Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Rep, Birmingham, 22 July 2026 | until 15 August 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The Rep, Birmingham, 22 July 2026 | until 15 August 2026

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

“A totally immersive and convincing production of Sondheim’s classic.”

Sondheim was, to the end, adamant that he did not write operas. And yet it is almost impossible to ignore the operatic elements in what many  people view as his greatest masterpiece,  Sweeney Todd.

Almost all of the musical numbers are ensemble. There is extensive use of through-composition. Thematic linkages abound. Eighty percent of the work is either sung or underscored dialogue. And then there is all that spiky, contemporary harmony going on in the Greek Chorus.

Musical, opera, or some exotic collision of the two, there is no denying that his use of sophisticated compositional techniques has resulted in a piece of theatre that is muscular and sinewy, yet fluid and organic.

The spare, austere set of the The Rep’s new production of the show provides a space where the action can flow seamlessly. Similarly, Director, Jeo Murphy’s unfussy and gimmick free approach to the action gives his immensely talented team of singing actors the space to explore the text and develop distinctive and persuasive interpretations of their roles.

As Todd, Ramin Karimloo is vocally and dramatically commanding. His brooding presence dominates, yet never overshadows the other actors. He manages to convey the reality of one who has been brutalised beyond recognition, yet still gives us glimpses of the more noble person he once was.

His costume is eloquent. He cuts a romantic figure compared with the rest of the cast, whose wardrobe is firmly fixed in the eighteenth century. This interpretation is that the character of Sweeney Todd has come to destroy the old order.

In a nicely drawn counterpoint, Shem Omari James’ Anthony is all youthfully energy, enthusiasm and naivety. Todd describes his younger self as ‘naïve’, so we might see this Anthony as a reflection of his former self, before his life was so cruelly taken from him.

Meow Meow is off-the-scale-good as Mrs Lovett. Her characterisation is by turns hilarious, awful and deeply pathetic. As an actor, she is never not saying something about herself and her situation. It is so well thought out. The rest of the cast is vocally, dramatically, and musically superb.

Murphy’s skill in his shaping of the narrative is most evident in the show’s closing scenes. The mad are loose on the streets. Societal order is collapsing. Hell has come to earth. The revenge tragedy draws to its close with farcical comings and goings: characters hiding in wooden trunks, cross dressing and disguise. This is all fabulously well-paced, and with such a delirious crescendo of energy that one is totally and breathlessly engrossed. Brilliant theatre.

Revenge tragedies often end with the establishment of a new order to supplant the old corrupt one. Instead, Sondheim and book writer, Hugh Wheeler give us something bleaker. Traumatised, simple soul Toby emerges from the horror and continues to grind the human flesh in the gruesome meat mincing machine. In the role of Toby, Jack Gibson delivers these crucial and horrific moments with devastating commitment and truth.

A word about musical director, Leo Munby, whose pint-sized band of seven players manages to convincingly recreate the distinctive sound world of the show’s originally twenty-seven-piece orchestration.

This is a gripping , engrossing, and richly rewarding piece of music theatre.

Cast

Sweeney Todd – Ramin Karimloo

Mrs Lovett – Meow Meow

Judge Turpin – David Bedella

Anthony Hope – Shem Omari James

Johanna – Jo Stephenson

Beadle – Julius D’Silva

Tobais Ragg – Jack Gibson

Beggar Woman – Florence Andrews

Adolfo Pirelli – Silas Wyatt-Barke

Ensemble – Emily Ivana Hawkins/Harian Delacey

Creatives

Music & Lyrics – Stephen Sondheim

Book – Hugh Wheeler

From a play by – Christopher Bond

Director – Jo Murphy

Designer – Elin Steele

Musical arrangement – Dr John Rigby

Lighting – Rory Beaton

Sound – Kelsh Buckman -Drage

Musical Director – Leo Munby