Sweeney Todd Forum

The large stage at St Albans Arena poses its own challenges for a show which often works best in a smaller, more claustrophobic, venue. The first impression was that the Society rose to that challenge. As I took my seat in the auditorium, there were no tabs pulled across – the set (clearly influenced by Tim Burton’s movie) was laid bare for all to see, accompanied by just the right amount of dry ice to summon up an appropriately smog-bound Victorian London.

The opening ballad was confidently performed, grabbing the audience by the scruff of the neck right away and establishing a pace which meant that it was unlikely that anyone would fail to be pulled along by the drama.
On the whole, Alan Cox’s direction was effective. It was at its best when he simply followed the directions in the script and let the drama speak for itself. It was less effective when he attempted something out of the ordinary – such as God That’s Good, with its tables and benches perambulating Flintstones-style on castors around the stage, and the “shadow-play” approach to the asylum scene. Both of these seemed contrived ideas which did not really work. However, the final bloodbath in the below-ground bakehouse followed by the last chorus – not easy to get right – was excellently done.

Philip Joslin’s musical direction was more secure and consistent. He had assembled a very professional-sounding 21-piece orchestra which allowed Jonathan Tunick’s stunning orchestrations to shine through. The balance between orchestra and singers was always spot on – again, something not always easy to get right. This meant that the singers could always be heard clearly. The voices had been coached well, and their diction was always sparklingly clear, meaning that the story was put across effectively. The chorus were least secure in the two trickiest pieces, Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir and God That’s Good which suggested that a little more rehearsal time might have been beneficial. At times, the counterpoint between parts got lost completely, which left unfortunate gaps in the texture. However, overall, the chorus blended well and pulled off Sondheim’s difficult harmonies with aplomb (especially in the quintet The Letter, which notoriously borders on atonality at times).

I would like to mention a few of the soloists.
Matthew Gregory as Sweeney stamped his own mark on the part from the start. Matthew has a really rich baritone voice which very much suits the Sweeney vocal range. He used that range to great effect, and coloured the performance with a useful variety of vocal colours and dynamic contrasts. The two high points were the close of Act One - Epiphany (which saw Matthew come out into the audience to terrorise the front row) and A Little Priest. Congratulations are due on a great performance.

I have to confess I did not like Charlotte Gregory’s Mrs Lovett very much at the start. I felt she began Worst Pies In London a bit too fast, and relied overmuch on “speak-singing” to establish the comedic aspect to the character. My impression was that she was trying too hard to make the audience laugh. Given the subject matter of Sweeney Todd, it’s all too tempting to overdo the few moments there are of comic relief, and I felt Charlotte was in danger of overstepping that mark. However, the turning point for me came with A Little Priest, which was masterly throughout and quite justifiably brought the house down. I settled down to really enjoy Charlotte’s interpretation in the second act, and felt she then achieved the perfect balance between evil and comedy she was striving for.

Colin McLeod played Judge Turpin with just the right amount of oily disgustingness – he really did make my flesh creep, and if this had been a pantomime the boos would have been forthcoming loud and long! I’m glad they left in the Judge’s Johanna complete with self-flaggelation, but was rather puzzled by the rape scene. I’m not a great advocate of full nudity explicitness in this scene, but there should at least be a suggestion that the Judge is really “doing the business” on poor Lucy. The little glimpses of Colin’s white long-johns provided a moment of unintentional comedy in what should have been a sickening and shocking portrayal of how thinly veiled his Victorian respectability really is. That aside, it was a very commendable performance, especially his duet with Sweeney, Pretty Women.

I was rather disappointed with Julian Wathen’s Anthony I’m afraid. He has a pleasant tone in his singing voice and a good control of the rhythmic complexities of songs like Kiss Me, but it was let down by being considerably out of tune too often, especially in his “signature” song, Johanna, and I also felt he lacked stage presence. Anthony is not an easy character to get right, he can either come across too woolly or at the other extreme too angry, but I just feel that Julian had a bit more work to do.

I liked Susan Akroyd’s Beggar Woman very much. This is, of course, a more important role than is apparent at first, and Susan brought it off extremely well. Vocally, she was always secure, and it was pleasing to note that she managed to get across the madwoman characterisation without sacrificing the melodic content of her part. My one disappointment (and I’m sure it wasn’t her fault) was that she didn’t get to sing the beautiful Lullaby which is normally inserted towards the end of the second act.