I just got back from seeing Sweeney Todd, and it was really good. Not the most amazing thing you'll ever see, but a really strong production. Rachel Rockwell has once again proved herself a great director with quite innovative ideas. I know the show really well, but a couple moments made me jump, and I could feel my heart pounding in the end sequence. The ensemble was really strong, and it was very well-sung all around. Liz McCartney was a standout as Mrs Lovett, although Gregg Edelman wasn't as great as I had hoped. He played the role as really dead up until the epiphany, which in theory would work well, but it made for a dull first act. Heidi Kettenring stood out as the Beggar Woman because I think she's such a versatile actress. I saw her as Olive in Spelling Bee, and this role is quite the divergence from that and the ingenue she was in Piazza, and she handled each role so well. The lighting design should also be noted as really great--it was really atmospheric and when the lights came up at intermission it was a slight shock to find myself back in the ornate theatre. The Beadle was also quite good, and I really believed that he was one who was "always happy to serve my fellow neighbors" or whatever that line is. But what holds this production together is what Rachel Rockwell has done. She's really a brilliant director, and I think we're so lucky to have her here in Chicago.
It seemed at this performance that most of the audience didn't know the show very well at all, so it was fun to see them react to certain parts--shock at the murders, when the realize that the dead people will be baked into pies, and when we see the man fall down with the chair contraption. When that happened during the Johanna quartet, it got some applause.
I really strongly recommend this production, and if it's at all convenient, you should go see it, but it's not quite as good as Rachel Rockwell's stunning production of Ragtime last year, so if it's not all that convenient, you don't have to go far out of your way to see it. But it was a really really strong production and a wonderful way to spend my birthday today.
EDIT: wow, that's a really painful run-on sentence... I'm too lazy to edit it, though...
Updated On: 8/14/11 at 10:56 PM
