Theatre On Fire
By Tom Wachunas
You’d think that a
musical with all the towering anger and darkness of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street would naturally demand a venue of sufficiently large dimensions to
vent its blistering intensity. So if the decision by the Canton Players Guild
to eschew a mainstage spectacle and mount the work in the intimacy of its
downstairs arena theater may seem counterintuitive, in retrospect it was also a
stroke of creative genius. This production is magnificently realized in every
way by a wonderful, gifted 21-member cast under the inspired directing by Jonathan
Tisevich.
The blunt
simplicity of the angular wooden platforms and ramps (scenic design by Joshua
Erichsen), along with the expressive lighting (designed by Scott Sutton)
perfectly conjure 19th century London’s gloomy side streets. Herein
the grizzly story of Sweeney Todd unfolds like a raging wildfire, beginning
with the straitjacketed character of Tobias (Matthew Heppe) at center stage,
corpses strewn about the periphery. With swollen, sad eyes and quivering voice,
he intones the opening words of the doleful Ballad
of Sweeney Todd, “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd,” and the ensemble joins
in, “he served a dark and angry god…”
With the constancy
of a death knell, pieces of that anthem are threaded throughout the performance.
Much of the complex musical score is colored by a tonal dissonance that casts
haunting aural shadows on the proceedings. It’s an understandably daunting
challenge for singers, and one very well met by the entire cast – lead players
and ensemble alike – as well as the excellent nine-member off-stage orchestra
conducted by Steve Parsons.
Once a happily married barber with a
beautiful wife and baby girl, Sweeney Todd (Micah Harvey) was unjustly
convicted by the malicious and covetous Judge Turpin (David Everett). After
fifteen years Todd escapes his prison in Australia, returns to London, and is
soon told that his wife is gone and his teenage daughter, Johanna (Rachel
Balko), has become a ward of the lascivious Turpin. Driven to wreak vengeance
on Turpin and his cruel right-hand man, Beadle (Greg Emanuelson), Todd hatches
a monstrous plan with his newfound partner, the conniving Mrs. Lovett (Heidi
Swinford), owner of a bake shop that sells pies filled with cat meat. She
reveals Todd’s precious barber’s implements that she’s been keeping during his
prison exile, further sharpening his steely resolve as he addresses his razors
in the chilling My Friends.
Whether together
or separately, Micah Harvey’s Sweeney and Heidi Swinford’s Mrs. Lovett are
deliciously animated. He with his sonorous voice like thunder and menacing eyes
like caves, and she with her indefatigably naughty, impish manner, provide
remarkable operatic thrust to the production. The raucous punning in A Little Priest at the end of Act I is a
hilarious showstopper wherein the pair proposes to make meat pies out of
citizens in various professions. Sweeney vows to give them all the closest –
and last – shaves they’ll ever have.
Others among the
many memorable passages here include Rachel Balko’s sweet soprano rendering of Green Finch and Linnet Bird, wherein the
confined Johanna identifies with caged songbirds and muses, “…teach me how to
sing. If I cannot fly, let me sing.” Soon after, Jimmy Ferko, in his role of
Anthony, who is deeply smitten with and vows to rescue Johanna, sings the
charming ballad Johanna with touching
urgency. Equally moving is Matthew Heppe’s portrayal of the endearingly nervous
street boy, Tobias, as he pledges his undying loyalty to Mrs. Lovett in Not While I’m Around. Daryl Robinson is
delightfully eccentric as Adolfo Pirelli, a con man and blackmailer who pushes
Sweeney a bit too far. And as the beggar woman, Stephanie Cargill is a riveting,
frenzied presence. She’s a spying banshee haunting the shadows, prone to sexual
solicitation – seeing, hearing and knowing too much.
When did this 1979
Sondheim masterwork ever stop speaking to the horrific predicaments of humans
in too many places across our world? The turbulent, gripping finale of the
story is a sobering reminder that Sweeney Todd’s “dark and angry god” is his
own prideful invention - an impotent response to the searing pain of stolen
dreams. He doesn’t “serve” such a god so much as surrender to it, and to no
good purpose. Yet still, somewhere beyond the cacophonous, bloody end, it’s the
back story of Johanna and Anthony, deceptively naïve on its surface, that
hopefully continues to sing. Attend the tale…
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street at Players Guild Theatre, 1001 Market Avenue N., Canton. Suggested for mature audiences. Shows
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 21, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets $18. Order at (330) 453-7617 or at www.playersguildtheatre.com
PHOTOS, by Michael
Lawrence Akers, from top: Micah Harvey; Micah Harvey and Heidi Swinford; Jimmy
Ferko and Rachel Balko; Matthew Heppe
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