Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Directed by Bill Buckhurst
Barrow Street Theatre
June 9, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

And I will take a pie with that!  Tonight I brought my group to the immersive production of Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre.  I love the perspective of environmental theatre that puts the audience in the center of the equation; it is just to nice to be PART of the story.  We began with the quite good but quite small portioned pies that were served as a pre-show event to get you in the mood for the “real meat” pies that are served in the course of the story. It was fun.  It got you into the environment.

Then the cast comes out in a “we’re not yet in character but we want to introduce ourselves” kind of a way.  Now I felt even more a part of the evening.  Then the show starts.  The first thing I loved was that not a single singer had a mic.  It was just good ol’ fashioned non-modulated, non-mixed singing.  It was so great to experience the naked voice – backed up by only a piano and a few string instruments.  I also loved how the actors used the sturdy bench table that we just ate on a a platform to stage their pieces.  They crawled and stood and marched and banged their silverwear only inches from our face – it was MOST immersive.  

The story took on a much bolder assertive life.  It was loud and confrontational.  I do admit that I was quite taken by the immersive experience for the first half.  I really didn’t mind the spinning in my seat and craning my neck to see all the scenes – nor did I mind the small orchestra that seemed to be way outplaying the volume that was needed for the space – – but by the time the second act came it was getting to be a bit too much.  I was wanting to have just a bit more aesthetic distance so I could see the big picture.  I thought if they were just a wee bit further from me, I could have taken in more.  I get the fact that you can climb on the table – but I wanted to see the actors involved in the moment to be in the same stage frame.  I wanted to more clearly see how each was impacting the other