Vancouver Opera's Sweeney Todd has a lot to bite into
A Vancouver Opera production. At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Sunday, April 26. Continues until May 3
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the darkest big musicals out there, but even by that standard, Vancouver Opera’s ambitious new staging goes for a deeper shade of black.
Blood splatters, meat gets ground, and cadavers splay on metal gurneys by an ominous oven at the audience’s feet (where the orchestra would normally sit in the pit). Director Kim Collier and her cast dare us to look death in the face—perhaps fittingly for a show where the title character sings that we all deserve to die.
It’s set on a cagelike metal industrial structure that turns the tale into a modern statement not just on revenge, but on globalism and capitalism. Johanna, Sweeney Todd’s daughter, is kept in a glass and steel “box” that has the definite look of one of the new condo towers that sits outside the Queen E.’s doors. The chorus wears a grey and black mix of hoodies and jeans. The ravaging of Todd’s wife takes place at a party reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut. And Mrs. Lovett’s pies are hawked like fast food, complete with her own red-and-yellow logo (“You’ll love it”).
Speaking of Mrs. Lovett, the master manipulator who cooks up the plan to turn the Demon Barber’s murderous rampage into a booming meat-pie business almost steals the show. Luretta Bybee is hugely charismatic in the key role, hyper, driven, and deviously upbeat; she brings multiple layers to a song like “Poor Thing”, at once sympathetic, jealous, and judgmental.
The other factor here, on opening weekend, was that she played against lead Greer Grimsley, her husband in real life, and he’s ill. No doubt, the richly endowed baritone is capable of commanding a stage, whether playing Macbeth or Wotan, but on opening weekend he could only perform the spoken parts, while George Masswohl was brought in to sing Todd’s songs from offstage. It was an unfortunate circumstance, and admittedly the effect was more seamless than you’d expect. But Masswohl, despite his beautiful voice (and the fact that he was once a hit as Sweeney Todd in an Arts Club production), is not an operatic singer. Also, Grimsley’s character seemed more broody and reserved than he might have been if the baritone had his considerable vocal power—which he’ll hopefully regain before the end of the run.
The good news, though, is he’s surrounded by a strong cast. Among the standouts, as Johanna, soprano Caitlin Wood sings, suitably, like a bird; and baritone Doug MacNaughton finds self-flagellating complexity as the lecherous Judge Turpin, who covets his young prisoner. Rocco Rupolo pulls off a mellifluous rendition of the love song called “Johanna”, but plays her suitor, Anthony Hope, as a little too naive for this dark world.
Elsewhere, David Curry brings huge comedic chops to the over-the-top rival barber Adolfo Pirelli, with a tooth-pulling scene that will make your molars ache. And late in the second act, Pascal Charbonneau finds the vulnerable, childlike heart of Tobias, the helper Lovett mothers even as she decides to off him.
The orchestra finds equal complexity in Stephen Sondheim’s intricate, and often creepy, score—a feat when you see the musicians playing on-stage while a giant metal scaffold creaks over and around them (sometimes too noisily). And just wait till you see conductor Jonathan Darlington’s delicious moment in the opening spotlight, a prelude to the prelude that includes a Saran-Wrapped organ and a flashing blade.
This Sweeney Todd has a lot more surprises, too—one of its most shockingly successful being the sight of Todd’s victims hurtling down a metal slide. There is a lot going on here, between the multiple levels of the set and the action above and around the orchestra, but also in the ideas about consumerism and politics that are being asserted.
So, no: this is not the cartoonish take of other Sweeney Todds, nor is it the stylized camp of Johnny Depp’s movie version. For those in the mood, this edgy rendition has a lot to bite into. And if you’re still hungry, the Australian Pie Guy is selling his wares in the plaza at intermission. Just be sure to double-check the contents of the shepherd’s pie.
