Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
With the big screen, award winning release of “Sweeney Todd” this holiday season, we should all at least have an idea of what the story is about. Just in case you’ve missed it, I’ll summarize. Sweeney Todd is a barber with a wife and baby girl when he is thrown in jail for a crime he did not commit. Upon his release fifteen years later, he returns to his former house and barber shop in London to hear that his wife has committed suicide and his baby girl is living in the house of the Judge who wrongly accused him. The Judge has adopted her and she thinks that he is her father. Naturally, Mr. Todd wants to exact revenge on the Judge who locked him away and stole his daughter, so he opens his barber shop to give his customers, and hopefully the Judge, the “closest shave they’ll ever know”.
I had never seen a stage production of “Sweeney Todd” before the movie came out this past December, but I had seen stills from it. I had also seen “Jersey Girl”, which has a scene from the stage production. These images combined along with what I had seen in Tim Burton’s film version were what I was expecting for the stage production. Boy was I wrong.
The 2005 Broadway revival is quite different than the original 1979 production of “Sweeney Todd”. The most important and challenging change is that there is an absence of an orchestra section. The cast plays each instrument in the orchestration and carries the instruments with them as they play their characters onstage. The small cast of 10 never goes off-stage. They are on the stage the entire length of the musical, with the exception of the intermission of course. This was a truly remarkable thing to watch. The pianist also happened to be playing the Beadle, and while he was in center stage as the Beadle, the Beggar Woman put down her oboe and played piano. Then when the Beadle was done with his lines, he would go back to the piano while Mrs. Lovett came out playing the tuba. Johanna plays the cello while singing “Green Finch and Linnet Bird”. It’s something I’ve never seen before and really speaks to the talent of the cast.
With the big screen, award winning release of “Sweeney Todd” this holiday season, we should all at least have an idea of what the story is about. Just in case you’ve missed it, I’ll summarize. Sweeney Todd is a barber with a wife and baby girl when he is thrown in jail for a crime he did not commit. Upon his release fifteen years later, he returns to his former house and barber shop in London to hear that his wife has committed suicide and his baby girl is living in the house of the Judge who wrongly accused him. The Judge has adopted her and she thinks that he is her father. Naturally, Mr. Todd wants to exact revenge on the Judge who locked him away and stole his daughter, so he opens his barber shop to give his customers, and hopefully the Judge, the “closest shave they’ll ever know”.
I had never seen a stage production of “Sweeney Todd” before the movie came out this past December, but I had seen stills from it. I had also seen “Jersey Girl”, which has a scene from the stage production. These images combined along with what I had seen in Tim Burton’s film version were what I was expecting for the stage production. Boy was I wrong.
The 2005 Broadway revival is quite different than the original 1979 production of “Sweeney Todd”. The most important and challenging change is that there is an absence of an orchestra section. The cast plays each instrument in the orchestration and carries the instruments with them as they play their characters onstage. The small cast of 10 never goes off-stage. They are on the stage the entire length of the musical, with the exception of the intermission of course. This was a truly remarkable thing to watch. The pianist also happened to be playing the Beadle, and while he was in center stage as the Beadle, the Beggar Woman put down her oboe and played piano. Then when the Beadle was done with his lines, he would go back to the piano while Mrs. Lovett came out playing the tuba. Johanna plays the cello while singing “Green Finch and Linnet Bird”. It’s something I’ve never seen before and really speaks to the talent of the cast.
Another surprise was the set design. Gone is the crude two story barber shop/meat pie shop from the photos for the original Broadway production. Instead, there is only a wooden platform raised approximately 6 inches off of the floor that the cast uses as their stage. This wooden platform also ascends behind them, reaching all the way above the rafters. They’re more like wood slats than a platform, actually. Resembling a picket fence with openings between the wood. This allowed light to shine through to give more mood to the scene. When the mood is light, a white light shone through the slats. When Sweeney was killing, a red light shone through. This was a very unique way to give off the very unique feel of this musical. Other than the platform/wood slats, there was no set. The characters had a few chairs, a ladder and a coffin onstage to stand in as other things. For example, the coffin would stand upright and open to act as the doorway to the Judge’s home. Or Anthony would stand on a ladder to proclaim his love for Johanna.As beautiful and captivating as it was to watch, one must really be familiar with the story to understand what was going on. The actors are all moving all over the stage and without any set and with their fellow actors playing the instruments around them, aren’t always able to speak directly at each other when having a conversation. In fact, it was rare when they were actually together in the same area of the stage. The only characters who shared some true alone time were Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd. This is of course essential for those two characters in particular. If Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd have no chemistry, the musical wouldn’t flourish the way it has.
The cast obviously has to be talented to pull this off. The score for ”Sweeney Todd” is said to be Steven Sondheim’s most challenging and anyone who’s ever had to sing it knows this firsthand. One can easily be out of breath and out of energy simply by singing and standing in place. These actors have to not only sing the challenging score, but they also have to play the entire orchestration and act the entire musical. Judy Kaye, who filled in for Patti LuPone on Broadway for the 2005 revival, plays Mrs. Lovett in the touring production and she is the heart and soul of the group. She’s no stranger to the character and can act this part without a hitch. She’s amazing. David Hess plays Sweeney Todd with an agony and emotion that was so different from Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd. I can’t say one was better than the other; they each bring so much to the role. Needless to say, I loved Mr. Hess’s performance. The rest of the cast was astounding as well, naturally. I just can’t imagine having the range of talent that each member of this cast has.
The stage production of “Sweeney Todd” is simply phenomenal. Even if you’ve seen the movie, it’s an experience completely unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Trust me.
If you’d like to experience the tour of “Sweeney Todd”, click here for more information:
http://www.sweeneytoddtour.com/photo.htm
Jenny Rushing
beccajane67@yahoo.com
1 comment:
I have only heard good things about the stage version. My Mom saw it a long time ago and said it was wonderful. She was really impressed with the Burton film as well. Great review.
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