Sweeney Todd - Epsom Players
Sweeney Todd is one of Sondheim's most popular musicals, proven by the long queue of people waiting to buy tickets for the opening night of Epsom Player's production last night. I'm sure those people didn't regret those last minute purchases as Epsom Players presented a rather slick, confident interpretation.
Entering the auditorium, my eye was instantly drawn to the set, well designed by Michael Leopold. Divided into three distinct sections, it allowed reasonably quick changes between scenes, with a good mixture of levels to keep it interesting. Although scene changes weren't too cumbersome, there was the odd moment of darkened silence, which always breaks the magic of realistic theatre. Plus, there seemed to be no reason for the delayed darkness, especially when cast and costumed stagehands were moving set.
The show was slick and well directed by Lynne Smart-Steel. The whole cast moved confidently about the stage, sure of their purpose and relaxed enough in character to act with spontaneity to the environment around them. It was clear a lot of work had gone into character development across the board.
Most impressive was the level of singing throughout the show. The ensemble were particularly impressive - the amount of work that went into the harmonies must have been extensive and demonstrative of the skill of Musical Director Nic Luker. Alongside this, the appropriate and varied use of dynamics across the songs kept the creepy levels high throughout. Sophie-Lee Colchester (Johanna), David Wright (Anthony), James Turnbull (Judge Turpin), and Danny Willis (Beadle Bamford) singing together in Kiss Me Part II was a definite highlight.
Sweeney Todd and dancing are not too obvious bedfellows but choreography by Imogen Smart-Steel added a nice touch at points, especially during By The Sea in act II. However, care should be taken when adding dance to numbers that it does not mask the point of the song. The dance during Pretty Women distracted from the action happening in Todd's shop and destroyed any tension building rather than accentuating it. I found myself distracted by the dancers and therefore the nail biting crescendo to Sweeney raising his arm to finally get his revenge on Judge Turpin was lost.
Kevin Hayes as Sweeney Todd and Sarah Trotman as Mrs Lovett worked well together with many of their scenes and songs together being highlights of the night. Little Priest and By The Sea were a lesson in communion between actors. Hayes was possibly a less severe Todd than people come to expect, but his hard stare and unique voice made Epiphany properly unnerving and passionate. Trotman made playing Mrs Lovett look as easy as taking a breath and was easy to watch throughout. Interestingly, I did not feel emotionally either way at Mrs Lovett's demine and, after a lot of thought, I think this is down to the delicate line Trotman trod between jovial pie seller and sinister manipulator.
I was initially skeptical of Tobias being cast as a women (Pheobe Jones) but this ended up not being distracting in the slightest. I can't question why it was decided not to the cast a boy in the role, but the casting of Jones added an unexpected vunerability to the part, particularly during Not While I'm Around. Jones is always alert on stage and a joy to watch, obviously well suited to comedy as shown in her rendition of Pirelli's Miracle Elixir.
James Turnbull as Judge Turpin was suitably creepy and lecherous and Emma Dixon as Beggar Woman sang well but could look further at physicality as her stoop occasionally verged on being pantomimic.
I particularly enjoyed Kiss Me and the acceleration of love between Johanna and Anthony. It was a nice touch and dragged their romance into the modern era by adding more physical elements between them and made their whirlwind love story more relatable to me at least. Johanna - Act II Sequence was humourous initially with Todd's blase approach to bumping customers off but began to slow midway. Sondheim offers a suitably plodding tempo to roll this song along, which almost overtook the speed of the actors. I would suggest using the tempo to help propel the action to avoid it beginning to lag.
Epsom Players' production of Sweeney Todd was an evening of good entertainment I would recommend, especially to Sondheim fans and a great, well-produced production of a favourite. Timing needs to be watched with a late start and elongated interval resulting in an eye-watering twenty-to-eleven final curtain. That aside, Sweeney Todd was a midweek musical treat, and I wish Epsom Players a very successful run for the rest of the week.
