From the outset, the soundtrack to Sweeney Todd is menacing.
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Castlemaine theatre troupe Three’s A Crowd opened their production of Sweeney Todd at the Phee Broadway Theatre last night with some eager audience members enjoy a pie and ale as the show started.
With a small cast of 11, director Matt Sheehan has tapped a huge well of performance talent.
Outside of lead characters Sweeney Todd (played by Peter Hunt) and Mrs Lovett (played by Penny Larkins), performers take on multiple roles in the ensemble as they bring the bust Fleet Street to life.
Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is a lyrically challenging musical and the cast have been working right up to the last minute to perfect their performance.
Peter Hunt commands the stage as Todd, a wronged barber who has returned from a convict life in Australia bent on revenge.
Hunt’s Todd bristles with rage as he plans to take down Judge Turpin who assaulted his wife and sentenced him to transportation.
Some of the most edge-of-your-seat scenes come from the exchanges between Todd and Judge Turpin (played by Dan Sexton).
The tense emotion is never more evident than in Hunt and Sexton’s performance of Pretty Woman, where Todd lulls the judge into a relaxed atmosphere in preparation to take his revenge.
When Todd and his offsider Mrs Lovett develop their famed and sinister scheme of baking people into pies – A LIttle Priest and God, that’s Good! – the musical really picks up in pace.
This is aided by the crews efforts on sets and staging. Using ample floor space at Phee Broadway Theatre, audiences will feel they are in the action of Mrs Lovett’s pie shop – indeed in some scenes they are (in a non-participatory manner).
Some clever use of screens and stagecraft help the cast tell Sweeney’s backstory through flashback and 3AC’s tradition of using smart set pieces is evident again.
Away from the sinister barber and pie shop, young Anthony has fallen for pretty ward Johanna. He hopes to whisk her away and marry her with the help of Sweeney Todd.
Paul Waldron and Maddy Tyzzer work well together in providing a romantic distraction from Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett.
Waldron’s performance in Johanna is excellent as is the other cast – Hunt, Tyzzer, Sexton and Rebcca Morton as the Beggar Woman – in its many reprises.
Adding humour and sleaze to the show is Alice Bottomley as the slimy Judge Turpin’s assistant Beadle Bamford.
Bottomley is particularly entertaining in the second act when he is singing parlour songs for Mrs Lovett.
The well-drilled and hard working ensemble cast should be proud of the thrilling story they have bought to life.
Sweeney Todd is on at the Phee Broadway Theatre in Barker Street, Castlemaine, on April 21, 27 and 28 at 7.30pm and April 22 at 2pm. Tickets are $35 or $50 for premium seating (including a pie and ale before the show).
For more information or to book tickets log on to www.3ac.com.au