Theatre

Sweeney Todd has been my favorite musical for as long as I can remember.  The first time I had ever seen the operetta was at Great Neck South High School with Nikki Blonsky playing the female lead of Mrs. Lovett.  It then became a movie with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman, which I equally enjoyed.  I have seen many a rendition of Sondheim’s dark musical adaptation of the bloody urban legend, but I have to say that the movie just doesn’t cut it when it comes to vocal quality.  The movie is also very lacking in the song department, as it leaves out many reprises and even the title song!

I had been waiting season after season for the Gateway Playhouse out in Bellport to put on its own rendition of Sweeney Todd.  After being unsubscribed from their summer theatre for a year, I returned as they featured Sweeney as one of their five or six summer musicals.  I was in for quite a surprise as afterwards I realized that the lead actor, Jamie Jackson, had also been in 39 Steps, a hilarious murder mystery comedy that I have written about previously.  Judge Turpin, Bruce Winant, had also been in La Cage, yet another Broadway musical I have seen.  Filled with stunning talent, every number was a show stopper.  The music, though, to a Sweeney virgin may seem unsettling, was “music to my ears” as I sang along to well-known tunes such as “Johanna” and “Pretty Women.”

It was nice seeing an adaptation similar to the original, as Mrs. Lovett is more humorous in the staged version.  It was very nostalgic seeing a set similar to ones I had been used to seeing back in the day as I watched Nikki Blonsky climb the stairs up to Sweeney’s barber shop or George Hearn in the original Broadway debut (filmed of course)!

Being a way off-Broadway production, the after-show atmosphere is a lot more calming.  There is no assigned stage door, and there isn’t much gathering to see the wonderful actors.  But for me, to follow in my footsteps of getting autographs and pictures, waited with my mom to meet Jamie Jackson and Bruce Winant.  I was glad to see how freely they talked, something they wouldn’t have been able to do in a crowded city side-street signing multiple playbills.  They were humbled to know that I had seen them in previous performances elsewhere and were glad to know that I had been to many shows throughout the summer.

Overall, I cannot complain about the performance.  The tricky situation here is that when one has seen many a Sweeney Todd, it is difficult to decipher the nuances between them all.  This production… I give it raving reviews!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Gateway Playhouse
September 3, 2011

Marina B. Nebro

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 at 1:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.