#and I’m playing Toby in Sweeney right now and I genuinely think just doing the beginning of pirellis miracle elixir would be a perfect

[captaincleverusernamehere]

Oh god. Do I go back to the community theater that’s half an hour away that had a kinda shitty director this summer just because they’re doing Newsies and I genuinely think I have a shot at Davey and I REALLY want to play him?

[pieshopbarber]

My dumb little review of the 2023 Sweeney Todd revival!! 😀

I had been hyping myself up for seeing the 2023 revival for multiple months on end, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Obviously I had a bunch of issues with it, there are always going to be issues with anything, that’s how the world works, but overall I could not be happier with the experience. 

I thought it was really well casted overall, each and every one of these performers were fantastic and 100% deserved the roles they have and the praise.

Josh Groban’s performance as Sweeney Todd  was absolutely fantastic. While I wish they cast someone older, I can’t argue that Groban was absolutely fantastic as the role. I had high hopes since hearing the first few songs from the cast album, and was blown away when I saw him live. Todd is always one of those characters who is very interesting to see performed, mainly due to how erratic he can be, switching between being completely depressed and withdrawn from the world to enraged and running around screaming and slashing throats at the drop of a hat, and Josh managed to really capture this. I also really enjoyed a lot of the little things he did. He definitely brought a bunch of middle aged white dad energy to the role that I don’t see a lot, really driving home the point that he really is just a father who lost absolutely everything. I also adored the choreography (I don’t know if this is the right word, but I’m just kinda dumb) with the razor, especially during epiphany, my favorite moment being where he descends the stairs to start confronting the audience where he slams the razor into the railing and scrapes it down. Really good stuff. A personal favorite moment of mine is the end. The enraged screaming of “BENJAMIN BARKER!” To violently sawing at the judge’s throat (which I was not expecting but holy shit was that awesome), but then holding the razor out in front of him as if disgusted by it and his own actions, but snapping back into a rage when he sees Johanna, practically turning into a feral animal, growling and literally lunging at her and down the stairs. His performance was definitely the highlight of the show. 

Now onto Annaleigh Ashford. Oh jeez. Her accent was not great. It was better than it was in the cast recording, so that was nice, but it still sucked. I do not like Ashford’s characterization of Lovett. She’s too touchy and grabby with Todd, which definitely isn’t how Lovett should be. She waits, and she wouldn’t be that touchy and impatient. It does help with some of Todd’s characterization, with him either completely ignoring her advances, being disgusted and pushing her away, or being too much in a daze to fight back against her, but I still did not like it. I also do not like her casting, Ashford is too young and conventionally attractive for the role, however despite this, I can not ignore how genuinely funny she is as Lovett. Her comedic timing and line delivery never failed to get a laugh out of me, and I loved how she really embraced the Lovett hyperactivity. The energy she brought during little priest was absolutely amazing, literally rolling on the ground and doing the little Lovett jig. The banter between her and Todd was absolutely fantastic, and it’s impossible to ignore how well her and Groban meshed together. I have to say that the moment she really shined was during Not while I’m around. At the beginning she’s defensive and on edge as she realizes that Toby is on to the whole thing, turning into a very motherly sternness as she tries to convince him to stop thinking about the whole thing, to the heartbreak and panic as she realizes that they need to kill Toby. Her sadness when she is telling Toby how to work the oven and meat grinder is something I don’t see a lot when people play Lovett, and it was fantastic. I also loved her approach right before she gets killed. With her practically sobbing as she sings because she is happy since this is the closest that Todd has ever been with her, but also because she knows that she’s going to die, she knows that this closeness is not because of love, it’s because Todd wants her dead because she lied. 

Obviously, Gaten just left the production, so Tobias was played by Daniel Marconi. I really enjoyed him as Toby, he really portrayed the whole pathetic orphan thing really well. However I did think his voice was a little too mature sounding if that makes sense. Overall though, really good as Toby. Was absolutely amazing during not while I’m around, the panic in his voice was palpable, really talented guy. 

