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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > July > 31 > Entry
Review: ‘Sweeney Todd’ by Summer Stock Austin
Early in the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Sweeney sings to the innocent sailor Anthony, “You are young. You will learn.”
Sweeney believes Anthony’s naivety will pass away with time, and he, too, will see the social depravity of their London home. The line rang a little different Thursday in the Long Center’s Rollins Theatre as Summer Stock Austin opened a week of performances.
Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney” is a difficult musical. It’s an almost sung-through opera and a dark comedy with complicated characters. Yet the local cast of high school and college students proved to be an able ensemble. They will learn more, but they have already learned a great deal.
Under the direction of Michael McKelvey, Summer Stock Austin is an annual affair, bringing together talented young actors for a month at St. Edwards University. (Zilker Theatre is a co-producer.) The group rehearses for three weeks, and then presents two shows. “Sweeney Todd” alternates with “Little Shop of Horrors” at the Rollins through Aug. 9.
Watching the show with the cast’s friends and families added warmth to Thursday night’s show. It was enjoyable to hear the clusters of audience members laugh as the cast member they came to see appeared with a fake beard or a wild wig. Many of “Sweeney’s” roles required the actors to play older characters. As Todd, Jacob Trussell captured the murderous barber’s entanglement of wrath and pain, especially in the show’s second half. Trussell also had a little Johnny Depp thrown in. Last year’s movie version of the musical definitely affected the production.
Kathleen Fletcher, performing as the hilarious Mrs. Lovett, best understood the range of the show’s emotions. She could move from cackle to sobriety within a single line of song. Fletcher also did an excellent job of blending movement and music. She drew tons of laughter from the audience with a fantastic rendering of the bemusing song “By the Sea.”
Lighting challenges often left the remainder of the cast in the dark — literally. Several other actors deserve note: as the couple in love (Anthony and Johanna), Ben Mayne and Mikayla Agrella, performed well, as did Nathan Brockett (Beadle), Reno Bostick (Toby), and Aaron Moten (Judge Turpin).
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