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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