Reviewer: Kristine Gotham
Venue: Bay City Players
‘Wow! Wow! Wow! Bay City Players wowed audience members with the 107th season opener, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. From the first notes sung by the ensemble to the final curtain call, not a note was missed, a step skipped, a light or sound cue off pace. This show was just incredible!
Meagan Eager’s Director’s Note offered her vision and philosophy regarding the play and set the tone for what to expect. Her direction did not disappoint. This play and its characters are not just mere caricatures but deep, feeling people, longing to survive in a world that is hard and cold. How they choose to survive is, to use Meagan’s word, cringy. Wearing a different hat, as choreographer, Eager guided cast members through dance steps on stage as they sang often incredibly complicated songs composed by Stephen Sondheim.
Steven P. Holty played the title character, Sweeney Todd. His performance was rich and full. As the play progressed, Holty portrayed Sweeney as a man who at first is obsessed with revenge, bent on killing the man who precipitated the death of his wife and child. As time moves on, the audience watched as he descended into the depths of insanity, killing without hesitation. Man, woman, or child, were not safe from his razor blade if they got in his way.
Brianne Dolney-Jacobs, was the perfect counterpart to Holty’s Todd, as Nellie Lovett. She portrayed Nellie with a desperation so often seen in one who is trying to survive in a day and time that was not kind. Dolney-Jacob’s voice was strong and vibrant. She carried herself as a woman driven by greed and lust, guiding Holty’s Todd down a path of murder that was far beyond the scope of his desire for revenge.
Michael J. Wisniewski, rounds out the main characters with his portrayal of Judge Turpin. Turpin is not a character that elicits love or sympathy and Wisniewski portrayed him perfectly. His voice, his movements, created a character full of hubris, lust and depravity. As the play progressed, audience members were on the edge of their seats, waiting for Turpin’s ultimate end at Todd’s hand.
A second storyline within the play was that of love. Jim Renfer played Anthony Hope and recent Jimmy Award winner, Gretchen Shope played Johanna Baker. These charactors provided a break from the blood and death surrounding Sweeney Todd. Shope played Johanna with an innocence of a child but also a deep knowing that there was evil in the world. Renfer’s Hope was kind and strong, diligently seeking to save the young woman that he had fallen in love with even though he barely knew her.
Each of these characters ebs and flows, sometimes being the main focus and other times in the background, but always intertwined. Each action that one character takes has some impact on another although not always readily apparent. In the end, death wins, as it always does.
From the acting, to the musical direction, to the costuming, to the set, every piece fit together perfectly to make Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a performance that is not to be missed.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is showing at Bay City Players, July 25-28. Evening performances are at 7:30 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Matinee performances are on Saturday at 2:00 and Sunday at 3:00. This performance contains adult themes as well as smoke and light effects and is not appropriate for children.