Sweeney Todd - dark story, brilliant theatre for Bel Air, Maryland (September 2010)

 

Sweeney Todd – Dark story, brilliant theatre for Bel Air, MD (September, 2010)

A barber, wrongly imprisoned for life, escapes after 15 years to pre-industrial London to exact revenge on his persecutors. In the process he befriends a meat pie purveyor and in order to augment her supply of pie ingredients exacts revenge on everyone else. In the words of my 14-year-old son: That’s pretty messed up.

The show is Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Todd Starkey, which continues its two-weekend run at Bel Air’s Phoenix Festival Theatre in residence at Harford Community College Sept 17-19. The theater amusingly subtitles publicity for this show with the statement: Adult Themes.

What would those be?

Let’s see. Extortion, murder, gang rape, improper relationships with foster children and unbridled cannibalism to name a few. And this is not an exhaustive list. You could be forgiven if, so far, you are not jumping up to buy tickets for this show.

Don’t make a hasty decision, lest you miss out on one of the best evenings of theatre this season.

The moment Sweeney (Lance Bankerd) sets foot on stage, there is a feeling something spectacular is going to happen. Trust that feeling, because it happens over and over again. Sweeney’s relationship with pie lady Mrs. Lovett (Deb Desmone) and their tortuous, beautiful Sondheim duets are substantially more than just songs and acting. The performers have created a relationship that calls to mind an alternate universe Archie and Edith.

Kids, Google All In The Family

A counterpoint to the Todd-Lovett duo is the forbidden tender love story of Todd’s long-lost daughter Johanna (Erika Bankerd) and upstanding, idealistic sailor Anthony (Brendan Kennedy). That would be your Romeo and Juliet subplot. Kennedy and Bankerd look and sound lovely together, and you just want to eat them up.

You may get the chance, considering the story line.

Great characters abound, and deserve more than just a mention. Corrupt, evil judge Turpin (Greg Mank) and his beadle henchman (Michael Bareham) make your flesh crawl. Alleged barber to the Pope Pirelli (James Fitzpatrick) and his young assistant Tobias (Conor Perkins) bring comic (and eventually tragic) relief to the proceedings Nuisance beggar woman (Jenny Wassom) is ejected multiple times from multiple scenes and you would be well-advised to keep your eye on her.

She’s going to break your heart.

Individuals of the ensemble, when not creeping us out with purposely cacophonous production numbers, linger, lurk, haunt and watch nearly every scene.

Excellent. Creepy and excellent.

To further the feeling of foreboding, the cast is made up to look deranged, un-dead, or perhaps both deranged and un-dead. Sweeney himself looks like a smoldering Michael Chiklis, currently of the TV series The Shield.

Commentary from a bystander at rehearsal: This looks scary as crap!

The bottom line is that this Phoenix Festival Theatre production of Sweeney Todd is – pardon the pun – a cut above. That’s pretty messed up.

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Sept 17 and 18 at 8:00, Sept 19 at 3:00. Call 443-412-2212

See The Aegis (Harford County’s oldest and largest newspaper) review here.