Baldwinsville — With music by heralded composer Stephen Sondheim and book by the late mystery-writer Hugh Wheeler, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” uses mesmerizing music to tell a monstrous story of revenge-killings and cannibalism. It’s a gruesome musical — a grusical.
With a cast of two dozen, a nine-piece pit band, a crew of 28 and more than three dozen musical numbers, “Sweeney Todd” is a monstrous undertaking in more ways than one for the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild.
Director-producer Korrie Taylor — who ably helmed last year’s “Les Miserables,” another operatic spectacle — had to overcome obstacles with “Sweeney,” but she stayed the course and gathered a supportive crew and a superlative cast to bring the show to the boards.
Taylor’s most obvious casting achievement was with the leads. Benjamin Sills makes an especially sinister Sweeney Todd, and Cathleen O’Brien Brown is simply breathtaking as the barber’s pie-baking landlady, Mrs. Nellie Lovett.
Sills uses his bold baritone to create a frightful character obsessed with vengeance, while O’Brien Brown’s complementary contralto ranges from the playful “Worst Pies in London” to a haunting “By the Sea.”
The supporting cast includes several top talents from the area. Robert Searle oozes amorality as Judge Turpin. Liam Fitzpatrick puts his classically trained voice to good use as the judge’s assistant, Beadle, and soprano Ceara Windhausen soars as the judge’s “ward,” Johanna.
Colin Keating, who teaches choral music and theater at Baker High, acquits himself admirably as Johanna’s love interest, Anthony, a naïve sailor.
Three minor role-players make memorable contributions. Dan Williams appears as Pirelli, a con man and competing barber. Turns out that “Pirelli” is actually an Irish charlatan who attempts to blackmail Todd but is immediately killed. Before his character’s neck is slit, however, Williams skillfully switches from a flashy Italian accent to the earthier Irish brogue.
continued — Zachary Thompson, a Phoenix High School student with a strong tenor voice, portrays the simpleton Tobias, who evolves from Pirelli’s streetwise ballyhoo artist to a trusted if unwitting accomplice of Todd and Lovett.
Even with her face covered with tattered veils, Erin Williamson excels as a mysterious beggar woman. Ensemble standouts include Cassandra Angerosa, Michaela Oney, Zach Siracuse and Amanda Stein as spooky-looking street people.
Makeup designer Jennifer Pearson remained true to the gothic look of 18th-century London, as did set designer Gregg Bilyeu and costumers Heather Jensen and Stephanie Long.
Stage manager Sabrina Woodward and technical director Josh Taylor each went the extra mile to make this difficult show flow smoothly from scene to scene.
Musical director Abel Searor began the night with an elegant and eerie church-organ intro, before leading the orchestra in its first rendition of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.” That ballad, characterized by both fast and slow versions of the ancient “Dies Irae” (Day of Wrath) hymn, is effectively repeated throughout the show.
You may call “Sweeney Todd” a grusical, but Sondheim called it a “black operetta.” The BTG version clocks in at a solid two and a half hours, including a 15-minute intermission, so the audience gets its money’s worth. But after a couple hours, some viewers may find themselves squirming in their seats.
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” continues at the First Presbyterian Education Center, 64 Oswego St., at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29 and 30, and Feb. 5 and 6; and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31. Tickets cost $25, and $23 for seniors at the Jan. 31 matinee only; 877-8465; baldwinsvilletheatreguild.org.
