Overstimulation can’t kill compelling core of ‘Sweeney Todd’
From the opening lines of Theater West End’s “Sweeney Todd,” performed by ensemble members Kerry Alce and Nicholas Matthews, you know this is going to be a well-sung production. And it truly is.
The musical also has a good share of striking visuals and sharply drawn performances by its leading duo — the murderously vengeful Sweeney (Ayò Jeriah Demps, also credited as associate director) and co-conspirator Mrs. Lovett (Desiree Montes). Yet so much has been heaped on top of them that the whole enterprise at times feels like it’s just too much for the intimate Sanford theater.
Furniture is moving around, recorded music blares, performers repeatedly promenade through the audience and in the strangest decision, the lighting design shatters the creepy twilight mood of the show by blazing and pulsing like a night at the disco.
When the lights do settle down, director Derek Critzer, as is more typical, creates striking scenes and memorable moments. In one, the inmates of a London “madhouse” stand frozen in their asylum, nearly in silhouette, while in brighter light, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett conduct a frantic search for the young boy hiding in the cellars under their cannibalistic bakehouse.
Right at the show’s start, the dramatically lit reveal of Sweeney is applause-worthy. And Montes deservedly gets laughs instantly.
Theater West End has a strong history with socially conscious productions, including, in recent times, a blazing “Spring Awakening” and heartfelt “The Prom.” In “Sweeney Todd,” the theater has intentionally cast the show with people of color in the leading roles, with the notable exception of the authority figures and a blackmailing swindler, who are all white. The story tells of a man, Sweeney, who has suffered a terrible miscarriage of justice. He seeks revenge against those who wronged him with a laser focus that spirals out of control.
Does the intentional racial divide in the casting affect the musical’s message? I would argue yes, and in an effective way. While “Sweeney Todd” originally separates the characters by social class, that division is compounded by the racial factor in deciding who are the haves and who are the have-nots.
And the show’s meditation on who holds power in society takes on new resonance in post-George Floyd America. You listen to young sailor Anthony (an appealingly earnest Eli Hamilton) differently when he is Black: “Is there no justice in this city?” he cries. “Are the officers of the law as vicious and corrupted as their masters?”
The white official’s directive to the police officer chasing Anthony, who has committed no crime, becomes more chilling: “Bash him in the head if need be.”
That’s said with effective callous cruelty by Harvey Evans as the Beadle, henchman to Michael Colavolpe, radiating (perceived) superiority and burning with fervor in his intense “Mea Culpa.” Dayja Le’Chelle makes a lovely Johanna, even if there’s disagreement among the actors on how to pronounce her name, and Leigh Green is a zesty gender-swapped Pirelli, even if the actors occasionally sound confused about which gender the character is meant to be.
Tonya Staples smartly remembers to convey the poignancy along with humor that characterizes the Beggar Woman, and Shawn G. Elliott makes an equally strong impression with beaming face and impassioned tenor as young Toby.
But no one can distract from Demps and Montes, who own the stage with their presence. Montes goes for a shrewder, slyer characterization of Mrs. Lovett than the flightier version often seen, and it works brilliantly. Her mastery of the music is top-notch as well, as she hits the tender notes sweetly and the comic notes with lip-smacking verve. And she’s the only cast member who commits to a specific accent and maintains it the entire show.
Demps is a seething personification of anger — rasping, almost growling, with eyes glinting with the zeal of vengeance. Every move feels calculated as Sweeney travels an inexorable path toward the bitter end. But, pleasingly, Demps is also allowed to add to the show’s bleak humor: Keep an eye on the horrified facial expressions manifested during “By the Sea.”
As rootable as Sweeney is, it’s still disturbing to hear the audience cheer for the character’s chief execution — making one wonder if anyone grasped the musical’s pointed moral that the quest for revenge, even if justified, ultimately destroys a person. Sweeney Todd may be compelling — especially as played by Demps in this production — but “the demon barber of Fleet Street” is no hero.
‘SWEENEY TODD’ Length: 2:55, including intermission
Where: Theater West End, 115 W. 1st St. in Sanford When: Through Oct. 1 Cost: $25 and up
Info: theaterwestend.com