SWEENEY TODD. To 22 April.

Birmingham and Plymouth

SWEENEY TODD
music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book Hugh Wheeler from an adaptation by Christopher Bond

Theatre Royal To 22 April 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Runs 2hs 30min One interval.
Review: Kim Durham (10 April at Alexandra Theatre Birmingham)

TICKETS: 01752 267222
www.theatreroyal.com

Chamber production packs a powerful punch.
Director John Doyle’s signature style is the stripped-down musical. Empty the orchestra pit and present the show with a tight company of actor/singer/musicians. Here it works triumphantly.

Jason Donovan, as the eponymous anti-hero, stalks the stage with a brooding fury, an impressively far cry from Neighbours and Joseph. There is also a terrific Mrs Lovett, Sweeny Todd’s co-worker in their butchery and baking business, in Harriet Thorpe. But it is the ensemble that is the real star. On stage throughout, each of the company of ten moves seamlessly from musician to actor and back again, often playing scenes with instrument still in hand.

This multi-tasking makes for some pretty tough casting demands, but Doyle and Music Director Sarah Travis seem to have been forced to compromise little in any area. Both singing and playing serve Sondheim’s darkly operatic score well, while each member of the company delivers handsomely on the acting front.

There are some big gains in this Brechtian approach. We are, after all in a world that Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd can describe as one in which the question is “who gets eaten and who gets to eat.” It could be a line straight out of The Threepenny Opera.

The economy and deftness of presentation is itself part of the pleasure of the production. The grungily contemporary costuming – Donovan slouching thuggishly in black leather jacket – eschews the historically picturesque and keeps the piece gritty and immediate. On stage musicians, playing Travis’ clever arrangements, comment wittily on the action.

If you’re looking for a show that delivers the full overblown West End or Broadway treatment, this might not be for you. But as one who often feels suckered by big stage musicals, I found this a punchy theatrical delight.

Sweeney Todd: Jason Donovan
Mrs Lovett: Harriet Thorpe
Anthony: Greg Barnett
Judge: Oliver Beamish
Beadle: Peter Head
Johanna: Joanna Hickman
Beggar Woman: Gemma Page
Fogg: Matthew Rutherford
Tobias: James Spilling
Pirelli: Susannah van den Berg

Director/Designer: John Doyle
Lighting: Richard G. Jones
Sound Designer: Chris Full
Music Director/Arranger: Sarah Travis
Associate director: Graham Hubbard
Associate musical director: Michael Howcroft

2006-04-19 00:30:22