Boldly producing the work on a grand scale, creative team members behind Hamilton transport gothic musical thriller Sweeney Todd across to mainstream popularity with inspiring and electrifying results. 

Showing supreme confidence in the enduring quality of Sweeney Todd and its potential for broad appeal, director Thomas Kail collaborates with Hamilton lead producer Jeffrey Sellers on this epic new production. Filling the mighty Lunt-Fontanne stage with grandeur, the production has regularly filled the 1500-seat auditorium since officially opening in March of this year. 

There is a sense that only the Hamilton team could achieve such a stirring result, showing utter respect for the material whilst also presenting it for mass popular consumption. As written by revered composer Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd tends toward the operatic, and yet here is a full house cheering with all their might for “Epiphany,” “A Little Priest,” and “By The Sea.” What do  the audience members make of the dissonance of “The Letter” and the elegant sophistication of “Johanna (Quartet)”? They appear to take it all in their stride, coming out all the musically richer for the experience. 

Scenic design by Mimi Lien makes dexterous use of a (traditional) overhead bridge and large set pieces all sitting under a massive arch. A further arch in the rear frames an abstract, smudgy representation of the city scape, able to atmospherically backlit by lighting designer Natasha Katz.  Katz makes extensive use of the dark, deftly pinpointing scenes and characters with tight shafts of light.  

The setting also features a stage left crane that delivers the new barber chair and rotates to contain Fogg’s Asylum. Above all, the cleverest touch of Lien’s design is that the bridge and rear arch are both on a slight angle, giving the overall stage picture a subtly nightmarish vibe. 

As would be expected in a production of this scale, the blood effect for the cutting of throats is suitably and creepily realistic, and the ride for each new corpse from the chair to the underfloor bakehouse is devilishly effective. 

Emilio Sosa’s costume design serves the principal characters well but is particularly impressive for the ensemble, who each appear individually attired in detailed period costumes on a scale usually only seen in opera. 

Lavish production values continue with the orchestra, which boasts a generous contingent of 27 musicians, expertly bringing rich, vivid life to Sondheim’s music, as orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick and supervised by Alex Lacamoire. 

Steven Hoggett’s choreography appears to take its cue for the choppy vocals sung by the ensemble in “God, That’s Good!”, featuring non-naturalistic, somewhat jerky moves, and a recurring movement whereby the company tilt and regain their footing as if on a heaving boat. 

Crossover artist Josh Groban may not be everyone’s idea of an intimidating Sweeney Todd, and yet his vocal tone has the requisite baritone and he acts the role with full grisly intent. There may be the absence of a natural growl in his voice, but signature numbers like “My Friends” and “Epiphany” sound rather glorious. 

Established Broadway star Annaleigh Ashford is a sheer delight as Mrs Lovett, imbuing the lusty, bloodthirsty woman with all manner of quirky vocal inflections and physical comedy, scoring abundant laughs along the way. Ashford’s Nellie is instantly drawn physically to Todd, and never finds herself far from his physique. The depth of Ashford’s performance is seen in the variety of styles she displays, in particular, taking on a totally different vocal and physical style when caring for Toby in “Not While I’m Around.”

Ashford and Groban enjoy clear chemistry, and Groban willingly submits himself as straight man to Ashford’s entangled romantic ministrations and delicious comic timing. 

Maria Bilbao interprets dear Johanna as basically deservedly finding herself in the asylum, such is the vacant mania she displays as Johanna crumbles under the ruthless attention of Judge Turpin, played with regal flair by Jamie Jackson. Ruthie Ann Miles brings enormous dignity and gravity to the Beggar Woman. 

A must-see production for all visitors to New York, the current staging of Sweeney Todd is as classy and memorable a production as a devoted theatregoer could hope to see. 

Sweeney Todd plays at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York. For tickets, click here.

Photos: Matthew Murphy, Evan Zimmerman