SWEENEY TODD: I was a little late getting down to see the new revival of Sweeney Todd, so I had heard quite about it before I got to see it. Often, when I hear lots of advance praise, and I finally get around to seeing the show, I think “What’s the big deal?”
Not this time. This Sweeney is brilliant. Here’s a great example of a concept show in which changing the original concept actually helps further illuminate the meaning of the show. As my students at the Boston Conservatory can attest, the original concept of Sweeney was about the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution. The “man devouring man” was meant to be a comment on the soulless effects of modern society, and that America in 1979 was really no different from London in the 19th Century.
Well, this Sweeney sets the show in an insane asylum. The show essentially takes place in Tobias’s memory, as if he’s telling the story to his psychiatrist/warden. All the members of the asylum – staff and inmates – assist in telling the tale. And in the process, they all wind up playing the musical instruments for the score. As you may be aware, director John Doyle has used that same sans-orchestra gimmick in new productions of Company and Mack and Mabel, which makes me think he may be a one-trick pony. But it certainly works for this production of Sweeney.
The intimacy of the show and the pared-down version of the script allow the totality of the characters to really come through. The performances are uniformly brilliant, but one standout is Manoel Felciano as Toby. At first, his performance seemed to be a little too reminiscent of Smike in Nicholas Nickelby, but as the show progressed, it grew in texture and resonance. His highly sympathetic Toby made the show’s denouement all the more shattering.
Of course, Michael Cerveris and Patti Lupone are excellent, too, as are the quirky Lauren Molina and Benjamin Magnuson as Joanna and Anthony. And Alexander Gemignani makes for a humorously deadpan Beadle.
Whenever someone talks about some flop show like Carrie or Dracula, saying something like “God, what a terrible idea for a
musical,” I inevitably point to Sweeney
Todd. As I say all the time in my Conservatory course, there’s no such
thing as a bad idea for a musical, only poor execution. Sweeney proves conclusively that the right creators can find the drama,
passion, humor, and heart in any subject matter. If only Stephen Sondheim and
Hal Prince had taken on Lestat…
SCORE: A
