"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Live from Lincoln Center: Sweeney Todd (2014)

 
Thank goodness for PBS.  In addition to giving me my regular Masterpiece fix and hooking me up with other great British imports like The Hollow Crown, it can always be counted on for televised Broadway events.  This concert production of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, performed by the New York Philharmonic and a fine cast, aired a couple weeks ago, and it’s just terrific.
 
First, this is one of the best-staged Broadway concerts I’ve seen.  The cast quickly discards their music stands, librettos, and glitzy finery during the opening number, in an amusing “this ain’t yo’ grandma’s Sweeney Todd” moment.  With effective minimalist staging that incorporates the orchestra into the action, the actors perform in disheveled formal wear smeared with bloody handprints.  It’s an upfront, grimy production with an in-the-trenches feel that does an atmospheric job telling the story of the demon barber of Fleet Street.
 
Sweeney Todd, of course, finds the wrongfully-transported convict Benjamin Barker returned to London.  Welcomed back by meat-pie peddler Mrs. Lovett, his devoted downstairs neighbor, he reopens his old barber shop and, armed with his razors and a new name, plots his revenge on the lascivious hypocrite of a judge who ruined his life.  The penny-dreadful narrative is peppered with shaving contests, homeless lunatics, and lucrative cannibalism, but it revolves around the dark pair at its center – the newly-christened Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.  As his quest for vengeance pulls Sweeney further and further from his sanity, the pragmatic and opportunistic Mrs. Lovett looks to use his instability to her advantage and, deludedly, hopes to secure his heart for herself.
 
As such, the actors playing Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are the lynchpin of any production.  I have to confess my unfamiliarity with Welsh operatic bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, who plays Sweeney, but he’s fantastic.  His superb vocals sound effortless, and he cuts an imposing figure in the role; I can really see why Mrs. Lovett, despite her love for him, would fear him in his more unhinged moments.  And speaking of Mrs. Lovett, Emma Thompson is just incredible.  No, she’s not the singer that Terfel is, but she carries her melodic weight among the cast of predominantly stage actors, and more than that, she’s such a large, vibrant presence onstage.  Her acting brims with all the noise, deviousness, dark comedy, and vulnerability that Mrs. Lovett ought to have.  Over the course of the concert, I’m pretty sure I went from admiring her as an actor to having a confirmed platonic crush on her.  She and Terfel play beautifully off of each other – their wickedly funny “A Little Priest” is the highlight of the show.
 
While these two are my clear favorites, the others in the cast are no slouches.  The incomparable Audra McDonald appears as the beggar woman, Philip Quast (Pearse in Ultraviolet) is the despicable Judge Turpin, and Christian Borle (lately of Smash, where he deserved far better material) is great fun as Signor Pirelli.  I’m not familiar with anyone else in the cast, but they all put in some nice performances, especially Kyle Brenn as Toby. 
 
I just wish this had aired as part of Great Performances rather than Live from Lincoln Center, because it probably means we’ll never get a DVD.  Guess what’s not getting deleted from my DVR anytime soon?

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