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Thursday October 13, 2011
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
I could not resist another opportunity to see Sweeney Todd at the Chichester Festival Theatre - this production with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in the title roles. The production was set in the 1940s - which I was pretty neutral about - not sure it added anything - and generally I think I prefer the brooding atmosphere of a Victorian London. However, overall, it was brilliant - the singing (and diction) particularly good. My only issue now is that whenever I see this show, that nothing can ever recreate the surprise and horror of my first experience seeing Sweeney dancing with Mrs Lovett and suddenly flinging her into the oven. And, quite rightly, this version treated the final scenes quite differently....
[Naturally the production later transferred to the West End in 2012, where it elicited a glowing review from Michael Billington in the Guardian, leaving him "grasping for superlatives... ...a fresh look without destroying its essential fabric." My sole disagreement with him is over his view that Mrs Lovett's "residual moral sense is quickly overcome by her love of profit" - when in fact I think her lack of "moral sense" was the most striking part of her character, made clear by the fact of her lack of charity towards what turned out to be Sweeney's wife, and denying all knowledge of her fate. I have always thought that although Mrs Lovett (unlike Sweeney) is an immediately lovable character, that it is she who is the personification of true evil in the story.]
Posted by Christina at 11:40 PM. Category: Art and Culture
