Sweeney Todd In Studio

Based on a pulp horror story that pre-dated pulp fiction, Sweeney Todd is a Sondheim musical which counts James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest's mid-19th century story String of Pearls as its source material.  The concept of a barber who kills some of his clients whose bodies serve as the source of meat pies fed to an unsuspecting public is sometimes thought to be based on a true story. Contemporary author Neil Gaiman has stated that aspects of the story go back as far as the17th centuries. So it's an interesting concept that continues to be popular centuries after its origins. Todd has appeared in film, text and graphic novel prelude. By far the most commercially successful presentation of the story in any era, Sondheim's musical is what most people think of when they think of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

An appealingly ghastly affair involving multiple homicides, a rather large cast of characters and some rather delicate moods, any production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd is an ambitious one. Any production of the horror drama musical on a budget in a studio theatre is going to be that much more ambitious due to the parameters of the physical resources. Carte Blanche Stage Company tries its hand at the musical this month.

The intimate studio theatre stage has a pleasantly cozy feel about it. Though not the smallest local stage to host the musical in the recent past (Off the Wall staged it back in the Summer of '09) the space is certainly small enough to lock-in the feeling of a very, very crowded 19th century London. Director James Dragolovich allows action to flow across the stage in a way that certainly makes the   atmosphere feel dark, shadowy and crowded. In this respect, Carte Blanche's production is far more effective at establishing a mood than the Off the Wall production of '09 even if the musical end of this particular musical could be said to be a bit lacking.

Brian Miracle is suitably dark and brooding as the title character. He's got a tortured ruth about him in the role that feels novel. As played by Miracle, this man out for homicidal revenge against a world of injustice is clearly much older than his physical age. Injustice has climbed into him and made him much older than his birthdate. Not that Miracle's performance is flawless . . . he underplays the aggression of the character, which is VASTLY preferable to a more exaggerated emotional performance, but Miracle may be erring in the side of subtle affectlessness a bit more than he needs to in places . . . his performance is excellent, but perhaps a few more emotional hints here or there could serve to make the more dramatic moments feel a bit more strikingly dramatic.

Liv Mueller plays the woman who runs the meat pie shop who goes into business with Todd. She performs the role with what feels like a very charmingly casual familiarity. It works well in the role and serves to contrast pleasantly against Miracle's somberness. Much like Miracle, she's clearly playing a character considerably older than she is, which has an interesting effect on the production overall. The two central characters here have a youthful presence about them that both actors have taken care to layer over with manners and movements that seem rooted in a kind of weary experience. And while the musical end of this musical is lacking, Mueller and Miracle make it work where it counts on more than enough occasions to keep the production from feeling at all inadequate.

Chuck Ellingson plays arch villain Judge Turpin. I've seen the role played with much more menace in the past, but what I love about Ellingson's performance is that there really isn't even the slightest shred of conscious malevolence in it. As breathed through Ellingson, Turpin comes across as a man who would be genuinely nice if he wasn't such an epically,  psychotically arrogant man. His lack of understanding of his own darkness makes for an interesting contrast against the performance of Miracle as a hero who is totally, painfully aware of the darkness that he must revel in.

There are a smattering of really good performances in the margins of the production as well. Tom Kamenick plays the lesser villain Beadle Bamford with admirable style in places. Emily Craig is stylishly scattered in the role of the Beggar Woman with a strikingly pretty singing voice. (Nice contrast there, which serves to mirror the symbolic dichotomy of the characters identity.)

What appears to be the younger end of the cast shows great potential here that seems to waver a bit  at times. Michael Paul Jeske has what feels like a very genuine nice guy stage presence in the role of the young romantic lead Anthony Hope, but individual moments seem to falter in places both dramatically and musically. Brittany Bonnell has a stunningly pretty voice in the role of young romantic lead Johanna, but it's a real challenge for ANY actress to take a role so simple and one-dimensional and make it her own. Bonnell is charming, but not clever enough to outsmart the role into being anything more than the script allows her to be. In the role of the pauper boy Toby, Liz Leighton clearly has a very compelling singing voice as well, but her performance Saturday night was noticeably uneven . . . faltering on a level not likely to be repeated in subsequent performances.

And as always, it's the little flaws and imperfections in an intimate production like this that make it feel all the more intense. Give me a production like this any day over a highly polished musical, whether it be some soulless, overpriced, touring show. It's not pitch-perfect musically and the production has been done on a small budget, but the emotion there feels a lot more intense than most big-budget shows ever manage.

Carte Blanche Stage Company's production of Sweeney Todd runs through April 28th at Carte Blanche Studios on 1024 South 5th Street. For ticket reservations, call 414-688-7313 or visit Carte Blanche online.