Sweeney Todd at the Fox

Sweeney Todd, like RENT and Chicago, has received the Hollywood treatment and been put on the silver screen to marginal success (in terms of box office sales and mixed reviews - although Chicago won Best Picture in 2002). These musicals were probably selected because of there edgy and mostly current themes, however, as any theatre-goer knows: they are best enjoyed live on stage. Having seen the film adaptation of Sweeney Todd (and having liked it), I did ask the ticket office how violent the stage performance was compared to the movie before bringing my wife*. The ticket associate assured me it was not violent or gory and let me assure you, it's not. In fact, if you wanted to see the musical, but were worried about seeing the movie because of it's (well-deserved) gruesome reputation, then a stage performance may be exactly what you're looking for. And I can highly recommend this production by NETworks Presentations.

What made this production unique was that all the actors sang and played an instrument at the same time - in fact, many played more than one instrument. The ten-ensemble cast was the orchestra and they played percussion, piano, violin, cello, bass, guitar, clarinet, flute, accordian, trumpet and tuba. They were all very adept musicians, in fact, my guess is that some of them were cast based on their ability to play an instrument (or two or three) over singing. However, the main roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett played by Merritt David Janes and Carrier Cimma were pheneomenal singers as well. "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest" were especially spectacular. And all of the classics: "Johanna", "Pretty Women" and "By the Sea" were remarkably performed.

Contrary to the inferior INB Performing Arts Center, my wife and I could understand almost every single lyric (which speaks well of the performers too). It's difficult to over-emphasize how incredible Merritt David Janes was as Sweeney Todd (we saw him in the 1st national tour of The Wedding Singer also) - some may scoff at this next comment, but his vocals surpassed Johnny Depp's ten fold. Sweeney Todd is without a doubt, a strangely dark and morally askew musical (kind of like the film No Country for Old Men) and therefore some people won't like it - it's about revenge, justice, judgement, innocence, but most importantly it has extraordinary music by Stephen Sondheim.

Here's "Johanna" (the reprise) from the film version of Sweeney Todd:

* in the past, I have been chastised for taking her to overly-violent films (e.g. Pan's Labyrinth, Kill Bill: Part 1, 28 Days Later, A History of Violence, the list goes on...): I was intent on not allowing it to happen again.