Nicholas Christopher was probably one of the best Pirellis I’ve seen. Pirelli is my favorite character from this musical overall, and he was just so freaking good. Really played into the camp and flamboyance of the character, really being a fruity little piss seller. During the contest he dramatically sprawled across the guy in the chair, or would fling the razor out towards the ensemble making them freak out and shrink away and overall was absolutely hilarious. One of the most brilliant things about his performance was how towards the end of the contest where he realizes that he’s losing, he begins to lose the Italian accent and the Irish starts to slip through, which I’ve never seen anyone do when playing Pirelli. I also loved the contrast that Nicholas Christopher had between the high pitched Italian accent and the super low gruffness he had with his Irish accent. Was definitely my favorite character from the whole thing. 

The beggar woman was played by Ruthie Ann Miles, and I don't really have any issues with her. She was super good as Lucy, and her singing was really good. I thought it was brilliant that they had her wig obscuring her face and had her keep her shoulder or back to the audience so we couldn’t see her face until city on fire, right before Todd kills her. I also really enjoyed how she would physically interact with the other characters, as I don’t see that often with beggar woman performances. 

Jamie Jackson was overall pretty good as judge Turpin, however I felt his acting was a little overdone. His voice was a little too wheezy and nasally at points, and him grabbing onto Lovett’s skirt was far too dramatic. However he did give me the ick, which is needed whenever someone plays Turpin. 

Beadle Bamford was really funny. Similarly to Pirelli, Johnathan Christopher really played into the flamboyance of the character, which I always love. I really loved the bit before parlor songs where he unabashedly steals from Lovett. He was super funny and a great mesh with Turpin. 

Maria Bilbao was fantastic as Joannah. Her singing was absolutely fantastic, and she was able to capture the naivety, yet strength of the character. Johanna here actually felt like a teenager who was both scared of the world because of how Turpin sheltered her, but also had eyes full of wonder and hope. Really loved her. 

Daniel Yearwood as Anthony was good. I really don’t have much to say about him. He was really good. His line delivery was really good, but I thought he sounded really similar to Gaten on the cast album. That’s not a gripe with him, it’s just something I noticed.

I went in knowing that the factory whistle would be (sadly) absent from the show, yet still found myself bracing for it. I was kinda disappointed that the whistle was excluded since it’s such a massive part of the class system metaphor, but I totally wasn’t expecting the extra loud whistle when Turpin was killed. Literally made me almost shit myself in the mezzanine. Also again, Josh literally sawing at the judges throat was great at that moment too. 

I also was somewhat tentative about the dancing. I don’t think of Sondheim or Sweeney Todd and think of dancing, so I went in cautious about it, and honestly I hated it a lot less than I thought I would. The dancing in the opening and closing ballads works? It’s not atrocious to be honest, it’s jarring yes, but isn’t the worst thing they could have done. The dancing is used very sparingly throughout the rest of it, and it’s not awful. It created a really surreal and dreamlike atmosphere which is quite fitting for the scenes they had it in (ladies and their sensitivities, poor thing, city on fire) or it created a hectic and almost unsettling aura (god that’s good, Pirelli’s miracle elixir). I also noticed that during these dancing moments that Todd, Lovett, Turpin, beadle, Toby, and Lucy would be the only ones still moving normally, kind of highlighting their disconnect from the rest of London. This was really highlighted during city on fire during the beggar woman’s part.  

I also really like the inclusion of the scene that originally was after Mia Culpa. Normally it’s cut alongside Mia Culpa, but was kept in the revival, which is honestly awesome. It gives the context of how Johanna got the key and gave it to Anthony, and also how she found out Turpin wants to marry her, and without it it’s kinda weird and confusing. Honestly though, I wish Mia Culpa was included, just because it’s a great song and helps to characterize the judge, and the fucking social media used its lyrics to show off the judge that one time, so yeah. But it’s understandable why they didn’t. I’ve seen it performed and can only guess how hard it is for the judge performers to go from that into ladies and their sensitivities so quickly. 

Overall, I could not have been more impressed and happy with the revival. I’m incredibly thankful I was able to go. The cast, crew, and orchestra have every bit of my joy and thanks for putting on such a great production of one of my favorite musicals.