BWW Reviews: SWEENEY TODD, the Demon Barber of State Street

Emerging from the dark prisons of Fidelio comes a show with darker themes, a more sinister villain, and higher stakes. Madison Opera premiered their Sweeney Todd in Capitol Theatre last night to a crowd eager to see what they could do. Fans of the Stephen Sondheim musical in its original capacity, the 2007 film adaptation starring Johnny Depp, the 1998 version starring Ben Kingsley, or (even rarer still) those who are fond of the original 1936 film were clearly in attendance.

Others, who many not know the tale as well, were confronted with a thrilling musical rife with cannibalism humor and asylums.

The tale of Sweeney Todd is tricky. A man sent away from his family by an envious judge, escapes life imprisonment in a worker's colony with the help of the ocean and a raft. A young man sees him from onboard a passing ship, saves him, and takes him back to London and they part ways. Sweeney attempts to find his family only to be told that his wife had taken poison while his daughter was being cared for by the man who imprisoned him. Befriending a local pie shop owner, Mrs. Lovett, he decides to take up his old profession once more, but take his anger out on those who go through life wronging others. His hope is to one day slit the throat of the man who took away his family...

"What happened then, well that's the play, and he [Sweeney] wouldn't want us to give it away..."

Madison Opera first timers Corey Crider and Meredith Arwady captivate their audiences as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Nellie Lovett respectively. Crider's weaving between madness or sanity is intoxicating. Not knowing whether or not to consider him the hero of his own story, audiences are left with a deranged man whose bass as well as baritone qualities illuminate the dimly lit stage. Crider has a clear understanding of the struggle Sweeney has to undergo as he attempts to revenge his family and stay hidden amongst the "innocent" people around him. His counterpart Arwady's lower mezzo range comes in handy for picking up Sweeney's downward spiraling spirits. Arwady provides the smothering mother figure one expects out of Lovett but offers her own panache that makes the 2007 film fans forget all about the Helena Bonham Carter adaptation.

The two most surprising performances came out of Joshua Sanders as Tobias Ragg (Toby) and Robert Goderich as Adolfo Pirelli. Despite the obvious - that Sanders is clearly not a young child - his character development from innocent child bystander to suspicious young man is astounding. While the change is gradual throughout the course of the show, it provides Sanders the time to grow his vocal strength alongside his character's own developing into his own person. It's quite a thing to behold.

Goderich too astounded audiences in the spectacle that is Pirelli. Never breaking either of his learned accents he maintains control of a character that can, at times, be lost to the overdramatic nature. While his portrayal of Pirelli was colorful, he kept both feet on the ground. Goderich proved that, despite Pirelli's constant vying for attention, he was still a person trying to make the corrupt world work in his favor.

Seeing the two sides to every story is what this whole show is about - made perfectly clear by the four aforementioned performers.

Scenic designer Joseph Varga and lighting designer Hideaki Tsutsui's concept work perfectly in tandem with

one another. A set composed of different mechanical pieces are a brilliant representation of both the industrial age of the show itself as well as showing the inner workings of a world no one in the show truly understands. Tsutsui's lighting effects add to the dreary design - and make for subtle death scenes that avoid over the top blood spatters or tacky red scarf motifs.

A distraction that is still lacking a definite meaning to this observer is an overwhelmingly loud screeching sound that occurs several times during the show. At first, it seems to be a knoll for bad omens as it accompanied the ending of the first scene causing the ensemble to scatter. However, as the show goes on the screeching becomes more frequent and difficult to pinpoint. It loses its purpose. Occurring in death sequences, when Sweeney's barber chair moves, as well as other seemingly miscellaneous portions of the show it appeared to be misplaced. Though that's entirely possible as a gunshot was heard in act II before the actress motioned that the gun had fired. 19th century handguns certainly had to have some sort of recoil.

Aside from the sound effect confusion, it's a smashing first run of a Sondheim classic for the Madison Opera.

Needless to say, Sweeney is certainly a cultural phenomenon that has survived quite a few generations. From the tale's humble beginnings as an insert in various 19th century English literatures to his larger than life operatic persona - people are still attending the tale of Sweeney Todd.