Sweeney Todd: The Most Talented Cast On Earth

So last night, I finally was able to see Sweeney Todd live, and it was certainly not what I was expecting. I have seen a few YouTube videos of Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury in the original Broadway production, and it was a "regular" show. It had various sets, one of which was a raised room that was the barber shop, which stood over the pie shop. And, like most musicals, the actors did not double as the orchestra. Wait, what?!

When my father and I got to the theater, we noticed that there was no orchestra in the Pit, and we were perplexed. I started reading the Playbill, and noticed that the actors were listed next to lists of instruments, I half-suggested that the actors would play their own instruments. But how would that work? But when the show started, we saw that the only 10 actors in the show each had instruments, and sang and played simultaneously (if the given instrument allowed for it).

Throughout the show, the 10 actors played their roles as well as an average of 3 instruments each (some played up to 4 or 5, while the actor playing Jonas Fogg only played the bass, and the actress playing Johanna only played the cello). And when they weren't acting or playing, they were moving the furniture on the set around to create new locations. There was one set, but the furniture would signify different areas.

In retrospect, I don't know why this set-up surprised me so much. I've seen pictures of the actors performing while playing (I have one in a previous post!), but for some reason, I never thought it would work. And yet, the production worked beautifully. From what I read, the show was reformatted for a West End production due to budgetary constraints. But the show works so beautifully that the tour chose keep the style.

Keeping every major character in the show on stage during every scene adds to the intimacy of the story. This is a musical that has no dancing and is based entirely on raw emotion. The actors stay in character even when they are not a part of the scene; the Beggar Woman always moves with a shaky gait while Tobias had a latent insanity behind his movements. At times, the use of instruments even infuses a little bit of humor into the extremely dark show. When Mrs. Lovett walks around with an enormous tuba to announce the new and improved pie shop, the visual is priceless.

Sadly, I did have a few complaints, but they were about the actors themselves, not the way the show was produced. Unfortunately, the actors playing Sweeney Todd and Anthony were not the strongest that I've seen/heard, and the songs, "Epiphany" and "Johanna (1 and 3)", which are usually some of my favorites, were mediocre at best.

I want to end with a few things that were not important, but I feel like mentioning anyway. I loved the way the show opened; the curtain came up and we see Toby gagged and bound in a straight jacket, looking absolutely horrified. And the other is that in this production, Pirelli is played by a woman. I never thought that I would think of that character as being very attractive (remember, Sacha Baron "Borat" Cohen played him in the film), but damn!

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