Seattle Review: Sweeney Todd in Concert

SWEENEY TODD IN CONCERT

Eastside Musical Theatre

Directed by Sabrina Prada

Musical Direction by Bruce Monroe

Musicals in concert are tricky. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. That's the outcome in Eastside Musical Theatre's concert version of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's gothic operetta Sweeney Todd. Considered by many (this reviewer included) as Sondheim's greatest achievement, Sweeney follows a demented and deranged barber as he goes around seeking revenge for his estranged wife and daughter by slitting the throats of his customers while his cohort, Mrs. Lovett, takes his victims and makes them into meat pies. Sounds like a musical to me!

The best thing this production has going for it is it's casting. With quality performers in all the principal characters, both the vocal and acting power is evident in almost all the roles. As the title character, Eric Polani Jensen gives a wicked transformation from an angry and depressed escaped convict into the psychopathic barber. It's a tough role to really master, with many talented actors getting caught up in the madness of the character forgetting that he is also just a man. Jensen keeps his Sweeney very human until the very end, never delving too deep into "crazy" mode. As Lovett, Leslie Law sounds eerily similar to Patti LuPone (in a good way) who recently appeared in concert versions of the show at the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. Law provides the necessary acting for the role doing just as well with the comedic bits as with the dramatic ending. At first she seemed a bit young for the part, but as the evening progressed, she grew on me more and more. The combination of Jensen, Law and one of the best act one finales written for musical theatre ("A Little Priest") leaves one going to intermission wanting more. Law and Jensen have an irreplaceable chemistry and are the backbone of this concert.

The supporting cast also shines, mostly. Jamie Marie Herlich makes a delicious Beggar Woman with plenty of vocal power and wonderful acting chops tackling a challenging and often times thankless role, Aaron Shanks makes a fine Tobias with a wonderful tenor, Billie Wildrick is right out of a dream cast as Joanna: bright-eyed and beautiful with a gorgeous lyric soprano, and Jadd Davis provides the best male voice on stage as Beadle Bamford. While Aaron Rubenson owns a great voice as Anthony, his acting is just not up to snuff. Everything is overdone and overacted with no deeper emotion than sad, happy or mad; and although Ekello Harrid can physically sing the role of the Judge, he seems like he would be more at home as Audrey II or James Thunder Early than in an operetta. His voice is fine, but just does not suit the style of music. And while all were wonderful, the show was completely stolen by Michael Cimino in a stupendously funny turn as Pirelli, the Italian/Irish barber. From his first entrance to his death, Cimino is on fire and steals every moment he can get. It's obvious the rest of the cast knows it, because no one tries to challenge him, which is likely a good choice. With a powerhouse like Cimino, it's best to just step back and watch.

Where this production falls short is the technical elements of the show. Sabrina Prada is the director, and seems to have no directing experience listed in her bio. Sadly, much of her direction comes across that way. She has the Beadle dressed as a cowboy, and at one point has Joanna in a feather boa. Strange choices to say the least. But the main distraction in the direction is how she has her actors delivering lines out to the audience, when the person they're talking to is standing right next to them; so instead of interaction and acting, the most we can expect from the performers is line readings, as they have no one to play off of. It was a poor choice that had me thinking more about where the actors were looking than what was going on in the plot. Though the music takes priority over the book scenes in a concert, it does not mean the show is easy to direct.

With a concert, one can enjoy a show with the emphasis of rehearsals put on the music, and (in this case) with scripts in hand, usually helping the score to sound as lush and gorgeous as can be. Bruce Monroe has collected a first-rate orchestra to play the challenging score, but the most surprising and disappointing part of the evening was the removal and simplification of many songs. All but 30 seconds of "City on Fire" was cut, and the ensemble numbers felt much less dense than usual. One would also think that this production could find a larger ensemble to help provide the extra "umph" this show needed. Granted, a 22-person ensemble is very large and the original only had 18 in it's ensemble, but for a concert of an epic show like Sweeney Todd, the more the merrier. The show didn't have the vocal power or impact necessary to reach it's dramatic potential. Design-wise, Tim Wratten's lighting was passable, though many cues were missed the night I attended, but Dave Pascal's sound was near-perfect, though better amplification of the ensemble would have helped.

Despite misguided directing choices and the disappearance of some of the score, this Sweeney hits most of it's marks by the hard work of it's talented cast. A welcomed concert of a rarely performed masterpiece. Hopefully this production will spark some inspiration in some larger theatres to try and produce the show.

-Ethan John Thompson

Sweeney Todd in concert was presented by Eastside Musical Theatre at the Kirkland Performance Center February 18-20.