Sweeney Todd / Mac-Haydn Theatre

THOU SHALT NOT EAT thy fellow man. That’s in the Bible, isn’t it? No?

“Sweeney Todd” is a morality tale shaped by the musical theater genius of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. It makes the eating your fellow man entertaining, laughable–even palatable. (Oh dear.) That is, when it is not terrifying you or quietly or noisily inviting you to look at something darkly true.

But the important music-thing and theater-thing is Sondheim. Sondheim is beyond good. I predict that his late-20th century work will still be savored and revered by your great-, great-grandchildren. And you’re in luck! At Mac-Haydn Theater there is a wonderful production.

Before I describe the wonderfulness, let me go quickly through my few carps. 1) The actors portraying the young lovers (Johanna and Anthony) have no sexual chemistry. When they repeatedly sing “Kiss me,” it could easily be “please pass the oatmeal.” 2) And when the young Anthony sings, “I feel you, Johanna,” it seems as if his attention is glued to his own (very good) voice rather than to her charms. 3) The jiggly movement in the vocal technique of Kelly Gabrielle Murphy as Johanna is tremolo rather than vibrato, a defect that may be related to her occasional pitch problems. 4) The extended gyrations of the ensemble in the lunatic scene make the audience uncertain about whether to shrink in horror—or laugh. 5) In spite of their excellent singing, the actors playing Judge Turpin and Tobias may be age-miscast, the former being too young and the latter not young enough. Read more…

“Anything Goes” / Mac-Haydn Theatre

“ANYTHING GOES.” Really? Anything? The main things that go and come in productions of this musical are Cole Porter songs. It is amazing how the composer’s tunes and lyrics can be axed or added without materially disturbing the flow of the piece. I guess the vaudeville-era tradition of low jokes and loosely connected, lively songs was still around when “Anything Goes” was created. In this version, the song choices are mostly traditional and happy-making. “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “It’s De-lovely,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” are almost indestructible.

In the Mac-Haydn production, lots of them get the super-good singing of Angela Travino as Reno Sweeney. Her ability to give a phrase meaning, shape and nuance, especially in the verses that precede choruses, is a very good thing. The singing of that role can easily slip into unpleasant, raw belting, but Travino would never.

Singers who can act are to be treasured, and the easy personhood of her work is typical of the actors’ approach in this production. Director Robin Levine apparently has made the choice: avoid most of the schticky stuff that the material seems to beg for; and the actors know how to execute. Read more…

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