Comments
19 Comments
Eloise Sydney
Apr 27, 2015 at 5:35pm
I attended the Sweeney Todd dress rehearsal, which to date , as reported by my friends who saw subsequent performances, was and probably will be the best of the run. Maybe it's the lack of this reviewer's knowledge of this remarkable piece of music theatre, or perhaps its' just the VOA audiences who sit in awe of shiny objects, like an infant in a high chair being mesmerized by a set of car keys, that keeps up the illusion that the VOA consistently forges "ambitious"brave new worlds in opera production. No argument here that all the main performers were excellent- the VOA does, from time to time, hire very fine singers who deliver quality performances despite the awful material they are given( I'm talking about you, Stickboy). They also hire poor singers for lackluster productions like the recent high school quality Die Fleidermaus. The fact that the spoken dialogue is said in the native tongue of the country in which it is performed is a long standing tradition; another point that this reviewer missed and presented as another VOA innovation. I suspect that those of you who review and speak in glowing terms about the VOA's innovations also speak in glowing terms about how Al Gore invented the internet. But back to Sweeney Todd, the staging is the same as every other production. The moving scaffolding and slide were developed for the original 1979 Broadway production with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou playing Sweeney ( for you Blue Blood fans, he's Grandpa). The orchestra always plays on stage as one of Sondheim's signature directions-no matter where in the world the production is mounted. And as much as one can applaud the efforts of a back stage Sweeney while the one on stage ( with a glorious baritone voice) has to ape his role, this is an opera production that requires an operatic, or at least trained voice- another Sondheim requirement. It might be the Queen Elizabeth theatre acoustics that make the performances sound uneven, but it is the strong hand of an ill tempered autocrat that makes this production, and most of VOA's productions, have real opera and music theatre fans, and even new audiences making their first foray into the complex and delicious opera world, wishing there was an opera company in this city that is really deserving of the title "Canada's second largest opera company".
Thank you, Eloise
Apr 27, 2015 at 11:39pm
Telling points. So many times...(I count at least 3 from this director alone-Red, Saint Joan, and now this)...has one seen a re-staging hailed in Vancouver as ground-breaking, and it is tedious.
So bitter, Eloise
Apr 28, 2015 at 9:50am
I have seen Sweeney Todd staged numerous times here and elsewhere, like NYC, and I think you could call this an ambitious staging. The QE is a huge stage and this set is one of the biggest and most industrial looking I have seen, with a lot of rotation and action going on. Plus I see nothing in the review above that suggests the orchestra doesn't normally sit on the stage or that the slide isn't apart of other productions--only comments about how that worked here.
I concur
Apr 28, 2015 at 11:25am
I long for the days when Lloyd Dykk would have eviscerated this production. I can overlook the normally enjoyable Greer Grimsley's loss of voice - that stuff happens. But the production itself was, frankly, lousy. I nearly left at intermission and I never do that. The problem with opera singers is that they are not normally great actors, so their dialogue seems like recitation rather than performance. That is a bad thing if you're doing Sweeney Todd which has such musical and emotional complexities. For instance, Pascal Charbonneau clearly has a very nice singing voice but Toby is a pivotal character - in many ways the heart of the piece - and much of his dialogue was unintelligible and his characterization undeveloped . The chorus was particularly bad, leaden and weirdly staged. Mrs. Lovett was the best of a mediocre lot but certainly wouldn't make anyone forget Angela Lansbury. Just kinda sad.
Fair criticism
Apr 28, 2015 at 1:04pm
To be clear, So bitter, the reviewer did describe the slide as a surprise. And it was in the Straight's preview of this production that the same writer said the director was "playing with convention" by placing the orchestra on stage. I really wonder where Smith has seen these other "cartoonish" productions that make this one seem so edgy.
Anonymous
Apr 29, 2015 at 10:09am
Wonderful !
Colin N
Apr 29, 2015 at 10:34pm
I thought it was really amateur-hour, and not-at-all because of the main character being sick. The sound, the lack of any acting ability, the chorus, even the singing of a lot of the main characters after Sweeney/Lovett. Amateur! It felt like watching an opera company crumbling right before my eyes.
