Lord Cherry's Review

Author: Sebastian Cherry

  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Second Viewing, Same Production, Different Cast)

    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Second Viewing, Same Production, Different Cast)

    I made my return to Fleet Street mostly due to the addition of one cast member who was set to make their Broadway Debut. That cast member being Joe Locke making his debut as Tobias. As
    someone who has watched Heartstopper, I was curious to see what the young talent could bring to the stage.

    The Stage of Sweeny features a dark atmosphere and imposing wooden surfaces

    What I found was basically a whole new style of production with both pros and cons when compared to this same production with its previous lead roles going to Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. In this casting, Aaron Tveit took over the role of Sweeney and played opposite Sutton Foster’s Mrs. Lovett. Tveit played Sweeney in a much more deeply brooding way. You could physically see the weight that his torment has brought him over the years as Sweeney moved about the stage. This version of Sweeney felt much more introspective. At no point did the entire theatre feel like it with filled to the brim with emotion, instead it felt like it was closely guarded and eating him alive from the inside out.

    Similarly, Sutton Foster never felt like she would bring down the house with the emotion shown in her voice. She did bring the house down with her superb comedic timing, though. This Mrs.
    Lovett leaned into the campiness of the role, at times going overboard with her affection towards Sweeney. This led to some hilarious scenes in which you, as the audience, got a chance
    to see just how much fun Foster and Tveit were able to have as they struggled to keep straight faces. Luckily, Mrs. Lovett can absolutely be played in this style and still fit the character, but the
    contrast was drastic when compared to that of Annaleigh Ashford’s portrayal.

    This brings me to Joe Locke, the main reason I wanted to see this cast. This show Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is not a show that I would consider easy by any means. It is fast paced, off-kilter, and relies heavily on the choreography to keep the audience feeling uneasy. All that to say, it must be a difficult show to do as a debut. I was struck at Locke’s singing ability. I was not sure what to expect from him vocally, having only seen him in one Netflix series that is not a musical, but I was very pleasantly surprised. His voice was quite angelic and kept Tobias feeling innocent. I did not feel that in Locke’s portrayal the same sense of Tobias being broken at the end. Locke’s portrayal felt more as if Tobias was legitimately in the wrong place at the wrong time… he understood what the people saw when they found him in front of the ovens. This was a strong contrast to Daniel Marconi’s portrayal in which it felt as if Tobias had completely lost his mind and therefore was not fully aware of the implications of the end
    situation of which he is found.

  • The Play That Goes Wrong

    The Play That Goes Wrong

    The logistics. Holy crap, the logistics. The amount of things that have to go right for things to go wrong! And the ability to keep the audience at the perfect amount of participation needed for the awkward moments, arguing with the audience, and many many other off the wall moments. Very well done. As someone who enjoys camp, things going awkwardly wrong, and the meta-ness of having the tech guy pull pranks on the actors – this was well done. For those who haven’t seen it, think Clue meets Noises Off (and throw in a clever play within a play playbill) and this is show is the love child. Luckily, I love both Clue and Noises Off.

  • Hamlet

    Suzie’s performance was wonderful. It did get a bit confusing towards the end of the show, especially in the final scene, to keep the many, many characters being performed on stage completely straight. Plot lines were changed (Shakespeare is in the public domain), so Hamlet was sent away to England later on that expected, but it worked. The most notable change perhaps being the “What a Piece of Work is Man” soliloquy performed in the first act of the show (the show was done in two acts), in the graveyard, but without Hamlet having found the skull of Poor Yorick yet. In the second act, Hamlet returns to the graveyard where he discovers Poor Yorick’s skull and he discusses his memories of Yorick. The change in the timing some of the plot points may have contributed to some of my confusion. Obviously, I don’t expect anyone to be putting on all five acts of any of Shakespeare’s work, and truthfully the changes didn’t really impact much. I’d love to see Suzie do Romeo and Juliet. I think she would have a lot of fun with it. She is an impeccable actor and person.

  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (First Viewing):

    This production did something that I was not sure was possible – through the choreography, this show was able to keep the audience not only slightly tensed and uneasy, but it went so far as to make you feel as if you are undulating with the waves as the boat Sweeney arrives on comes into port. Combine that with the impressively booming vocals of a deep, brooding, emotional
    Sweeney (played by Josh Groban) and the funny, quick-witted, and vocal mad house of Mrs. Lovett (played by Annaleigh Ashford) and there is no question as to why this show is such a hit.

    In fact, it felt as if the entire theatre was brimming to the top with the emotion as each singer in this show rose to the occasion and matched the intensity brought forth by its stars. Speaking of
    intensity, a special shoutout must be given to Daniel Marconi and his portrayal of my personal favourite character, Tobias. I have never seen Toby so broken as I did by the end of this production.

    Beautifully acted, powerfully sung, choreographed so, so well. Bravo!

    I’m curious to see what the next cast of this production will bring.

    Play Bill of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

  • Great Expectations

    I always have great expectations when I see Suzie Eddie Izzard perform. My great expectations were not only reached, but very much surpassed by her one woman show of Great Expectations.