over a 25 year career.
He’s joined by Australian cabaret legend Meow Meow as Mrs Lovett, the lovestruck pie-shop owner, and former Sweeney David Bedella (also known for cavorting as Frank in The Rocky Horror Show) as Judge Turpin.
If you don’t know the plot, here are the basics. Sweeney Todd, an assumed name for Benjamin Barker, has come back to London after being transported to Botany Bay on a trumped-up charge by Turpin, who lusted after the barber’s wife.
Returning to his old premises above Lovett’s shop, Sweeney seeks to avenge himself on Turpin and associate Beadle Bamford. We also learn what happened to his wife and baby daughter, Johanna.
Originating as a Victorian ‘penny dreadful’ story, the tale of Sweeney, who “shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again,” was adapted by Christopher Bond into a play, used as the basis for this musical.
The original 1979 Broadway pairing of Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury is immortalised on video, and the musical has been revived many times and made into a feature film.
In Joe Murphy’s new version for Birmingham, there is a definite, unpleasant focus on Turpin’s obsession with the unfortunate Lucy and daughter Johanna, to the point of pedophilia and coercive control. Sailor Anthony (Shem Oman James), who falls for sweet Johanna (Jo Stephenson) and her “yellow hair”,
The set – by Elin Steele – of steps and a rising platform to reveal Lovett’s shop offers significant atmosphere, with a small cast making it necessary for actors other than Karimloo and Meow Meow to double up as chorus members.
In the manner of Greek tragedy, Sondheim gives narrative comment to the chorus as the story progresses. This Sweeney is darker than most, so perhaps loses the humour here and there, but the major parts are well-sung, and Mrs Lovett is a particular joy in her hardly-concealed passion for ‘Mr Todd’.
Elsewhere, Silas Wyatt-Barke (usually Pirelli) played the Beadle beautifully on the night I saw it, making the “Parlor Songs” about the Tower of Bray bells truly unsettling. Jack Gibson makes Tobias a tragic figure of pity by the end and offers an innocent “Not While I’m Around”.
Meow Meow shines in “The Worst Pies in London” with her physical comedy, and her pathetic devotion in “By The Sea”. If there’s little lightness in Karimloo’s Sweeney, it works well in this grimy, corrupt, and deviant corner of Fleet Street, and his lyric baritone range is equally melodic and menacing, especially in the duet with Bedella’s Turpin, “Pretty Women” and its reprise.
With its cautious bloodletting and its fleeing lovers, Sweeney Todd is closer to opera plots than traditional musical theatre, but the 9-piece orchestra here brings out the best in Sondheim’s score.
I’m giving this 4 stars.
Sweeney Todd continues to 15 Aug at Birmingham Rep.
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan