It’s a director’s worst nightmare: after months of preparation, something unexpected happens that requires a last-minute cast change. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street director Brian Richmond told the crowd just before the show started last night to go easy on Kieran Foss, who replaced Taylor Fawcett as a member of the chorus at the last minute. But the show must go on: Foss learned his entire part in three days.
And Richmond and musical director Don Horsburgh can breathe easy: Foss rose to the challenge. The show is known among theatre buffs for being difficult to get right in terms of musical timing, but they got it right, and it made for a memorable night of psychopathic eeriness.
This is the only show I’ve seen that can somehow make the crowd laugh moments after seeing a scene that deals with cannibalism, murder, and rape. When Brian’s son Jacob Richmond found his rhythm as the show’s lead, he was nothing short of frightening, playing his role as a psychopathic murderer with such sadistic realism that it got uncomfortable, in the best artistically manipulative way. His voice isn’t as easy on the ears as some of the other cast members, but his stage presence is incredible.
Shauna Baird, who plays Mrs. Lovett, held the show together in terms of characterization, and clearly worked well with dialect coach Iris MacGregor-Bannerman; Baird’s British accent was by far the best of all the cast members.
Except for a few hiccups early on in terms of blocking and other stage movements, as well as some disorganization in some of the early songs, the cast of this show was ghoulishly invigorating and creepy; they also weren’t afraid to be quirky and crack a few smiles.
The music was great, too: the piano players danced their digits on the ivory keys with elegance.
There is too often little to look forward to in shows that are propelled forward by a serial killer scratching his murderous itch, but Sweeney Todd’s unexpected directorial creativity and diligent cast kept me tuned in on this mostly victorious show until the curtain went down.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Various times, until Sunday, August 12
$25-$52, Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre
bluebridgetheatre.ca