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Sophie-Louise Dann as Mrs Lovett and Hugh Maynard as Sweeney Todd. Pictures: Robert Day. Sweeney Todd
Derby Theatre**** SWEENEY Todd
has enough classic
ingredients to verge of the corny: a wicked couple, amounting to a witch
with a furnace-like oven and a barber who wields the razor to cut not
drooping locks but unsuspecting throats; a fair maid whose ogre of a
guardian plans to marry her himself and invest or spend the readies; a
heroic young sailor who uses his shore leave to rescue her from his
grasping clutches; and a lad coerced or blackmailed into joining
the evil pair, only finally to blow the whistle on the whole dastardly
enterprise. It’s pantomime really, but this is something
much more: the music and lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim, and here, in
the capable hands of music director Michael Haslam, who not only
supplied a positive wealth of keyboard playing, both as accompaniment
and within the brilliantly lucid textures, but also delivered with his
five-man ensemble some unfaultable pacings, so that with the exception
of the ubiquitous ‘Johanna’ song, which pops up with slightly tiresome
regularity during the show, much of the music comes in the form of a
sparkling scherzo, each delivered with as much panache by the cast by
Haslam’s terrifically spruce, well-marshalled quintet. Of course the impact
of Sweeney Todd
hinges above all on the two central characters – the barbarous Sweeney
and his accomplice (in this lively and at times riveting production,
virtually in the driving seat) the incredibly juicy piemaker Mrs.
Lovett. But the company as a whole – at least as individuals – produced
some memorable cameos. It is unfortunate for Jack Wilcox (as the
appropriately named sailor Anthony Hope) that Hugh Wheeler’s libretto
leaves some of the lesser characters, including the lovelorn Hope, not
especially well drawn. So one is left not so much with the character as
with the musical contribution, and all of these characters – not least
Hope, with a gentle lilting tenor (or perhaps high baritone) put their
heart and soul into the singing, so that if the drama occasionally
drooped – that wasn’t very often – the vocal delivery was invariably
pleasing and always appealing. For example, Julian Hoult as Beadle Bamford
proved later especially (before being minced up) that he too has an
attractive tenor: his moves were pastiche, as is inevitable for anyone
wielding onstage a predictably large sceptre of office. But he lent
gentle authority and indeed sympathy to his role, and added a feeling of
fun whenever his smiling features appeared. Christine Bennington made of
Johanna whatever one can of a limply designed character – scoring
especially when Johanna stands up for herself and disguises herself –
nearly fatally – as a boy. At least she had a good deal of spirit. And to prove it, she stood up boldly to her
scheming, machinating guardian. That required a good deal of nerve, for
David Durham created a firm and com But Durham actually created a sympathetic character too: not a villain, and indeed not unattractive either, yet someone who was incapable of grasping how unappetising life with a much older man would be for a girl not yet embarked on a far more optimistic love life. Christine Bennington as Johanna The cameo which set the show rolling quite
effectively was Kara Lane’s Beggar Woman: one of the better conceived
characters, largely because at the end she will prove to Sweeney not to
be who she seems: Beggar women inevitably invite comedy, and Lane’s
pottering around on a stick inevitably engendered a hearty laugh or two.
But the timing of her ragged, insistent visits nicely suggested there
might be some connection yet to emerge. Perhaps stars among the bit parts – quite
substantial bits in fact – were two very different characters who first
appear together. Signor Pirelli if well plotted can add a lot of zip to
the early scenes, and Simon Shorten produced a brilliant character,
acting with endless flair, and singing and moving with perfect
coordination. The wit and ingenuity of his performing helped
greatly to ensure that the early scenes in Daniel Buckroyd’s mosly
gripping and energised production came off splendidly, with the possible
exception of one weakly moved, dully uncoordinated chorus scene (the
singing and music were admirable, despite that brief drawback). Pirelli’s assistant is the young lad Toby, or
Tobias Ragg, who proves an able aide to his ‘Italian’ (more like
Liverpudlian) superior, but proves even more of one to Mrs. Lovett, when
because of knowledge inadvertently acquired he narrowly avoids becoming
one of the first victims of the pie factory. Toby needs pathos to move
audience hearts (by dramatic irony we’re conscious of his narrow escape)
and Ryan Heenan’s earnest, dedicated and willing service attracts our
sympathy even more than Bennington’s put-upon Johanna. In his brief solo
offerings, his entertaining patter with Mrs. Lovett, and his honest
fronting of the barber’s shop, he too proved one of the memorable items
of this enjoyable show. Sara Perks was responsible for set and costumes.
And she pulled this off superbly – one is reminded of the former Derby
Playhouse’s magnificent staging of the Musical some eight or so years
ago. A large – one might say massive – construction on a revolving
centre stage conjures up with considerable insight the various sides of
the grim Victorian (possibly tenement) block where meat pie making is
not quite what it seems. A steep staircase has the advantage that each
character’s approach to the upstairs barber shop amounts to a long and
ominous pilgrimage – whether leading to another grisly demise or just
occasionally to an unexpected escape. Downstairs, we are treated to Mrs. Lovett’s
drawing room with harmonium, which generates one very witty scene for
her and Toby; and all this alongside a counter which serves as Mrs. L’s
servery in the pie parlour for a deliriously enthusiastic gaggle of
unaware customers; and the ghastly chute down which victims cascade fr So what of those two principle roles? The wicked ones, the malefactors? Hugh Maynard has a rather noble presence, almost regal, towering above the others but not necessarily threatening. Sweeney and Mrs Lovett don't always see pie to pie, so to speak He played Sweeney as a rather sympathetic
character, one not naturally given over to brutality, but somehow lured
into it by necessity and an unscrupulous woman. His singing was most
agreeable, even if his character seemed a bit static, and a bit stolid.
One can imagine him making a most imposing Othello. In a way, one wanted
to urge him to free up, to relax more, and to find more subtlety and
undertow in the role. This is not altogether an actor’s fault, it’s
partially there in Sondheim and Wheeler’s design of the role. But actor
and director have to find a way through those limitations to get the
most satisfaction from the part. By contrast, Mrs Lovett was insuppressible.
Sondheim naughtily gives her most of the best lines, and a high
proportion of the best music. In the first half she has four or five
solos that go – or can go, as here – at a terrific pace. The lyrics are
hilarious, but it needs as terrific an actress as Sophie-Louise Dann
(Grange Park Opera’s Widow Corney) to carry off both aspects – music and
lyrics – as brilliantly as she does. Whipped along by Haslam and his
superlative musicians, these ditties simply took fire. Endlessly, we
were whipped along – and the sound (Adam McCready) was just perfect:
never overbearing, almost as if there were no loudspeakers at all. Very
rare for a musical, and wholly admirable. As for Lovett, Funny, half dotty, mischievous,
dazzling, impish, possibly heartless - finding fun in the most appalling
grotesqueries, Sophe-Louise Dann was easily the star of this always
entertaining show. What a truly brilliant performance. To 22-10-16 Roderic Dunnett 10-10-16
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manding
as well as authoritative figure as Judge Turpin: one could just imagine
the oppressive and claustrophobic feeling caused by being shuffled off
to run his household for him. 
om
barber shop to furnace door, ready to be served up to those same
customers a few hours later.