First Look at the Broadway Revival of ‘Sweeney Todd’
On March 12, 2023, I had the pleasure of attending a preview of the newest revival of Sweeney Todd, the story of a vengeful barber, a book by Hugh Wheeler, and Music and Lyrics by Broadway legend, Stephen Sondheim. The play takes place in the dark and gloomy Fleet Street in 19th century London, where the play begins as Sweeney Todd, who was saved by Anthony, a young sailor, arrives in London. The original stage production had its first performance on March 1, 1979, starring Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd, and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett.
Many famous plays and musicals start as old fairytale stories by figures such as the Grimm Brothers, and Sweeney Todd is no exception. Hugh Wheeler’s play is by far the most notable representation of the story, but the story of Sweeney Todd originated as “The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance,” a fictional story written by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest in 1846.
The Cast
The cast of the 2023 revival of Sweeney Todd was no question compulsion for viewers to buy tickets, with each week it’s been open, filling 100% capacity. In the musical are stars such as Josh Groban, Annaleigh Ashford, Gaten Matarazzo, and Jordan Fisher. Here are my thoughts on these actors’ performances(I would review them all but I think these are the ones that people are interested in).
Josh Groban himself took on the role of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Groban’s rich baritone voice suited the role well. Sondheim wrote Sweeney Todd with a heavier classical influence than other shows one might find on the modern Broadway stage, therefore Groban’s voice fits very appropriately, leaving the crowd spooked and impressed. Although Groban’s vocal abilities are beyond compare, one, being me, may argue that his acting abilities left much to be desired. It’s true that with a role like Sweeney Todd, Groban could get away with more monotone acting because it is covered by the dark tones of the show and his unbelievable vocal ability. Going into this show I was fully aware of this fact though, as reviews of Josh Groban’s prior role, Pierre in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway. I would have loved to see some more color in Todd’s anger with inflection and physical gestures, but overall Groban’s performance was lovely to watch and I hope to see him live again someday.
Annaleigh Ashford played the role of Mrs. Lovett, owner of a meat pie shop over Todd’s barber shop. Ashford did an excellent job playing the role that was once filled by Mrs. Potts herself, Angela Lansbury. Ashford was even able to develop an accent almost identical to the one Angela Lansbury had. With a great sense of humor, comedic timing, and overall acting ability, her acting choices stood out the most to me. Although her acting choices were excellent in fully embodying the character, those choices, unfortunately, sacrificed some of the quality of her voice, which she is famous for previously in roles such as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde on Broadway and Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked on Broadway. In all, Ashford’s performance was also very good and deeply improved the quality of the show.
Next is Gaten Matarazzo, Stranger Things star, who played the role of Tobias, the little boy who Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd bring them into their home to help them make pies. Speaking of bringing people into a house, if Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford didn’t draw in enough crowds, leave it up to Gaten Matarazzo to fill seats. Just ask the few people in front of me who started screaming bloody murder at curtain calls. Although Matarazzo is mostly known for his Hollywood appearances, he is also a very successful theater actor, as Benji in Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway, Gavroche in the 2014 Broadway Revival of Les Miserables, Jack in the Hollywood Bowl production of Into the Woods, and as Jared in the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen. Gaten Matarazzo has many comedic moments throughout the play while also pulling the heartstrings of the audience as he plays the young innocent boy roped into the killing spree of Todd and Lovett, despite already being 20 years old. Matarazzo did an excellent job in his role and I look forward to seeing him playing more mature roles in the future.
Jordan Fisher, another well-known television actor, stepped up to the role of Anthony, the sailor who befriends Sweeney Todd and falls in love with Johanna. You may have seen Fisher in roles on TV such as Holden in the Disney Channel show Liv and Maddie, as well as in the To All the Boys movie trilogy and Teen Beach Movie on Disney Channel. In his roles, it is pretty clear that Fisher is a theatrical performer, as his characters often sing and dance. I was particularly excited to see Jordan Fisher in Sweeney Todd because of what I’ve seen online about his live performance skills after appearing in increasing numbers of Broadway shows like Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway where he played Evan Hansen and multiple roles in Hamilton on Broadway as John Laurens, Phillip, and Hamilton. After watching a boot-leg YouTube video of Fisher singing “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen I was excited to see the dynamic, powerful performance that I saw in the video. Jordan Fisher is an excellent actor and singer for the role of Anthony, and I would have loved to hear that if he wasn’t so quiet. I was a little disappointed when it was time for Anthony’s big power ballad “Johanna” and the microphone either simply wasn’t loud enough, or he was too quiet. I’m assuming that it was a problem with the microphone itself and not on Fisher’s part, as I would love to preserve the powerful image of him as Evan Hansen in my mind.
