Sweeney Todd
Music + Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Producer Catherine Carpenter Cox
Director + Choreographer Michael Serrecchia
Music Director Hans Grim
Production Designer Scott Guenther
Asst Choreographer Megan Kelly Bates
Costume Designer Breianna Bairrington
Costume Asst Tricia Guenther
Carpenter and Painter Austin Bowman
Stage Manager and Lighting Operator Emily Mordecai
Asst Stage Manager Kennedy Smith
Orchestra
Hans Patrick Grim Music Director and Keyboards
Min Ishii Violin
Susan Ishii Flute/Clarinet
Minerva Davis Trumpet
Ray Grimm Tuba
Kirstyn Norris Percussion
THE CAST
Jonah Munroe Sweeney Todd
Mary Gilbreath Grim Mrs. Lovett
Cameron Vargas Anthony Hope
Isabella Zambrano Johanna
Ethan Rodriguez-Mullins Tobias Ragg
Evan Faris Judge Turpin
Anthony Ortega The Beadle
Sarah Powell Beggar Woman
Ryan Michael Friedman Adolfo Pirelli
Madeleine Norton Ensemble
Maya Hernandez-Pearson Ensemble - Lovett US
Shane Duckett Ensemble - Anthony/Tob US
Daniel Hernandez Ensemble - Beadle / Pirelli US
Rowan Gilvie Ensemble
Jayden Russell Ensemble
Keith Warren Ensemble - Sweeney US
Kenneth Lane Ensemble
Jessie Prince Youth Ensemble
Wyatt Hartz Youth Ensemble
Joshua Brown Youth Ensemble
My thoughts on Lyric Stage’s Sweeney Todd or…just this side of hell, there’s a heavenly Sweeney
Lyric Stage closes out its 30th season with a stupendous mounting of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. It’s both comic and frightening and a totally thrilling theatrical experience.
Director/Choreographer Michael Serrecchia and Music Director Hans Grim have created a Sweeney unlike any I’ve seen previously. Lyric’s black box space in the Design District makes this Sweeney up close and personal. From the moment you enter Designer Scott Guenther’s terrific cobblestone Fleet Street set, you can almost smell the smoky air and feel the soot. When you find a seat and your eyes adjust, there is the amazing Sarah Powell as the Beggar Woman asking us for alms and getting us ready to attend the tale of the Demon Barber.
Soon the deliciously foreboding sounds of Hans Grim’s orchestra begin and all those dirty demons dressed in their filthy best by Breianna Barrington emerge and you’re totally immersed in this 19th Century story of injustice and bloody, ruthless revenge.
Director Serrecchia has populated this dark world with a cast of some of the most outstanding singer/actors in DFW and their dynamic voices add to the chills.
Ryan Michael Friedman, fresh from playing Carmen Ghia in Lyric’s Producers, turns in another delightful comic performance or maybe I should say tragically comic performance. His faux Italian barber mountebank Pirelli exudes slimy, effete charm and brings some levity to the tale. That is until he tries to blackmail Sweeney. The skillful Friedman is twice doomed here as he also plays the cruel keeper of the asylum.
Evan Faris is the unscrupulous Judge Turpin, who put Benjamin Barker, now known as Sweeney, away for life on false charges, traumatized his wife Lucy, and takes his beautiful daughter as his ward and tries to marry her later. Faris’ benign looks deftly cover the evilness of Judge Turpin and his pleasing mellow voice blends well in his “Pretty Women” duet with Sweeney. I f I were judging characters here, I’d say Turpin is the character most deserving of Sweeney’s razor.
Anthony Ortega plays the cruel music loving Beadle Bamford. He is Judge Turpin’s right-hand man and enabler and is well aware of all the nefarious deeds of the judge. Ortega’s Bamford has an outwardly pleasant, almost foppish demeanor that belies his cruel nature. Ortega, one of the best tenors around, only gets to use his incredible voice sparingly here, but his fine acting skills are certainly on display in “Ladies in their Sensitivities” and later when driving Mrs. Lovett crazy playing the harmonium.
The Beggar Woman aka Lucy is probably the most pitiful character in the show. She roams the streets of London looking for handouts or money in exchange for sex. Powell brings her searing soprano to the character, as the desperate character belts out “City on Fire.” Powell inhabits this horribly wronged woman completely and her fear and hopelessness are palpable.
A few years back, I attended a variety show in Plano and was blown away by Ethan Mullins-Rodriguez singing “Maria” from West Side Story, so I could not wait to hear him sing “Not While I’m Around.” His beautiful, heart tugging tenor just gets better and better. Mullins-Rodriguez is Tobias Ragg, the slow witted, sweet, brutally treated assistant to Pirelli, who finds a maternal figure in Mrs. Lovett. Mullins-Rodriguez, in addition to his phenomenal singing, is a skilled performer who makes Toby touchingly vulnerable.
I defy anyone to listen to the lovely, lilting soprano of Isabella Zambrano as Johanna singing “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” from her second story window and not think what a wonderful Rapunzel in Into the Woods she would be. Zambrano also brings credibility to her acting as she becomes a sailor trying to escape from Judge Turpin with her love Anthony and later a madwoman locked up by the judge. Zambrano is everything the yellow haired Johanna should be.
And singing the beautiful song “Johanna” is Cameron Vargas as Anthony Hope, a young sailor who saves Sweeney’s life and falls deeply, instantly in love with his daughter. Anthony is kindhearted and optimistic, and the dashing Vargas captures him perfectly with his sweet soprano. Vargas has a wonderfully appealing stage presence and I look forward to his future appearances in DFW.
What can I say about Mary Gilbreath Grim that I haven’t said in a dozen other reviews? I’m tempted to just write WOW and leave it at that. But I won’t. Grim’s powerhouse voice and comic flair give Mrs. Lovett a gusto that is a wonder to hear and watch. I laughed repeatedly at the faux manners she gives the character and, as she waves that rolling pin, you can almost taste those “Worst Pies.” Her flirtatious tenderness with Sweeney in “A Little Priest” and especially in “By the Sea” is charming. Mrs. Lovett may be a bit unhinged, as chopping up and cooking all those bodies tends to prove, but Grim makes her likeably deranged.
And then there is Jonah Munroe as Sweeney Todd. I’ve never seen another actor do what Munroe does with this role. He is a scary, satanic Sweeney. Munroe’s Sweeney is dead behind the eyes, and he is dead set on revenge. Wielding that razor, admiring its glint, he is an uber focused madman. Munroe does not let his Sweeney register much emotion at all. His smiles are more like sneers. Munroe’s huge voice is thunderous and only becomes tender when he recalls what he’s lost in “Barber and His Wife.” Munroe is genuinely frightening as victim after victim meet their end in his barber chair. Although Munroe’s performance may be nightmare inducing, you will find it impossible to turn away from his stunning performance as Sweeney.
There’s also a fantastic group of players that I hesitate to call the ensemble of Sweeney Todd. Far from the usual singing/dancing ensemble, this group is much more distinct as characters. Some play multiple roles, but they all look out at us defiantly and feel like genuine denizens of this hellish world they inhabit. Director/Choreographer Serrecchia even has them doing zombie moves a couple times. This extraordinary group of performers includes Madeline Norton, Maya Hernandez-Pearson, Shane Duckett, Daniel Hernandez, Rowan Gilvie, Jayden Russell, Keith Warren, Kenneth Lane, Jessie Prince, Wyatt Hartz, and Joshua Brown.
I know there have been a few other productions of the play in the area during the past year, but even if you are Sweeney weary, you must see Lyric Stage’s Sweeney Todd. Cutting edge entertainment, for sure.
