Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Manly Musical Society. Star of the Sea Theatre, Manly. May 19 – 27, 2017

Sweeney Todd has some of the most fiendishly clever and wicked music and lyrics from any musical. Who else but Sondheim could make you laugh at eating human flesh?

"It's fop. Finest in the shop. And we have some shepherd's pie peppered with actual shepherd on top!"

For this reason and several others the musical is extremely demanding for a community theatre to stage. The challenge is to be as brilliant as the musical itself.

On opening night the Manly Musical Society had most of the big ticket items very well sorted. Paul Nicholson as Sweeney Todd was suitably charismatic and terrifying.  

His dance with Mrs Lovett (Miriam Rihani), as the light bulb dawned on them that they could recycle his victims, was as crisp and tasty as a freshly baked pie.

Sweeney's barber's chair and dispatch box was very efficient and there was sufficient blood on hand to give full effect to his work practices.

The musical was generally well cast. Anthony Mason as the Judge had the body (hairy) and the voice to give depth to his villainous nature.

Year 12 student Harrison Riley as the young sailor Anthony looked equally fresh faced as the object of his desires - Johanna played by Julia Strubenrauch.

Tonny Shum as the con artist Perilli was another 17 year old in the cast. He performed nicely but didn't look old enough for the role. 

Another young man, Christopher O'Shea was suitably forlorn as the hapless pie baking assistant Toby.

On opening night the chorus took a while to get going, as did the orchestra.  The chorus didn't begin to shine until their scene in the mental asylum.

Someone a little more knowledgeable than me, suggested to me that this is the nature of the musical rather than the direction of the work.

Even so, no doubt the show will gather pace and momentum as the season continues.

David Spicer

\

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.