Sweeney Todd

Half-way between Halloween and Thanksgiving, those of you thirsting for a few more thrills and frights should give thanks and hurry to Casa Manana for their bloody good production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street playing this week only. The production is immediate, intimate, stunning, emotional and literally spurting with blood.

For the unfamiliar, Sweeney Todd tells the tale of Benjamin Barker, a na�ve barber with a beautiful wife and a newborn daughter. Trouble comes when his wife is coveted by the malicious Judge Turpin, who convicts Todd of trumped-up charges and sends him Australia. Fifteen years later, Barker, now Sweeney Todd, returns to London and makes his way to Fleet Street and the shop of Mrs. Lovett, a baker who specializes in (bad) meat pies. Recognizing Barker, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd his wife poisoned herself after being raped by Turpin and that his daughter Johanna is now Turpin's ward. From here Todd plots his revenge against Turpin, one that leads to an enterprising (and homicidal) business arrangement with Mrs. Lovett.

Like any piece of great art, you embrace the elements that move you, as well as discover fresh nuances and surprises. In this production the most haunting surprise in this Sweeney was Broadway vet Walter Charles' portrayal of Judge Turpin. Always the villain, Charles' Turpin was viscerally the most frightening Turpin I have ever witnessed.

Director Gabriel Barre boldly re-inserts Turpin's version of "Johanna" (cut from the original 1979 production during previews) in which he flagellates himself while spying on his ward through her keyhole. The scene adds an unwelcome distressingly human touch to the notorious Turpin. Barre also spreads the action not only across the stage but also throughout the aisles; a tricky device that could easily have come across as gimmicky, but ultimately was effective. The rest of the supporting cast is universally strong with noteworthy performances by Daniel R Johnson as Johanna's naval suitor Anthony, and Christopher Michael Kauffmann, who despite looking a decade too old to play Toby stuns the audience into deafening silence during his climactic mad scene.

Ultimately, the fate of any Sweeney production rests on the shoulders of the actors playing Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney himself. Joy Hermalyn as Mrs. Lovett is a revelation conquering the enunciation, syncopation, rhythm changes and nimble dialogue the role demands. She also hits each much-needed comedic hook and phrase with precision. Norm Lewis, direct from Broadway, plays Sweeney not so much as mad but as an empty, hollow husk of a broken man. Lewis' smooth, lush baritone is fresh and truly comes alive during "My Friends" as he serenades his long hidden razors like a long lost lover.

Finally, and always, there's Stephen Sondheim's score (lusciously directed and conducted by Elaine Davidson) that long ago accomplished the unthinkable: providing iconic music and lyrics that are now inseparable from the tale of Sweeney itself. Each note, bar and phrase oozes with drama and anticipation.

Sondheim cruelly juxtaposes the two most melodic songs ("Pretty Women" and "Johanna") with the most violent on-stage acts. The riveting 1-2 punch "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest" at the end of Act I remains one of theater's most emotional and disturbing combinations. Having lost the opportunity to his exact his revenge on Judge Turpin, Sweeney's last thread of sanity is severed in "Epiphany" where he surrenders to his madness roaring, "We all deserve to die! " Mrs. Lovett's enterprising schemes provide the knockout punch in "A Little Priest," a provocatively hilarious song about murder and cannibalism.

To see such a nearly unclassifiable, but brilliant theater piece like Sweeney Todd pulled off with such style and emotional punch is a credit to both the original creators and the on and off stage creative talents thriving at Casa Manana.