Eric HG
Apr 30, 2015 at 3:06am
I admit that--judging *purely* from the preview video, a lot of the comments here make sense--it looks like a production that doesn't really hold together to me. Maybe I'm a bit too strict when it comes to Sondheim--but I'm not sure why some of these "darker" elements are called innovations.
This said--Eloise's great comments have one inaccuracy. The show was not written to have the orchestra on stage. The original Hal Prince production had the orchestra in the pit (as did the tour of that production which was slightly simplified and filmed for TV--it's on DVD or easy to find on youtube as is a poor quality fan video of the original Broadway staging.)
Nor is it really standard to have the orchestra for Sweeney on stage--certainly Sondheim never wrote this as a requirement and the recent London staging didn't have an on stage orchestra.
Maybe the confusion is that there have been a number of major concert/semi-staged versions of Sweeney filmed for TV which DO have the orchestra on stage--last year's PBS airing with Emma Thompson as Lovett, or one from ten or so years back also filmed. But these are different things altogether.
So, I suppose, if this is a fully staged version then having an on stage orchestra is an innovation of sorts. For whatever that's worth.
Eloise Sydney for Eric HG
Apr 30, 2015 at 9:25pm
To Eric HG I stand corrected. I did see the 1979 Broadway production where the orchestra was on stage, however. And you are correct that many of the PBS semi staged productions of Sondheim's work have the orchestra on stage ( like the wonderful 2012 "Company" starring Neil Patrick Harris with the NY Phil) as filming convenience I suppose. But every Sondheim production I've ever seen ( NYC, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago) with the exception of Into The Woods and those with Bernstein as collaborator, the orchestra has been on stage. But this conversation is for another day and another time. A Sondheim Meet up, anyone? My original comments about this particular production still stand. Sondheim's works as many other works that now belong to the canon of great American Musical Theatre have been brilliantly incorporated into the repertoire of many great opera companies, large and small, throughout the world (Read "Give my regards to Innsbruck" in Opera News April 2015) and doing it spectacularly along with the canon of operatic greats and new operas. You didn't have to go to far at all to see great 20th and 21st century opera- Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock" by POV and "The Emperor of Atlantis" and "Fallujah" by City Opera Vancouver. And if you have enough Air Miles, go to Calgary. And for truly great, innovative operatic composers who know how to write for the voice, you just have to stay here in Vancouver- although their works are not performed by the "second largest opera company in Canada". They all were and are spectacular. Spectacular is the operative word-a word not in Vancouver Opera's current lexicon; not in ideology nor vision nor innovation and certainly not in artistic merit. That is as evident in the recent production of Sweeney as it has been over the last few years ( and don't bring up Nixon in China, please). So Vancouver Opera, I'll be watching and commenting. Can't wait to see what you do with Evita!
148jules
Apr 30, 2015 at 10:04pm
Re: Eloise Sydney comment above.
This is one case where she should have written her comments and put it aside for the night and the next day deleted it. An incoherent and dismissive critique of the reviewer and the VO (it was rebranded many years ago from VOA).
Eloise obviously has a grudge to bear with someone at VO or the reviewer. One of her many rambling comments: "Maybe it's the lack of this reviewer's knowledge of this remarkable piece of music theatre, or perhaps its' just the VOA audiences who sit in awe of shiny objects, like an infant in a high chair being mesmerized by a set of car keys, that keeps up the illusion that the VOA consistently forges "ambitious"brave new worlds in opera production." makes no sense whatsoever. Who or what is she criticizing??
An operatic voice is a Sondheim requirement ... says probably only you!!! I saw 2 superlative productions of Sweeney Todd; one with Michael Ball & Imelda Staunton and the other with Bryn Terfel & Emma Thompson ... guess what? There's only one operatic voice in that bunch!
Eloise you attended the dress rehearsal, next time pay full price or spare us from your angry comments.