Theatre review: Sweeney Todd at Shoreline CC

Sweeney Todd has a 3pm matinee on Sunday, May 19th, and performances next weekend on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

By Douglas C. Lewis, ND

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened Friday, March 17th at the Shoreline Community College Theater to a moderately sized, but appreciative audience. All in all, it was an entertaining performance of what is a very difficult work to stage and perform. However, having said that, I’d be remiss in not making a few comments about the specifics of this opening performance.

The action seemed to begin when the performers began milling about the stage. The set was well designed and appeared to fit with the period and the space allowed for it. The costuming was well done. Then, suddenly people in street clothes appeared and began to introduce themselves and make various comments about how glad they were that we were attending. The actors on stage froze (most of them). The mood was interrupted.

(Is it just me, or are other people put off by this phenomenon of unnecessary people wanting to share the stage with the actors? I’m there to see the performance and am put off by what I see as an unwanted intrusion into the action. Now, in this age of electronics, I see the need to ask the audience to turn off their beeps, bells, and whistles since many of us seem to forget that we are not in our living rooms watching a screen that won’t be bothered by the noise, but can’t we leave it at that?)

The music and action began and despite a few opening night technical glitches with lighting, sound, and follow spots, the audience was moved along through the plot without too much further distraction.

An outstanding performance by Macall Gordon as Mrs. Lovett really made the show and was helped by the supporting roll of Tobias Ragg played by Justin Johns. In sharp contrast, Mark Abel as Judge Turpin was a weak link and poor Katie Poor was unconvincing as the Beggar Woman. An outstanding performance was delivered by the barber chair in the second act.

Music direction by Charles Enlow seemed up to the task as was the orchestral accompaniment conducted by Bruce Monroe. Stage direction by Teresa Thuman was quite entertaining, but I wish that during a freeze, ALL of the performers on the stage would freeze. And why did it seem that in the second act the ensemble was watching the action in the basement bake shop when they could not have been present?

Oh, and about that set; what a wonderful central pivoting piece that allowed for very quick and effective scene changes. But why was it only sometimes turned by performers in costume? And who were those people in black street clothes that occasionally showed up on stage to do the moving? I’m fine with a tech crew moving the set during a black out, but come on, during action? Get them some costumes too!

Theater is magical, intended to take us to a different place.  Sweeney Todd, while dark and a reflection of some of the worst in us, is magical in its own somewhat perverse way. If it weren’t for the distractions that I mentioned, I think this performance could have taken me away with it.