REVIEW: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET - A MUSICAL THRILLER Is Given A Gloriously Gothic Treatment

Sunday 30th July 2023, 6pm, Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House

Victorian Opera’s incoming Artistic Director Stuart Maunder AM revives his a deliciously dark but incredibly clear expression of Stephen Sondheim (Music and Lyrics) and Hugh Wheeler’s (Book) SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET – A MUSICAL THRILLER.  First presented in 2015, the collaboration between Victorian Opera and New Zealand Opera ensures this work has the scope and scale both visually and musically that this work demands while ensuring that it works in the more intimate space of the Drama Theatre which enables a sense of being much closer to the action.

Premiered on Broadway in 1979 and winning a slew of Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET – A MUSICAL THRILLER is based on Christopher Bond’s 1970 play about the Victorian Penny Dreadful serial “The String Of Pearls, A Domestic Romance” which was published from late 1846 to 1847.  While its inspiration hasn’t been completely verified, the gruesome tale may be connected to the real records from the Parisian Minister of Police, Joseph Fouché, in which he wrote of murders carried out by a Parisian barber in the 1800’s, who, after stealing from his victims, proceeded to collude with neighboring pastry cook who made use of the free ‘meat’ for her pie fillings.  In Bond’s retelling, the razor wielding protagonist was given a backstory which made the impetus for bloodlust being revenge for a false conviction, including 15 years transportation to Australia, orchestrated by Judge Turpin (Dean Vince) who coveted the then Benjamin Barker’s wife.  Told as a ghostly recount of a Victorian Gothic tale, the audience learns that once the re-named Sweeney Todd (Ben Mingay) returns to his old Fleet Street premises, he is led to believe his wife committed suicide after the Judge raped her and that his daughter Johanna (Ashleigh Rubenach) now lives as the Judge’s ward. 

Director Stuart Maunder leans into the notion that this is a ghost story, told by the ghosts of a bygone era with Roger Kirk’s costuming and makeup design giving the cast, particularly the ‘greek chorus’ ensemble that provide a degree of narration, an ashen pallor and darkened ‘sunken’ eyes associated with the stereotype of ghostly figures.  He keeps the costuming monochromatic with flashes of reds linking to the amount of blood shed over the course of the story with those closest to the murder bearing more of the burgundy and russet tones.  The set, also designed by Roger Kirk, is deceptive in its apparent simplicity, with the story appearing to be retold in an old warehouse, echoing the fact that the work is set in 1785, within Great Britain’s Industrial Age and Todd’s Barbershop and Mrs Lovett’s Pie shop were in the heart of Fleet Street which became London’s center for printing and publishing in the early 16th century until the 1980’s.  Phil Lethlean’s lighting design, realized by Jason Morphett, adds the requisite moodiness to the work and the choice to have the chorus up-lit from the footlights, echoing memories of juvenile ghost stories told with torches to the chin is also an effective way to cover scene changes.  While Maunder is explicit with his rendering of Mr Todd’s murders, Lethlean reinforces the acts with a wash of red light to ensure the gravity of the situation is clear.

Supported by Simon Holt’s (Musical Director) 9-piece live orchestra and a pre-recorded organ prelude performed by Calvin Bowman, this work has the gravity expected of a work backed by opera companies while ensuring the correct balance for the Drama Theatre space and Jim Atkins’ sound design ensures there is a perfect balance throughout. Maunder has gathered performers from the musical theatre world and opera world, particularly those which have a history of crossing over the genres which leads to a universally strong performance as all performers understand the importance of ensuring that Stephen Sondheim’s clever lyrics are not lost in achieving his wonderful music.  Maunder has also ensured the performers strike a balance with the accents, giving enough of the English accent, complete with affectations due to class and character, while ensuring that they remain intelligible and not drifting into caricatures but retaining an honesty about the characters the ghost story is recounting. 

Leading the cast, Ben Mingay’s bass-baritone brings the requisite menace to his portrayal of Sweeney Todd while he ensures that there is a ‘quiet’ undertone to his anger, reinforcing the point that his return to London is for a singular purpose that he refuses to be distracted from.  He also conveys that even though Todd has opted to expand his plans to take advantage of the number of customers that may not be missed, or at least can’t be traced since Victorian barber’s operated without a booking system, he is quietly disturbed by how Mrs Lovett seems to be ‘turned on’ by the bloodshed.  Mingay’s intensity as Sweeney is well matched with Antoinette Halloran’s Mrs Lovett.  Reprising her 2015 performance, Halloran, an acclaimed opera soprano, shows she has the flexibility to take on the darkly comic musical theatre role.  She brings a wonderful physicality to the role of the purveyor of “the worst pies in London” as the widow sets her sights on Todd who she realizes was her former tenant of the upstairs apartment.  

The target of Todd’s revenge, Judge Turpin and his faithful servant Beadle Bamford are presented with the requisite expression of how vile the upper classes can be by Dean Vince and Kanen Breen.  The characters capture how devoid of ethics, integrity and any regard for humanity such corrupt ‘leaders’ of society can be.  Vince captures Turpin’s depravity with suitably sickening displays of disregard for the objects of his desires consent which seeks to destroy both of the women closest to Barker/Todd’s heart.  Reprising his performance from the 2015 production, Breen ensures that Beadle Bamford, the Judge’s servant and upholder of the law, is seen as the oily facilitator of the Judge’s wishes.  Breen’s Beadle is deliciously sinister in his manipulation and intimidation, proving that while he has previously delivered some wonderfully comic roles, he is also very adept at the dark and depraved.  While the rest of the company deliver their characters with relatively ‘restrained’ characterizations in terms of creating unique accents, Breen leans into his portrayal of Beadle, supplementing his brilliant physicality and facial expressions with a character voice that further ensures it is clear there is something ‘off’ with the official that strives to give airs that he’s closer to the upper classes than the servant and ‘henchman’ he really is.

As the innocents of the story, Johanna, Anthony and Tobias are presented with the requisite innocence and naivety by Ashley Rubenach, Harry Targett and Jeremi Campese respectively.  Rubenach is always a treat to watch, and this performance is no different.  She captures how sheltered Johanna’s life has been while adding an understanding that she knows something is seriously wrong with how her guardian, Judge Turpin, has trapped her.  Rubenach and Targett work well together and their choreography of “Kiss Me” is perfectly rendered expression of desire and caution.  Campese delivers the light comic relief as Tobias spruiks Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir and Mrs Lovetts pies in God, That’s Good at the top of Act 2.  His Not While I’m Around is innocent and devoted in its sincerity while conveying his misplaced fears. 

It is refreshing that Maunder has ensured the crazed Beggar Woman, presented by Margaret Trubiano, is boldly featured rather than the usual temptation for directors to hold her more in the shadows.  Doubling in the roles of Signor Pirelli, Todd’s rival as a Barber, and Jonas Fogg, the operator of the asylum where Beadle has sent Johanna, Benjamin Rasheed ensures that these brief characters are given sufficient weight to convey their part in the plot without being too overt so the pieces of the puzzle can fit later on.

In a world where there still remains a gap between the haves and the have nots and corruption, manipulation and coercion still runs through positions of power the underlying themes including the caution against seeking revenge and allowing it to consume one’s soul retains a relevance although hopefully with a lot less bloodshed.  In the wake of Stephen Sondheim’s passing in 2021, theatre companies are reviving his work and it is a treat that this production of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET – A MUSICAL THRILLER has finally been bought to Sydney.  This production is well worth catching as it is everything a musical and a story of this scale should be.   

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/musical-theatre/sweeney-todd

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