Friday, 4 December 2009
Roleystone Theatre seem determined to work their way through musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim’s eclectic catalogue, having staged Assassins earlier this year and scheduling Into the Woods for 2010. But I’ll wager none will be as bloody at this production of Sweeney Todd, an inspired penny dreadful ‘grusical’ which parlays the Victorian urban legend of a fiendish barber who slices the throats of his hapless customers, and his lovelorn but even more insidiously guilty accomplice, Mrs Lovett (a whole creature cook no doubt) who proceeds to mince all that perfectly good meat into tasty pies whetting the appetite of the London working class. Masterchef with a cannibalistic twist!
Director Stephen Carr has presented a rich musical theatre experience, seeking to satisfy the palette of any Sondheim devotee, with able support from Musical Director Matt Austin who tackles the complex score replete with counterpoint and angular harmonies with reasonable assurance.
The strong introduction by the Ensemble singing The Ballad of Sweeney Todd was a Greek Chorus on fire, and their interludes pushed along the plot and background details of this revenge tale; their vocal collective a testament to the sheer hard work and talent on stage. The scene at the Bedlam Mental Institution was particularly well staged; the silhouetted starkness cinematic and clever, and more than a little disquieting when the lunatics began to break through their paper walls.
Inhabiting the title role was Scott Burns, his sturdy vocalizations overlaid with surly sarcasm, as he carried the weight of 15 years of hard labour throughout his demeanor, looking through everyone with cynical dead eyes and pitch black humour. Lindsay McNab as Mrs Lovett rendered her role with a nice, even voice, but at times her complex patter was lost in the speed of the score. Timothy How, as Tobias Ragg, an orphan assistant to popinjay rival barber Pirelli ( Manuao TeAotonga) seemed to be channeling early Jerry Lewis with his man-child simpleton shtick; complete with pigeon-toed gait, heightened squeal of a speaking voice (I half expected him to utter Lewis’ signature “Hey, Lai-dy!”) and half-wit determinism.
Delivering his lines with handsome projection was Paul Treasure as Judge Turpin (Boo! Hiss!), whose considerable physical stature incited genuine loathing for his character as he sang of the naked lust for his ward Johanna, the child of the woman he raped after incarcerating her husband (Benjamin Barker now returned as Sweeney Todd) on a trumped up charge. The images of the Judge flagellating his corpulent bulk, marking his back to somehow lessen his inward depravity were saliently disturbing.
The pacing for the production was a slight quibble; the last third of the First Act became unrepentant save for the small bird of a love story between Johanna (Cassie Skinner) and Anthony Hope (Owen Measday). And the set design incorporated a three tiered sectioning of the whole performance area which though reasonably innovative for a community theatre production, was at times problematic. While the middle stage was well utilized, and entries and walk ways through the audience broke the fourth wall for a this-is-live-theatre! effect; the far back raised stage seemed at times distant and cramped, and the few songs presented from this quarter were at risk of being drowned by the musicians housed right behind the flat.
Overall, however, a fine interpretation of this bloody difficult musical.
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