SWEENEY TODD

The Stage Theatre: 4/8 – 5/15

The DCPA Theatre Company’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” is OUTSTANDING!

Powerful and Unforgettable, the show is sensationally well cast.

     Robert Petkoff’s mesmerizing performance as Sweeney Todd, rivets.

     Linda Mugleston’s Mrs. Lovett is to die for. This artist’s performance is full of such diabolically funny nuance that one can’t take his eyes off her. Mugleston’s singing of songs such as “By the Sea,” “A Little Priest” and “The Worst Pies in London” is delicious … to the ear.

     Kathleen McCall is brilliant as the pitiably mad Beggar Woman.

     Kevin Mcguire’s Judge Turpin, Dwelvan David’s Beadle Bamford and Kevin Curtis’ Tobias Ragg are all gloriously well put forth. 
     Director Kent Thompson’s choice to have Grammy Award-Winning Devotchka orchestrate Sondheim’s work paid off big time. Zach Williamson’s sound design has done a great job placing us in 19^th century industrial London with its screaming, steaming whistles.

      This production immerses theatregoers in the dark world of vengeful depravity engendered by the unjust incarceration of Sweeney Todd and the subsequent ill fates of his wife and daughter. Although this production doesn’t indulge in the gore so omnipresent in Tim Burton’s film, this is the most ‘red-blooded’ version of the Sondheim classic in this reviewer’s memory.

     Kenton Yeager’s lighting design is impressive. Greg Coffin’s music direction of Devotchka’s spin on Sondheim’s classic rocks the house.

     The costumes designed by Kevin Copenhaver are eye-popping. Those worn by Ms. Mugleston and Ms. McCall recall the magnificence of those of a previous era at the DCPA when costumes such as those for “Life is a Dream” left the theatregoer thunder-struck!

     James Kronzer’s gothic industrial set design is awe-inspiring. Nevertheless… one might have wished that the free standing oven which rolls in and out could have been situated beneath Sweeney’s barber chair so that the victims could find their final resting place more easily. Perhaps that might not have been as easy as pie? (Sorry!)

     This is the best musical production to have been mounted by The DCPA Theatre Company in memory. Run to get a ticket.

Call the Box Office at:   303-893-4100 or go online at denvercenter.orgMarlowe's Musings