Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
By Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Murray Music and Drama Club (WA). Directed by Cat Rippon, Musical Direction by Kenn Ellis. Pinjarra Civic Centre, WA.13-21 May, 2016

The Murray Music and Drama Club set the scene for Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by providing a lovely pile of meat pies on each cabaret table. The characters began to fill the stage slowly, in an immersive production that brought the dark musical thriller to life, with aplomb.

Gareth Jay makes a disturbed but strangely sympathetic Sweeney Todd, in a powerful, well sung performance. He is well paired with Samantha Ferguson as Mrs Lovett, who is outstanding as Mrs Lovett, very likeable and believable in this role, despite being twenty to forty years too young for the role.

The young lovers Anthony and Johanna are very sweetly played by Alexander White and Suzy Wiseman - both doing very well in their biggest roles to date. Matthew Manning shines in a moving, and genuine portrayal of Tobias, beautifully sung and poignantly performed.

Adam Salathiel is an unnerving and evil Judge Turpin, in a well-acted performance, working well with Peter Bonner in a solid performance as The Beadle. Tate Bennett has a lot of fun as the exuberant Pirelli and Georgia McGivern steals the stage in her fleeting performances as Lucy and the Beggar Woman.

A hard-working seventeen member ensemble provide good support. There are some lovely voices in this group, but not all handle the intricacies of Sondheim's vocals. They do remain nicely in character and are wonderfully atmospheric.

The single multi-level set designed by director Cat Rippon and solidly constructed by Bart and Mark Rippon, works well. Colour and character are provided by costuming, nicely co-ordinated by Eluned Manning. Mike Rippon's lighting is shadowy, but always practical and sound well controlled by Troy Plackett. Music is provided by a single piano, I assume played by Kenn Ellis, which works well.

Despite the dark subject matter, Sweeney Todd is a fun night at the theatre and well worth the drive to Pinjarra.

Kimberley Shaw

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