June 2- 8, 2005

theater

Razor Sharp

variety is the slice of life: The demon barber of Fleet Street (Thom Sesma) puts Judge Turpin (Bev Appleton) under the knife in the Arden's Sweeney Todd. Photo By: Mark Garvin

by David Anthony Fox

In 1993, the Arden's first Sweeney Todd was the first show I saw in Philadelphia. I remember thinking how imaginative and accomplished the pocket-sized production of this still-fledgling company was, and feeling assured that I'd arrived in a "theater town."

More than a decade later, and following a portfolio of successful Sondheim productions, director Terrence Nolen returns to Sweeney. Today's Arden is a much bigger theater, and can produce works with a level of opulence unavailable the first time around.

Reassuringly, though, this quite marvelous Sweeney retains much of what made Nolen's early version so impressive.

Sweeney, Sondheim's musicalization of the classic Victorian thriller about a barber who, done out of his wife and family by a villainous judge, wreaks bloody revenge, is for many his finest work. It is certainly the grandest and most operatic, and may indeed become a staple in world opera houses. Once upon a time, Harold Prince's original Broadway production seemed definitive, but we know better now. There are many ways to perform Sweeney, and good ones come in all dimensions.

The Arden's current Sweeney might be called a medium, but as was true the first time around, Nolen fills the theater with action happening above, below and all around the audience, who sit in a jumbled world of brick walls, metal railings and stairs, and deteriorating buildings. Actors come and go throughout the theater, and we sit amidst the action. Occasionally it's a bit distracting, but there's always something fascinating going on, and we feel attached to the story in a way that's not possible in a vaster space.

Likewise, Nolen and company have re-imagined the principal characters on a more intimate (perhaps the better word is human) scale. Thom Sesma as Sweeney has hyperbolic moments, but more often he makes his points through a disquieting sense of calmness — it's a wonderfully creepy choice. Mary Martello's Mrs. Lovett is no music-hall grotesque, but rather a still-pretty and charming middle-aged woman longing for a respectable life by the sea. In the second act, the two together are a revelation as, for once, we really see them as an aspiring bourgeois couple, which is simultaneously funny, scary and heartbreaking. (They are immeasurably aided in this by Joshua Lamon's touching performance as Tobias, Todd's — um, ward.)

The small-but-critical supporting roles are also cast from strength, with fine actors and singers (Sweeney must have both). Ben Dibble brings a welcome note of humor to the over-earnest Anthony, and there is fine work also by Todd Hormon, James Sugg, Denise Whelan everybody, really.

Three cheers for the Arden, for Terry Nolen, and of course for Sondheim. It's a combination that has given Philadelphia some of its best theater (Sweeney included), and promises more to come!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street Through June 19, Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122