Madison's Overture Center was host to a hotspot of activity Saturday night as people arrived more than two hours early to stand in a line that snaked throughout the large, high-ceilinged lobby of the theater. All were waiting hopefully for rush tickets to attend the Broadway hit Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,"" which was performed at the theater last weekend only.
Stephen Sondheim's ""Sweeney Todd"" is the darkly humorous story of a barber living in mid-19th century London who is wrongfully sent to prison for life on a false charge. When he returns fifteen years later, he is prepared to have his revenge - o - oand with the help of his baker sidekick, Mrs. Lovett, he is prepared to eat it, too. Blood, cannibalism, and music ensue.
This national tour of the show is based on the West End and Broadway revivals, which ran from 2004 to 2005. One feature that distinguishes this performance from the original show is the musical presentation. Instead of an orchestra pit, all the actors play instruments, keeping them constantly onstage. This method adds a level of dexterity and concentration to each actor's performance and makes one marvel at their tireless work ethic and prodigal talent. It is hard to imagine being someone like Chris Marchant, playing Tobias, constantly moving about the stage alternately singing and playing the violin, clarinet, and keyboard, all while delivering his lines with stunning clarity.
Carrie Cimma, who plays Mrs. Lovett, says she and the rest of the cast enjoyed stepping up to the challenge.
""I just love doing this show every night,"" Cimma said. ""The music is just spectacular, and I don't think in a traditional setting of the show I'd have an opportunity to play the score.""
Both Merritt David Jane as Sweeney Todd and Cimma as Mrs. Lovett give spectacular performances. The mark of a truly good performance of ""Sweeney"" is the ability to go from pleasantry to fury in no-time flat. During the campy, waltzing ""A Little Priest,"" Jane makes the transition perfectly with the key line of the song, ""I'll come again when you have JUDGE on the menu!"" Cimma plays a deft foil to Jane's brooding dark humor, enabling his revenge schemes with her own manic plots, perfect from the tips of her spiky, bleached-blonde hair down to her holey knee-high stockings.
One notable prop missing from the stage is the traditional dentist's chair of old Broadway sets (and the Tim Burton movie, of course). The centerpiece of the stage is instead a black coffin, shown from every angle for every possible use during the show. Instead of victims sliding from the chair to the bake house, the grisly deaths are represented by flashing red lights, with Mrs. Lovett pouring blood from one white pail to another while Sweeney does his work. Each victim then dons a white coat stained with blood and calmly walks to the edge of the set to take up his or her instrument and begin to play again.
Cimma commented on the differing stage direction, saying ""It's really stripped down, minimalistic. The costumes are mainly black and white and everything is just sort of alluded to - the blood and gore. We just pour buckets of stage blood, so it's not nearly as gory as other tellings of the story,"" Cimma said.
""Sweeney Todd"" hits the right notes between creepy, moving and humorous. Unfortunately, the tour could only stay for one weekend, but it will be traveling throughout the United States and Canada for the next several months. If you get a chance, it is a show well worth sinking your teeth into.
- Kevin Slane and Alex Morrell contributed to this article.
