Frontmezzjunkies reviews: Horrorshow Productions’ Sweeney Todd
By Ross
“How it shines in the light,” one might sing out once Horrorshow Productions’ Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, sets its sail for London on the Alumnae Theatre stage. This non-profit community theatre company takes on the powerhouse musical with a delicious sense of place and honor, and the performers rise to it with real commitment. I’ve seen this much-revived show numerous times, most recently on Broadway with two different casts who each uncovered new angles and glimmers inside its tightly coiled design. What I didn’t expect was how quickly this Toronto staging, directed with a clever eye for detail by Jack Phoenix (Horrorshow’s Cabaret), would win me over.
From its first notes to its final, furious chords, the production is surprisingly solid-sounding, sharply executed, and tremendously entertaining. The orchestra, under the musical direction of Adam Rosenfield, gives the score a richness I never take for granted in community theatre, and the cast matches those big, gorgeous sounds with performances that are fully engaged. Sondheim’s masterpiece remains one of his finest creations and sits just below Sunday in the Park with George on my personal list, with Company and Into the Woods close behind. To hear it delivered with this much passion and precision on the Alumnae stage is a gift. Based on last year’s superb Cabaret, I shouldn’t have been surprised by this group’s ambition. This is a monolith of a musical, and they handle it with such confidence that the audience roared after each number. I was one of them, loudly.
Flinging itself deep into the dirt and grime of Fleet Street, London, this production of Sweeney Todd finds its dark humor and revenge in every corner of that red-tinged stage. With an astonishing book by Hugh Wheeler (A Little Night Music) adapted beautifully by Christopher Bond (Dracula), this medium-scale rendering encapsulates all the required dread and danger, while also laughing alongside the bloody mess. And seeing it the other night, I got the impression that a large percentage of the audience was taking in this Sweeney for the first time, and engaging, most joyously, in the dark energy of instability that it embodies, enhanced by the wonderful off-kilter and dynamic choreography of Mai Luening (Carousel Dance’s Nutcracker). I will admit, it occasionally gets in the way of itself by becoming somewhat distracting and unrequired at odd moments, like the parade of characters in the background tableau storytelling that dances forth while Mrs. Lovett, downstairs, is wonderfully weaving her sad tale of Benjamin Barker’s wife and their daughter, Joanna. It felt too crowded and unneeded, as I didn’t know where to look, so I basically just ignored them, focusing my attention on the singer and their performance of the song.
The opening is startling, digging into the madness of the story, and its undercurrent background story of Bedlam and misery, until finally striding forward the man we are all waiting breathlessly for, Thomas Fourneir (Why Not’s The Last Five Years) as the murderous (and this time, somewhat more genteel) Sweeney Todd. Fourneir is both subtle and a powerhouse, completely captivating and astonishing in a part that is beyond demanding, to say the least. His entry vocals defy the community theatre odds, sounding as glorious as one could ever hope for from any production. But it is in his menacing glare that we find a Sweeney that we can both desire and be completely afraid of, like the chilling predator he is.
His furious slicing and dicing is as cold and cruel as can be, but the production really finds its bloody good flavor within the perfect presence of Mari MacDonald (Wren Theatre’s Little Women), who crafts a Mrs. Lovett who is as funny and wicked as she is desperate. It is inside that manic imbalance where her performance becomes completely invigorated to unquestionably exciting levels of comic intensity. MacDonald sounds utterly delicious and glorious of voice, while also finding the joke and idiosyncrasies within the role. In her hilarious performance, matching Fourneir step by step, she has crafted this woman wonderfully, to the point that we just want to savor her tasty performance. And when she launches into “By the Sea,” the whole show tilts in her favor. It’s one of the cleverest stagings I’ve seen of the number, using knives not as props of menace but as absurd little romantic accessories, making her daydream feel both sweeter and more deranged. The bit elevates the humor beautifully, sharpening her delusions and making the fantasy land of sun and sand feel hilariously, dangerously close.
The rest of the crew deserves to be seen and praised. Avi Petliar (Theatre Aurora’s Fun Home) shines strong, giving a tender, meaningful performance as Tobias from the moment he is flung down the stairs to the bitter, twisted ending of his sad tale. Olivia (Eun-Jung) Jon (Mortar & Pestle‘s Closer) delivers a vocally perfect Beggar Woman that is impossible to ignore. She threads in brief, heartbreaking flashes of remembrance. most wisely, unearthing glimpses of sadness and memory beneath the dirty facade of insanity. Scott Moore (White Mills’ The Tales of the Grotesque) as Judge Turpin, Nicholas Paolone (Brampton Music’s Company) as Beadle Bamford, and the duplicitous Janek Gonsalkorale (Assembly’s Breaking Bard) as Pirelli, all find the diabolical intensity required, while singing gloriously throughout. Costumed perfectly by Hannah Dulong (Doormouse’s The Mine), the cast, including all in the ensemble, brings vocal exuberance to the forefront, elevating the chorus to sharp and cutting heights throughout this well-mapped out production.
With the stage designed by Maria Romero, the cast ascends into the darkness, creatively lit by Connor Price-Kelleher (Alumnae’s Pretending), bringing that thick sound forward and engulfing us in its menace, even with an unfortunately problematic and inconsistent sound design. The second-level playing field tends to crowd itself during some moments of engagement, particularly the scenes that focus on Johanna, played with compelling nervous energy by Michelle Chew (Bowtie’s Fun Home), and Anthony, played handsomely and tenderly by Nolan Rush (White Mills’ The Tales of the Grotesque). Rush has a wonderfully smooth, tender vocal quality that suits Anthony beautifully, and his chemistry with Chew’s tightly wound, birdlike Johanna was genuine and sweet, although there were moments when we struggled to understand those impressive lyrics. Rush also seemed a little unsure of his physical life onstage, particularly in Act II’s “Johanna” sequence (one of my favorite moments), where he occasionally drifted out of his light or rocked in ways that felt more nervous than intentional. None of this diminished his musical performance, which was impressive; it simply felt like an element of stage comfort that will strengthen with time.
But it’s Fournier, his love song to his precious barber blades, and MacDonald’s clingy and desperate, needy desire for Sweeney’s kiss that sells the meat pies in this production. Their expert renderings and their perfect alignment make a delicious meal out of this captivatingly entertaining revival of Sweeney Todd. I’ll admit it doesn’t erase my enduring love for the stark, stripped-down 2005 John Doyle revival with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone; that production remains, for me, the gold standard of psychological unraveling. There were even a few deliberate nods to its iconic staging here: the straightjacketed Tobias, ushered in like a haunted remnant of the crimes he never committed (except, of course, the one Sweeney practically begs him to deliver). It was a smart gesture, and one that made my theatre-loving heart flicker with memory. Those Broadway legends and their deep dive into madness is unparalleled, but inside this fully fleshed-out production, with that tasty-sounding orchestra and these two magnificent leads, this is a Sweeney Todd that should be devoured, and definitely not missed. “More pies, please,” is all I can say, cheering alongside that enthusiastic audience on the night I was lucky to “attend the tale” of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. “It’s too good, at least.“
