The UMass Theatre Guild unveiled their semester-in-the-making musical Sweeney Todd Thursday night in grand fashion – grand performances, grand production and grand length.
While the first two descriptors were enough to carry the production, the latter was in jeopardy of throwing a wrench into the performance. Teetering on three hours in length, the scale of the performance seemed, at times, too much for the undermanned cast to handle. But in the end, the top billers were able to outshine the lulls to deliver a memorable take on the oft-replicated tale.
Senior Ben Sharton completely owned his role as the eponymous main character. Whether crooning his long lost barber’s blade upon return from his journey to sea on “My Friends” or lambasting the human race in tyrannical rants directed toward the audience on “Epiphany,” Sharton held the Concert Hall at full attention. At times, when the ensemble would take center stage and he would be flanked off to the side, I found myself transfixed on Sharton’s Todd, gleefully anticipating his next outburst.
Sam Mandeville, portraying Todd’s maniacal compatriot Mrs. Lovett, excels in the context of a musical that is so based on interaction between the characters; the pitch perfect Bonnie to Sharton’s Clyde. Never one to condone cannibalism, the two had me considering it as an acceptable alternative during their hysterical back-and-forth banter on “A Little Priest.”
Photo credit Caitlin Coughlan / The Amherst Wire
Also shining in the collaborative department were Gwendolyn Coburn and Kevin Cunningham as the forsaken lovers Johanna and Anthony. Never as effective apart as when they shared the spotlight, the two displayed the strongest vocal capacities of the night and provide the highlights of the show in their duets, particularly shining on “Kiss Me.”
On the other end of the tag-team spectrum is Pirelli and Toby. It is truly unfortunate that in a production with such impeccable costume design, the fraudulent Italian alchemist Pirelli had to tarnish it by appearing as if he was dressed in a bargain bin conquistador outfit that was leftover from the Halloween season.
Gregory Boover as Toby, took a misstep on his “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixer,” seemingly not able to keep up with the accompanying music and dropping all his punch lines that would have otherwise killed. He is able to rebound to some degree in the second act when he jumps sides to Todd’s team, effectively shifting his temperament from happy-go-lucky to destructively delirious.
Just as important to the final product was the set design team led by Imani Denson-Pittman, who intricately crafted an imaginative two-story set piece with enough compartments to allow the story to flow. A reoccurring technical glitch arose throughout the performance that sounded like scratchy feedback from the microphones whenever the characters bumped into one another and it was quite distracting. Hopefully they can get it cleared up for the remaining three performances.
The symphony was equally as distracting to open the performance, overpowering the ensemble members who were not equipped with microphones. They eventually caught on, toned down, and finished the performance on a strong note, complementing, rather than detracting.
The Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center was less than a third full tonight – with the core audience potentially driven away by the other two performing arts acts under the same roof. Hopefully, the campus will be able to spread the word and people will attend the tale to see the UMass Theatre Guild and their thorough yet masterful take on a classic.
Thank you! I did have a team of people I owe a lot to as well. My carpenters Alexis Derr and Rich Elsdon helped see my vision to completion with their talents as well as a few other cast members.
Having worked on the show, I thought that the performances went decently – especially considering that every amateur performance is going to have it’s hiccups.
I am curious about your comment about the concert Hall being less than a third full. It seems to suggest that the show was poorly intended, which is quite opposite the truth. The Umass Fine Arts Concert Hall seats roughly 2,000 people. As bare as it may have appeared to the uninformed eye, it was actually quite full in comparison to Theater Guild Shows at any other venue (including on the evening of your attendance). Our turnout was spectacular, and spread quite evenly throughout each performance of the weekend. It seems to me the ‘core audience’ was most definitely in attendance. The PR team absolutely deserves all the credit for that.
I am curious, about your less than kind reviews of Toby and Pirelli. I think concerning Toby, that it was the orchestra at fault. If you had researched the score beforehand I think this might have been obvious. Also, most people are aware, but it is the orchestra’s job to accompany the singer on the stage. It is not the singer’s job to have to be dragged along at a tempo they are uncomfortable with, or can not make out. I think that you took a ‘misstep’ of judgment on your review as to who is at fault for that number.
Playing in the pit orchestra, I can assure you that we never ‘caught on’ and got softer. So that comment is merely a falsehood. The microphone levels were may have been adjusted during intermission, and some of the second Act is written dynamically softer and some of it is orchestrated in a manner that produces less volume due to pure instrumentation. If you had looked at or even listened to music beforehand you might have known this and saved yourself use of that blatantly untrue comment about the orchestra ‘catching on’.
As far as Pirelli, an outrageously pompous and flamboyant trickster, what would you have preferred him to wear? Something that went didn’t follow the themes and character that the director and the actor had strived for? Also, in all past productions I have seen and researched the character of Pirelli always did look a little cheap or as if he were trying too hard. I personally think that your less than amiable description of a ‘bargain bin conquistador costume’ actually enhanced the performance and the character of Pirelli .
The next time you review a live amateur theater performance I hope you keep in mind musicality, and director’s integrity when you are relaying your opinions to an audience who may or may not be informed in the area. I agree with many of your points, and wished more research had been done in order to relay a less biased and more informed view to readers who may not be informed in the art of theater or music, or even the size of the concert hall in ratio to the actual number of attendees which you failed to mention, even though if you had just asked you would have received that statistic.
I thought it was marvlous show. I am glad the critics thought so too.Thanks for sending me the review.I’ll see you tomorrow.
I don’t think I have ever seen an “amateur” production that was of this calibur and it could surely have been on Broadway! All the principals performances were riveting and the ensemble was equally so. The producing and directing was so impressive, and I thought the publicty was better than any show I’ve seen!
I was so impressed with every aspect of this production, thank you for such a glowing review!