Playwright: S. Sondheim (music, lyrics), Hugh Wheeler (book)
At: Porchlight Music Theatre
at Theatre Building
Phone: (773) 327-5252; $27
Runs through: Nov. 7
By Jonathan Abarbanel
With this production, the longtime team of director L. Walter Stearns and musical director Eugene Dizon really hits its stride. If 'good' means fully realized musical values and dramatic integrity, rather than company size or lavish scenery, than this Sweeney Todd nearly is as good as it gets.
Looking like a brooding Rod Steiger, Michael Aaron Lindner as Sweeney sports a powerful high baritone and throws himself whole-heartedly into the vengeance-driven, half-manic and half-catatonic barber. Rebecca Finnegan's Mrs. Lovett, costumed (by Carol J. Blanchard) in frilly pastels, flirts and fusses while dropping punch lines without losing Lovett's devious and rapacious nature.
Bethany Dawn as ingénue Johanna displays a fine mezzo voice, wide eyes, and a distracting (although period accurate) wig of long, blonde curls. Her love interest, Zach Ford as Anthony Hope, has had a jam-packed year at Chicago Shakespeare, TimeLine and Apple Tree theaters. Ford's trim good looks and lovely tenor should continue to be a successful combination.
Peter Pohlhammer continues the tradition of tall, lean bass-baritones as villainous Judge Turpin. His strong voice and dramatic weight characterize the entire supporting cast: Kristen Freilich (Beggar Woman), Jonathan A. Landvick (Beadle Bamford), Stan Q. Wash (Pirelli) and Scott. J. Sumerak (Tobias), all strong singing actors.
The amazing reduction of the orchestral score features just two keyboards and two woodwind players who cover 10 instruments, among them bass clarinet, English horn and bassoon. The bass reeds anchor a surprisingly full and rich sound. Dizon carefully (but not over cautiously) chooses tempi to insure Sondheim's frequent patter lyrics are understood. At select moments, Lindner and Finnegan abandon the vocal line and speak-sing passages for absolute clarity. It ain't pretty, but it's effective.
Dramatically, Stearns understands the 1840-ish period of Sweeny Todd, when the downtrodden and derelict of early industrial London outnumbered the comfortable. The dark era frames a tale of Romantics (Sweeney, Anthony, Johanna) vs. Raptors (Turpin, Lovett) in which failed Romantic Sweeney turns Uber-Raptor. The ensemble are in ghoulish make-up (think Night of the Living Dead) and sometimes move like the undead through the dripping, smoke-dappled, fetid London of Richard and Jacqueline Penrod's scenic design, framed by cast iron pipes. The Act I closer, 'Have a Little Priest' and the Act II finale are the funniest and most horrifying—respectively—of any Sweeney Todd I've seen, including the original.
Stearns' staging is typically brisk and effective, although with no choreographer credited he falters a tad when ensemble musical movement is required. In Act II's 'City on Fire' he relies on repetitive circular patterns and rather clumsy dance-like moves. Choreography notwithstanding, you may see many future productions of Sweeney Todd in opera houses or on Broadway, but you'll rarely see one better than this.