Review: Moonbox's 'Sweeney Todd' – An Exercise in Bland Guignol

Given the news of the past week, perhaps a nearly bloodless "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is welcome – with such ugly scenes of Mid-East violence lasered into our memory, why should the stage of the new Arrow Street Arts (formerly Oberon) be as well? Still, those with long memories will recall that Harold Prince's original was a very bloody affair, and while a recent Broadway revival (with Josh Groban) minimized it, bloodletting was still present. But when the blood starts flowing in the Moonbox Productions' staging, it is stylized by a red lighting effect, which, sorry to say, doesn't serve the piece. Sadly, the production proves bloodless in more ways than one.

That is largely due to director Ryan Mardesich's concept. Put simply, he doesn't seem to understand the show – a gory, darkly funny revenge tale with moments of high suspense – that should leave the audience entertained and unsettled. Though well-sung, this production is rarely suspenseful, due, in part, because Mardesich rarely goes for a shock effect. He even cuts a key part in the second act that made it like watching "Psycho" without the shower scene.

At the opening night performance, Mardesich introduced the performance by saying that it was more of a final run-through, which was apparent with occasional flubbed lyric and, more importantly, a company more concerned with hitting their marks then being fully invested in bringing the audience into its Grand Guignol horror. As such, this "Sweeney Todd" is something of a competent (if tame) staged concert enhanced by a pair of terrific performances in its two leads, strong musical direction, and strikingly original lighting. Perhaps in a week or two the company will match Davron S. Monroe and Joy Clark in their ferocious (in Monroe's part) and hilarious (in Clark's) interpretations, but as of now, this "Sweeney" isn't quite ready for prime time.

It is, though, a joy to hear, thanks to musical director Dan Ryan's superb balance of the onstage orchestra and cast. The orchestra is nearly in full-view, sitting in a corral on the stage beneath a large ramp that leads to the door to Mrs. Lovett's oven. The cast has been drilled in the nuances of Sondheim's copious score – his largest and most operatic – and save for a few dropped lines and some opening night jitters, it's quite strong.

As are Monroe and Clark. As Sweeney, Monroe stares the audience down with a sinister grin and what appears to be blood in his eyes. His deep baritone is perfect for Sweeney's large vocal part and his "Epiphany" is a moment to behold. If he seems somewhat one-note in his acting, blame Sondheim and book writer Hugh Wheeler, who really don't give him much to do other than be an agent of revenge. Thankfully he is supported by Clark, whose assured Mrs. Lovett is a comic wonder. She is a superb singing actress with a nuanced delivery of some of Sondheim's most wicked lyrics and has great fun in Mrs. Lovett's amorality. She also acts as the wily catalyst for the show's darker themes, which are brilliantly expressed in the first act finale, "A Little Priest," that is rollickingly funny as the pair ham it up in vaudevillian fashion. Clark is also saucy and sexual, seducing Sweeney at the end of that number, making it clear that the sociopaths who slay together, sleep together.

Otherwise, the cast struggled a bit to reach a level of comfort with their roles, though most grew stronger as the performance continued. As Toby, the waifish boy befriended by Mrs. Lovett, Eli Douglas sang a deeply affecting "Not While I'm Around," and was creepily convincing in the violent final scene. Dallas Austin Jimmar made for a boyish Anthony and had their moment with a tender "Joanna;" as Joanna, Eva Akina Juertas Colliou has a lovely soprano, though she sometimes swallowed her lyrics; Todd Yard's Judge Turpin was coolly odious, while Meagan Lewis-Michelson was comically so as his cohort, a corrupt police officer called the Beadle. Yard and Lewis-Michelson (along with Akina Juertas Colliou and Jimmar) sang the difficult contrapuntal lines of "Kiss Me" with seeming ease. It took some time to warm to Caitlin Zerra Rose's Beggar Woman, who came on too strong, and pretty much stayed that way; and Ethan DePuy used his high tenor to great effect as the barber Pirelli, who hides a secret that could expose Todd's plans for revenge.

But a sung concert is not "Sweeney Todd." This is a melodrama, and Mardesich's baffling minimalistic approach too often cuts away from the suspense. From the start, moments of calculated unease are cut, and a spine-chilling moment when Todd must hide a body from being discovered is very poorly handled. The first act builds to Sweeney's first confrontation with the Judge as they sing the soaring "Pretty Women," but the moment is mitigated by a bizarre, soft core pas de deux between Mrs. Lovett and Joanna that cuts away from the song's inherent suspense. Sondheim supplies the tension. It doesn't need visual aids. Even worse is the second act disposal of Todd's victims that misses some key shock effects. Also, the minimal use of props and design elements is really at the detriment of the piece itself. Brechtian in concept, when Sweeney reveals his special chair to some of Sondheim's most soaring music, it felt like a joke without a punchline. And the use of the chair in the second act is crucial to the storytelling, which made little sense here.

Mardesich does bring the show back to its 1978 roots with this Brechtian approach. Actors mill about the sidelines, address the audience directly, and in its best use, blind the audience with red light as Sweeney goes increasingly mad in "Epiphany." The lighting throughout, by Kat C. Zhou, is Broadway level – expertly rendered and dramatically right. Her work adds immeasurably to the show's watchability. The misguided set design by Cameron McEachern fills the stage's wide expanse with what looks like an industrial bakery, and Mardesich makes use of every inch of it by placing Mrs. Lovett's bake shop on the left side, Sweeney's shop at center, and Judge Lovett's home on the right with that central large ramp rising up to Mrs. Lovett's oven door that opens and closes more frequently as Sweeney's crimes accelerate. If only McEachern's design served the play and not the other way around, which becomes a serious problem in the second half. Plus it proves unwieldy to the cast who often appear to be rushing from one area to another just to keep up with the action. The action should be breathless; not the cast. Rebecca Glick's costumes are an odd mix of past and present, but at least match the color scheme (red, black and white) of the set.

Even with its strengths, this "Sweeney" misses what makes it such an extraordinary piece of musical theater. There may be some thrills in the singing, but not in the telling of the story. The production will likely come together some during its run, though it is doubtful that this matchless exercise in Grand Guignol will rise beyond being bland Guignol.

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" from Moonbox Productions continues through November 5 at Arrow Street Arts, Zero Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA. For more information follow this link.