By Carol Davis
VISTA, California—“Sweeny Todd”, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler (based on Christopher Bond’s 1973 play) is not your usual run-of-the mill happy musical. It’s dark, bloody, broody, deliciously wicked and gruesome in tone and look and it is revenge-driven.
At times it is sprinkled with some pretty dark humor, but one has to be of that mind set. And some of Sondheim’s more popular and more recognizable, and yes beautiful songs come from this musical; “Johanna”, “Pretty Women” and “Not While I’m Around”.
It’s the darker and more ominous music that drive the mood and story of the ‘Demon Barber of Fleet Street,’(“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”) who was shipped off to Australia on trumped up charges by the slimy and corrupt Judge Turpin (Randall Dodge) who wanted Sweeney’s beautiful wife for himself.
Turpin then violated Todd’s wife (it was Barker before he was sent away) and kept their baby daughter, Johanna (Joanna Holliman) hostage only to covet her for himself as the story picks up fifteen years later.
When we meet up with Todd (Robert J.Townsend) on his return to the scene of the crime, Fleet Street, 19th century London, he learns of the fate of both his wife and daughter from Mrs. Lovett, the widow whose pie shop (“The Worst Pies in London”) is on bottom floor of Todd’s old flat. In the retelling of the story of what happened to his family, however, she bends the truth about his wife’s death which in turn turns out to be a calculated mistake, one she pays for dearly.
Given her account though, he becomes so enraged when he learns that his wife was raped and then poisoned and his daughter adopted by the contemptible,slime-bag Judge, all he can think of is revenge! And so the tale of Sweeney Todd and his sidekick Mrs. Lovett (Bets Malone) begins. (Their duets together; “My Friends” and “A Little Priest” are deliciously wicked.)
Todd’s crime spree and downward spiral into what must be classified as insanity comes fast and furious. When a rival barber and con man Pirelli (Jason Maddy) recognizes him and threatens to expose Barker’s true identity, the now Todd kills him off with the blade of his straight razor right through the jugular. It’s all elementary my dear. Anyone looking to have a shave and a haircut above Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop gets the same treatment. Todd doesn’t discriminate, he decimates.
Lovett’s meat pie business (“The Worst Pies in London”-“God That’s Good!”) increases threefold after Todd starts his barbering again over her London Shop. Sweeney, who is now even more crazed after he kills Pirelli, develops a penchant for slicing the throats of his customers and then dropping them, literally through a trap door that leads straight to the cellar where Lovett’s meat grinder and furnace meet (or meat?).
The two form an unholy alliance, as the killings seem to get easier; he slaughters, she cooks meat pies and her business flourishes. This madness continues while Todd, in a seemingly sane way tries to get his daughter out of Turpin’s hands. At the same time he angles a way to get the Judge in his chair for a ‘haircut’ while Lovett vies for Todd’s affection and the Judge announces his plans to take Johanna for his bride.
Lurking in the shadows and adding more mystery to the tale are the Judge’s sadistic henchman, The Beadle (Jason W.Webb), and the police who make sure Johanna is isolated from any contact with young Anthony Hope (Anthony Carillo) the sailor who arrives in London at the same time as Todd. At once the young sailor becomes smitten with Johanna and tries to free her from the hands of the corrupt Judge.
Then there is the orphan boy Tobias Ragg (Jordan Aragon) the deranged lad Mrs. Lovett takes under her wing but the longer he hangs around the pie shop, the more he suspects ‘something isn’t Kosher on Fleet Street. All these elements converge as Todd’s madness and killings begin to intensify and multiply.
It gets pretty gruesome and bloody, but not nearly as bloody nor as dark as the recent movie that came out a few years ago starring Johnny Depp. That’s not to say that Moonlight’s production doesn’t spurt a few blood droplets each time a throat is slashed or isn’t dark in tone or look as it certainly is. Jean-Yves Tessier’s moody and dark lighting design, Chris Luessmann’s piercing factory whistle sound every time a throat is sliced, and Roslyn Lehman, Renetta Lloyd and Carlotta Malone’s odd combination of costumes with a hefty dose of black makeup around the eyes and mouth lend that authenticity to the overall feel of the production.
The expansive set boasts two stairways, one on either side with the face of Lovett’s pie shop and Todd’s ‘Barber Shop’ above in the center of the stage that when rotated takes us to different local locations and eventually the ‘drop off’ cellar under the pie shop where the bodies are finally deposited and the furnace blazes with fire. It’s visually eye popping, but unimaginable at the same time.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street closes this summer’s season at Moonlight Stage Productions and it’s all done under the direction and musical staging of Steven Glaudini, the new artistic director for this theatre company beginning in January.
Glaudini is no stranger to Moonlight or the Vista community. Sixteen years ago he made his debut as Smee in Peter Pan. But most of us remember him for his most recent directorial prowess in Hairspray, Miss Saigon, Les Miserable and Cats (all at Moonlight) over the past several years.
Sondheim’s musical thriller, as some dub it, opened on Broadway in 1979 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It is a sprawling musical that carries a large cast and Moonlight doesn’t disappoint. Just two years ago San Diego audiences had another dose of Sweeney Todd at another local theatre and one wonders what makes this gruesome and macabre theatre piece so appetizing (pardon the pun). Either some of us can’t get enough Sondheim or we love dark humor, or a dark operetta, or a good horror story or all of the above.
Overall Moonlight’s production has in its plus column an outstanding ensemble with spectacular voices and a stunning finale production number “The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd”. Musical conductor Elan Mcmahan and her 22-piece orchestra rock it out of the park and Anthony Carillo has one of the finest and clearest voices heard in some time, as does Joanna Holliman. (His “Joanna”, a recurring and poignant theme, resonates throughout.)
Robert Townsend’s voice is head and shoulders above any other in that role I’ve seen and Bets Malone hams it up giving the comic relief needed even with the difficulty of managing to get all of Sondheim’s lyrics out in a comprehensive and impressive manner. Both she and Townsend do make the physical attraction more apparent than in other productions seen by this reviewer.
That said, on the down side of this I found the role of Judge Turpin played by Randall Dodge (for whom I absolutely have the highest praise as both an actor and singer) wasn’t a good fit as the vicious and menacing parasite that he was made out to be. Not for a minute did I feel a threat from his or Jason W. Webb’s Beadle Bradford character. Both represent the lowest of the lows in society, no mistaking about that. They just never convinced.
As for Townsend’s Sweeney Todd (his voice not withstanding), I found his an odd fit as well. His demeanor and look was too hollow, too out of this world and disengaged. And while his character might have evoked some sympathy, and his towering presence loomed like a giant over the Amphitheatre especially when he was standing in his shop looking out into space, I found it disconcerting.
As for Mrs. Lovett, well, she got hers in the end when Todd had an epiphany and recognized that his wife was in fact alive and that she was the crazed beggar woman (Jessica Bernard) who kept following him around. It was Mrs. Lovett who, when all was said and done, was really the worst of the worst on Fleet Street.
And as for “Sweeney Todd”, if you’re in the mood for some Sondheim, gore and blood lusting head up to Vista and get your fill. It might be a while before it makes another showing on our local stages.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Oct. 6th
Organization: Moonlight Stage Productions
Phone: 760-724-2110
Production Type: Musical
Where: Moonlight Amphitheatre, Brengle Terrace Park, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista
Ticket Prices: $15.00-$50.00
Web: moonlightstage.com
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com