From the moment that the curtain goes up, the world of Stephen Sondheim's Tony-winning show Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a journey into the cerebral. With a discordant score, the world that follows is mythologized in a dark and drafty London, where prostitutes run the streets and a barber named Sweeney Todd is hoping to start a new life. Much like Sondheim's other work, the story cannot be that simple. Things are only going to spiral further and further into madness before culminating in one of the most intense closing acts in history. This is a world where those seeking revenge will get it, but at a cost. There's no close shaves here. It's all or nothing, and the world of Sweeney Todd is one that goes for the jugular (literally and figuratively) in a production put on by South Coast Repertory that is beautifully overwhelming. There are few shows that dive this deep into madness and come out looking so beautifully deformed. It's more than a story of revenge, it's art.
For those walking into the play without much perspective, the opening music may be a bit jarring by modern senses. With a small orchestra playing from atop the stage, the world below is presented via a backdrop of hand drawn locations that range from city streets to Mrs. Lovett's meat shop. Still, the music is a mix of contemporary Broadway and melodramatic opera, hitting high notes that are for more than show. They bring a deeper sense of woe to each character that is challenging, especially when placed alongside the complex melodies that clang on the harpsichord. At first it's a clash that doesn't make sense, sounding amateurish and not complimenting the singers. However, this is key to appreciating what's to come, which is a shift from the discomfort into finding something beautiful in the chaos. This is a story where murder is sometimes played for laughs, finding a perfect balance between pathos and disregard. Sweeney is a flawed man who performs many awful deeds throughout the run of the show, but still it's a deceptive sympathetic portrayal meant to make us care for a man, as the title and supporting cast would let you know, is a demon.
So why should we care about Sweeney's (David St. Louis) story? What unfolds over the course of the story of a man unwound by a traumatic past that caused him to flee. He's desiring to see his daughter Johanna (Juiliana Hansen) again while hiding out with Mrs. Lovett (Jamey Hood). The show doesn't make any pretensions of his plight. Mrs. Lovett makes the worst meat pies. Within minutes of arriving in London he's comically taunted by a beggar woman (Erica Hanrahan-Ball). There's nothing but animosity in this world where everyone is a tad reprehensible. There's nothing pure, and the idea of finding joy can only be done through nefarious means. While this sounds like the basis for the most miserable story in existence, Hugh Wheeler's book knows to add a dark sense of humor to everything, finding witting joy in the act of murder in every scene. It's a tactic that not only shocks the audience, but slowly creates an unnerving empathy with Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, whose lower class status becomes justified even as their actions become worse. It's the subversive power of theater, to some extent using disconnect from realism to embrace its awfulness without being downright repugnant.
The score jangles behind the actors, using recurring themes throughout the show that range from romantic ("Johanna") to the downright chaotic ("City on Fire!"). At a point the show's few calm moments are rooted int he most tense, when danger lies at the foot of Sweeney's barber chair. He has no choice but to think of how he'll survive, and it's here that he finds the most love in his murder weapon of choice: a shaving razor. We want to see him survive, but the world around him is crumbling. It's to St. Louis' credit that the songs are delivered with aggressive confidence that capture frustration and tenderness within the same melody. When he points his razor at the audience during "Epiphany," it has a sense of danger. You will believe that he'll pull someone up on stage as his next shave. As the strings creak, the vision inside his mind goes crazier, and soon we're in a chaos of revenge that is both magnificent and repulsive. As Toby (Conlan Ledwith) becomes more of a moral center, the show reaches its most disturbing. The revenge has consumed everyone, and the reality that there's no way out gets under the audience's skin. The higher the strings go, the longer those notes are held, the more that this world becomes something haunting.
Again, the show's dark and gritty core is saved by a lot of quality work put into it. Sondheim's expertise at orchestrating madness allows the show to feel both chaotic and grounded in something wonderfully complex. It takes a madman to notice its brilliance, and that's the question he asks us. Are we all mad for wanting revenge? Most of us will never be in Sweeney Todd's place, but for over two hours he makes a perplexing case. The story's gallows humor also benefits the themes, as the ability to laugh at this deranged world is the only respite from outright despair and regret. To spend time with Hood's version of Mrs. Lovett is to find the blissful comedic center. She doesn't care that she makes the worst pies. She doesn't care that she is going down a moral sewer. What she cares about is achieving something greater, and in the process her nonchalant offensiveness is allowed to play out in some of the show's funniest, most memorable songs. Considering that a verse of any song is like lyrical gymnastics, Hood is a notable standout, finding ways to be equally deranged and sympathetic. She is the perfect counterpart to St. Louis' Sweeney, whose interior conflict is the heart of the show and feels at times downright tragic. He's the reason the show works, but Hood is the reason it never loses steam.
For what Sweeney Todd lacks in complicated plot externally, it makes up for with an internal structure that is meant to tease the audience. The notes of the orchestra are unnerving, the creaky singing on "City on Fire!" irritates the ear. And yet, it's all essential to get into the psychological nature of this story. Thankfully the South Coast Repertory's production is capable of capturing the madness with a great cast and clever use of stage that allows a scene that takes place on two floors of a house to feel realistically designed on a flat stage. It's a show that gets under the audience's skin and forces them to go to some dark places. It's not meant to be a pleasant show, but those willing to go into the darkness will find plenty to admire about Sondheim's towering achievement, whose songbook has plenty of incredible moments that push the boundaries of musicals in subversive, violent, and hilarious ways. By the end, you'll understand insanity. You'll understand revenge. It may not be the right thing to do, but the show's best achievement is in making you think it ever was.
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