As soon as the horror movie style pipe organ overture to Sweeney Todd begins, the audience knows they are about to experience something unsettling. And this production does not disappoint. On any level at all. This is the fourth different production I have seen over the decades and it was certainly the most enjoyable by far.
For those unfamiliar with the story, Sweeney Todd is a barber in Victorian London who is transported to Australia on trumped up charges by corrupt Judge Turpin, so the judge can have his way with Todd’s beautiful wife, Lucy. After she is raped by Turpin, Lucy kills herself and Turpin takes their baby daughter, Johanna, as his own child. Fifteen years later, Sweeney escapes and returns to exact his particular kind of revenge on those who have wronged him. Teaming up with an old friend, widow and pie shop owner Mrs Nellie Lovett, they find a unique way to satisfy their needs: his for justice and revenge, and hers of lust and greed.
Stephen Sondheim and his librettist Hugh Wheeler took their inspiration from a 1973 play by Christopher Bond, which was in turn based on an 1840s “penny dreadful” serial entitled The String Of Pearls by J M Rymer & T P Prest. The Victorian taste for melodramatic blood and gore is given full flight in this remarkable re-imagining.
The most outstanding aspect of this production is the strength of the ensemble work on show in this cast. All of the company work as one to make this brilliant piece come to life. The cast here is comprised of an amazing collection of performers. From the ensemble players to the principal artists, there are no weak links. Director, Stuart Maunder, has articulated the story so clearly through his talented cast; it was like seeing Sweeney for the first time. I saw and heard so many things that I hadn’t in previous versions. It was a combination of tight direction, inspired casting, and the economy delivered by creative scene changes and lighting. And diction! It was such a pleasure to actually hear all the lyrics and dialogue.
The cast is lead by Ben Mingay as Sweeney Todd. His is no stranger to the role he quite perfectly inhabits, and is so truly scary that when he plays with his razors you believe that if he missed, he’d lose a finger! His voice is rich, powerful and masculine – just the right combination to play the tormented barber.
Antoinette Halloran as Mrs Lovett is just so perfect. In other versions she is often played more as a clown – an old crone as a foil to Sweeney’s crazed machismo. But here is a Mrs Lovett who is full of sex appeal and lust for life. For the first time I believed that there was something sexual between the two characters. A meeting of minds and more. The onstage chemistry between the two characters is undeniable and it makes the story so much more complete. Halloran has sung such a broad range of roles and style in her career, from Wagner and Puccini to cabaret and burlesque, and that has added character and range to her voice that other sopranos don’t often have. It has given her the ability to move easily from the low notes that colour Mrs Lovett’s darkest desires to warm sweetness and coo-ing and the lyrical lightness of her laughter. She also has great comic timing and the discipline to not overplay the laughs.
The cast is so outstanding in this production and it’s a real privilege to experience them all in one performance. Adrian Tamburini brings a whole new perspective to Judge Turpin. Instead of an old, weak and bitter man, we see a strong and virile man in his prime, conflicted by his own lusts and desires and those of the law and his faith. His shirtless flagellation scene is not to be missed! Tamburini has a vital stage presence and a sonorous baritone that is perfect for the role. His duet of “Pretty Women” with Ben Mingay is like poetry. As it takes place in a barber’s chair while Sweeney lathers the judge’s chin with murder in his heart, there is a tension that underpins the beauty of the melody. And those moments are everywhere in this piece. It keeps the tension going throughout and the audience on the edge at all times. Even the romantic scenes are fraught with a dark undertone.
There are other roles that sprang to the fore in this production that hadn’t done so for me before. The Beggar Woman here is played by American mezzo-soprano Margaret Trubiano. For the first time I heard her with a beautiful warm tone as she begs for alms in the street in her rags. In her madness she sees what the other people can’t. She has outbursts of vulgarity in a harsh raspy screech and back into the warm tones again as she regains herself. Trubiano has given the character some gravity and strength to counter the mad moments. It was truly a revelation to watch her develop a depth to the character everyone else on stage dismisses.
As Beadle Bamford, tenor Kanen Breen brings an arch cruelty to the role which works brilliantly. His scene with Mrs Lovett at her “singed” harmonium is as hilarious as it is tense. His range is famously huge and he uses it to great effect, even moving into falsetto in other ensemble pieces. Another brilliant vocalist in this stellar cast.
Alessia Pintabona plays the beautiful Johanna to great effect and her high soprano voice is just right for this. One of my favourite moments is her scene with the bird seller when she is first noticed at her window by Sweeney’s sailor friend Anthony Hope, played by lyric baritone Lachlann Lawton.
Another special moment is the scene between Mrs Lovett and her poor innocent worker Tobias Ragg as he sings protectively to her “Not While I’m Around”. It really works so powerfully here as he doesn’t realise his affection for her is entirely misplaced. Tobias is played with great pathos by Mat Verevis, another award-winning veteran of this particular musical.
The set and costumes are designed by Tony Award winner, Roger Kirk and they are very effective, especially with the simplicity of a central revolving scene change and the cast being able to use a timber scaffold gantry with multiple staircases to create whichever scene is needed. The costumes are an edgy interpretation of the street wear of Victorian London with plenty of strong colour and layers that peeled away to reveal another when needed. An intelligent design with no time wasted on lengthy scene changes keeps the drama moving at the right pace.
The lighting design of Philip Lethlean was inspired by the old lighting effects in the Musical Hall style of the times with the chorus lined up and lit from below to look like foot lights, and the frequent use of dome lights or follow spots. Elsewhere, it is the lighting that creates the scene changes rather than the entire set needing to move – another way in which the piece retains its energy and pace throughout.
This was one of the most enjoyable nights at the theatre I have had in quite some time. As I heard another patron say: it doesn’t matter how many times you see it, there’s always something new to discover in this Sondheim masterpiece. The audience gave a rapturous and lengthy ovation at the curtain call and it was clear that the cast was as delighted with their opening night as the crowd was. It was also wonderful that the entire pit orchestra came out on stage, instruments in hand, with their brilliant conductor, the musical genius, Phoebe Briggs.
This production is an all-star affair from top to bottom and well worth anyone’s time and money to see. Don’t miss it!
Photo credit: Charlie Kinross
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Jon Jackson reviewed Victorian Opera and New Zealand Opera’s production of “Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, presented at Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse Theatre on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