Lastly, Maria Bilbao and Ruthie Ann Miles also joined the cast as Johanna and Lucy Barker. Bilbao stunned the crowd with her high soprano voice, which resembles that of a blue jay, suiting the character very well. Miles also did an excellent job in her role, with her acting abilities being up to par with Ashford’s, however representing a more twisted and dark part of the story. Her voice was also spectacular in the little moments that she did sing.
Set Design
Taking place in the gloomy, dank, and dark Fleet Street in London, the set of the show needed to represent that. The show takes place in the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Manhattan, which hosts a massive stage with an even more massive house with hundreds of seats, 1,505 at full capacity. The stage’s proscenium was a ginormous large arch adorned with bricks lining them to create an aesthetic portal into the world of Sweeney Todd. The set itself was minimal but dark. There was an upper platform that would shift in two dimensions, similar to the bridge in The Phantom of the Opera and a massive steel crane that would be used to deliver Todd’s chair in the second act. There was also a fog machine right before the play started while audience members were still finding their seats, which would aid in transporting them into Fleet Street. There were also several moving set pieces/props such as Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop, the pie oven, and the rotating staircase which also transformed the bare set. Another technical element that transformed the set was the lighting which was very well done. It was a breath of fresh air to see a deviation from the rising themes of overly bright and loud Broadway shows, where the lighting was strategically placed to advance tones and the story, and the one screen in the background was used to accentuate actual dances, and not provide tacky projections, another common theme in newer shows.
Costume Design
Another form of decoration for the stage was the costumes which the actors wore. Barring a very close resemblance to the 1979 original costumes, they further influenced the deep tones of the show. There’s not much I have to add to the costume design because I liked the costumes and have no problems I could think of off the top of my head and have better things to do than look for reasons not to like them, because if I did a little more research when more photos of the show are released maybe this paragraph could look a lot different.
Stage Direction and Choreography
I was extremely happy with the direction of the play, at least by intermission. In an attempt to not look too depressing and stale, there was movement added to most numbers. These were not overwhelmingly complicated dances, since we are not watching a show such as Pippin or MJ the Musical, but rather a Sondheim musical… but not like West Side Story I mean more like Company or Into the Woods, BUT the movement added a lot to the way the viewer received the songs, as many movements aligned with dynamics in the music, meshing the music and dance into one. The stage direction was very good at the beginning of the show, especially during “The Worst Pies in London” and many other opening numbers. At intermission with pleasant memories of excellent stage direction in my mind, we entered the second act, where I ended up also being a little disappointed… No hate for Thomas Kail, the director of the revival, but I felt like the project was not finished yet. It’s common for a story to slow down after the second act due to things like the script, choreography, or time struggles, but it just felt like the director seemed to run out of ideas in the second act, whereas the first act was full of minute details. Lastly, I was also a little disappointed with the direction for the song “By The Sea” which I think of as the one colorful moment of the show, a deviation from drab shades of gray and gloom. I was expecting one colorful big Broadway moment with this number, but all there was some humorous blocking and the same gloomy gray scene.
I’m aware that much of what I have written may seem negative, but I’m sure many changes will be made to stop things like chair malfunctions (which did happen when I saw the show) and sound issues will be sorted out. Overall I was very pleased with the show and it’s one of the best ones on Broadway right now, rivaling shows that have been running for decades such as The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked while also competing with newer successes such as the Funny Girl revival, Hamilton, and Moulin Rouge. I am looking forward to finding a Sweeney Todd “Slime Tutorial” on YouTube soon (aka a pirated version of the show) so that I can watch the show again and form a whole new set of opinions and criticisms.
