The Long Beach Playhouse’s latest production, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, laces up those proverbial shoes and takes great strides for the playhouse’s season closer. With expectations for it running high, opening night was no disappointment to an audience packed with musical buffs and community theatre die-hards alike.
The play itself is a solid evening of entertainment. Though quite long (nearly three hours), Sweeney Todd includes several catchy musical numbers complete with choreography. The singing is overall impressive and amusing. Sondheim’s hauntingly beautiful music and lyrics capture the mood of each scene perfectly. However, some of the singing and accents are muddled in choruses. The crossover of lyrics, though appreciated conceptually, are a bit hard to follow at times. This is when a previous knowledge of the work came in handy.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”250px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-20-at-4.15.36-PM.png” align=”center” lightbox=”on” caption=”The cast of Long Beach Playhouse’s latest production, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” captionposition=”center”] The juxtaposition of movie memories and the live performance makes the musical that much better though. There’s something quite magical in the way live singing and dancing can transport you to the very scene. For a few hours, the audience is in 19th century London, terrified of the “mischief, mischief” and happenings of the little barber studio above Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop.
The set and costumes are wonderful and fitting. Jumping from scenes of a barber shop, courtroom, London alleys and even an insane asylum, the versatility of the set is clever and easy to comprehend. This, and the casting, gave the production the same charm and suspense as previous productions of the work.
Unlike the movie version and other adaptations, LBPH’s Sweeney Todd casts Mrs. Lovett (Harriet Whitmyer) as an older woman, giving this murderous and intimate relationship an Oedipal tinge of maternity. It creates a somewhat different dynamic to the play, giving Mrs. Lovett’s love and commitment to Mr. Todd (Noah Wagner) more purity and earnestness.
Because at the end of the day, what’s better devotion than turning murder victims into meat pie profit?
Long Beach Playhouse’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street runs through Nov. 12. Showtimes are at 8pm Fridays and Saturdays and at 2pm Sundays. For tickets and more information, visit lbplayhouse.org or call (562) 494-1016.
