Sweeney Todd

USER (10Apr06): Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, Monday 10th April 2006 Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street A Musical Thriller Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. The original Broadway production of this show opened in March 1979 and ran for 557 performances and picked up the Tony Award of 1979 for Best Musical and Best Original Score to name only two of the many many awards it won. It has since been revived and John Doyle directs this new UK touring version. Tonight we saw a mature and confident Jason Donovan in the title role and a frightening and demonic barber he made of it to. Supporting him as the amoral Mrs Lovett was west end star Harriet Thorpe who was well cast both for her acting and singing abilities. The set designed by John Doyle was a huge affair, a (which we didn’t see) below. The lighting by Richard G Jones established a grim and morbid ness that was present throughout the production and the style of performance a sung narration that required constant attention made for an intense evening of drama. The use of red light to signify the cutting of throats when the demon barber struck worked well and sent a shiver down the spine. Many of the potential sound difficulties were overcome and it was fairly easy to follow a character and their action but when two, three or four characters were singing against each other the plot got somewhat lost. Individually the performers all had good voices. The supporting cast of actor-musicians with their instruments and in a variety of costumes could not be faulted and gave I am sure a good account of the source material. This is however a very dark piece with a sombre finale and one which will not provide enjoyment to all. Musically there are a few decent numbers such as “No Place Like London” performed by Jason Donovan, Greg Barnett and Gemma Page. “My Friends” by Jason Donovan and Harriet Thorpe plus “By the Sea” performed by Harriet Thorpe but many of the others disappear into the narration and are not very memorable. The production runs at The Alexandra Theatre until Saturday 15th April and then continues on its UK tour until the end of the month. Clive Fuller 3