Sweeney Todd is of course the tale of a 19th-century London barber who, wrongly imprisoned by a judge lusting after his wife, returns to take revenge with his razor. What keeps the story from being a re-treading of
The Count of Monte Cristo is the element of class conflict -- that and the grotesque device of having the barber get rid of the bodies by giving them to his pie-maker girlfriend to bake into her wares. We are thus treated to a very dark tale, indeed, with repeated mentions of the
"Dies Irae" theme (the Day of Judgment theme from Catholic liturgical music which has been used by many classical composers). The darkness of
Sweeney Todd, ironically, prompts
Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and
Hugh Wheeler (book) to write a richer, more coherent piece than the usual Broadway fluff.
With his somber baritone,
Len Cariou is chilling as the murderous, grief-stricken barber;
Angela Lansbury, the cannibal-pie-maker, sounds like an insane Cockney
Edith Bunker. The tormented young lovers
Victor Garber and
Sarah Rice are a bit bland, as second-string lovers in Broadway shows often are, but
Merle Louise as the
Beggar Woman provides some necessary spice. The orchestra is more than up to the demands of
Sondheim's score, and the whole affair is well-recorded. This version of
Sweeney Todd is a lot of fun as long as you don't listen to it too soon after a meal. ~ Kurt Keefner
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