Murder, Mayhem, and Fun

Sweeney Todd at the Asolo Rep

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | Photos by John Revisky

Ask any random person on Fruitville Road about their favorite musical, and you’ll get a host of answers. Cats. Show Boat. The Music Man. The Sound of Music.

The common denominator for all of those? They’re wholesome. Family friendly. Appropriate subjects for a musical. Ask me, though, and I’ll say American Idiot, Jekyll and Hyde, and Sweeney Todd. So, when Asolo Rep announced that its Peter Rothstein-directed version of the latter was on deck for a May 1 to June 1 run this year, I got on the phone with Peter to get the full story. After the success he found in directing Ragtime during the 2017-2018 Asolo Rep season, I wasn’t at all surprised he’d come back for another great opportunity like this.

If you don’t know the story behind Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the 1979 musical thriller based on the 1973 play by Christopher Bond, here you go. It’s 19th-century London and the barber Sweeney Todd has been unjustly exiled to Australia for 15 years. Now he’s finally returning home to take revenge upon the judge who framed him and then ravaged his young wife. The carnage that follows in Sweeney Todd’s quest for justice makes for an unforgettable story that has shocked audiences throughout the world from the first curtain raised on this electrifying musical.

Sounds like a Stephen King plot, right? But this baby won eight—count ‘em, EIGHT!—Tony’s, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book of a Musical. That’s the magic that happens when you have music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim. “It’s truly one of the greatest pieces of American theater of the 20th century,” says Peter. “I’m not exaggerating. Sondheim is brilliant and this might go down as his greatest work—it’s a masterpiece.”

While the original cast had 30 members, this version will have 10. And Peter finds a new power in that. “It’s not a reduction, but a re-imagining,” he says. “Audiences will be able to zoom right in on those 10 characters. Their focus won’t be divided.” Peter notes, too, that this is a highly psychological story and, as such, the more time we spend with them, the deeper the audience can enter their psychology. “And the funnier they become,” he adds. Yes, Sweeney Todd is surprisingly funny despite the subject matter.

One of the things about Sondheim is that he’s always satisfying, and Sweeney Todd is no exception. Lyrically and dramatically, it’s an incredibly sophisticated story in large part because of all the genres it crosses. “It should be authentically terrifying,” Peter admits, “yet it’s laugh-out-loud funny and, at times, it breaks your heart. But ultimately, it’s a tragedy in the Greek sense of the word. It’s a story that pushes everything to the extreme.”

When Peter sat down to take on Sweeney Todd for the third time in his long career, he focused on how most of the evening is spent with only two characters on stage. In the original Hal Prince production, the story feels mammoth in scale. That’s why so many consider this musical to be an emotionally huge story with big themes and gigantic ideas. “Yet when you look at it, moment by moment,” says Peter, “it’s really quite intimate. Most of it takes place in a kitchen, a parlor, a basement cellar, a sidewalk. It’s a very intimate musical, which might seem quite surprising to some.”

The bulk of Peter’s work has been in musical theater, and despite what some might think of the genre, he argues that musical theater is far more than mere spectacle. The subject matter of much of it is anything but fluff or escapist, he notes. “Just think about The Sound of Music. It seems like a light piece but remember that the audience members watching it in 1959 were only a decade or so out from losing family members in World War II.” And Show Boat, the first great musical—which came out in 1927—was a probing look at race and interracial relations. Sweeney Todd follows in that tradition of musically exploring issues that truly matter as it looks deeply at the human tendency toward greed, power, revenge, and the need for vindication. “It’s a powerful cautionary tale,” says Peter. “For one thing, if you’re being led by your need for revenge, ultimately, it’s you who will suffer the most.”

About working at Asolo Rep again, Peter says, “I’ve freelanced a lot all over the country, yet Asolo Rep is one of my favorites. Michael Donald Edwards is a fantastic leader. He’s wise, insightful, and so compassionate towards his artists. The shops (scenic and costume shops) here, too, are top notch. I walked our assistant director through the scene shop the other day and his jaw dropped to the ground.”

Thanks to the quality of Peter’s directing, Edwards’ leadership, and the fine people associated with Asolo Rep, this year’s production of Sweeney Todd looks to be a magnificent roller coaster ride that will linger in the brain long after the final curtain falls. Perhaps after June 1, people on Fruitville Road who are asked about their favorite musical just might think about this latest version of the haunting story of Fleet Street’s demon barber.

For more information on the Asolo Repertory Theatre, please visit asolorep.org or call 941.351.8000.