I'll do my best Margo impersonation.
TheaterMania is very positive
"Memorize this name: John Doyle. Now repeat it as a mantra while hurrying quick as the flash of a blade to the box-office of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where Doyle's production of the brilliant Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd is on view.
How jaw-droppingly impressive is the 52-year-old Broadway newcomer's thorough re-thinking of the acclaimed piece? I don't have the space here to itemize the myriad particulars that go toward making this Sweeney Todd a new-fangled Broadway phenomenon. To do so, I'd need a chapter in a book, if not an entire show-biz tome. There, I could fully extol the chilling beauty of the well-nigh perfect Sondheim-Wheeler work and detail how director-designer Doyle has brought out every detail of it as if it were a drop of freshly spilled blood on a clean, white laboratory coat.
Traditionally, there are two kinds of stage directors: those who skillfully draw out what's intrinsically valuable in a piece, and those who regard a play or musical as merely a foundation for layering on creative concepts. But Doyle can be placed squarely in neither of those categories; instead, he operates in both. With this Sweeney, he holds up the property up to be viewed in all its steely splendor -- much as the infuriated, homicidal Sweeney holds aloft his razors -- yet he has also reimagined the classic tuner according to his own unique vision.
----------------------------------------------------
Spectrally pristine in conception and execution, Sweeney Todd has only one drawback. The authors think that, within their lovingly gruesome tale, they've embedded a profound statement about man's inhumanity to man. But despite Wheeler's lacerating dialogue and the diabolical intricacies of Sondheim's lyrics and often underrated music, they're off the beam in claiming at the musical's finale that we're all akin to the title character. "To seek revenge may lead to hell, but every one does it and seldom as well as Sweeney," the cast trumpets while pointing into the auditorium. Truth is, not everyone does it -- seldom as well or not.
On the other hand, Doyle does what he does better than anyone else could possibly have done it, and has created one of Broadway's all-time best shows in the process.
By all means, attend the tale of Sweeney Todd. "
Review