Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tooting Arts Club) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (805)
See it if you enjoy Sondheim and want to experience this classic play in a unique setting: a pie shop. A wonderfully immersive experience indeed.
Don't see it if aren't into Sondheim's intricate and clever lyrics nor like immersive, involving theater. Stay home and listen to the CD or watch the movie
See it if You love immersive theatre
Don't see it if You don't want to be creeped out
See it if you don't think Sweeney Todd can be done any better than the ones you have seen. You are wrong. This production is incredible.
Don't see it if You want to miss one of the best Sweeney Todd's you will ever see. Read more
See it if You want to see a most excellent production of Sweeney Todd as an immersive experience with fabulous staging, acting and singing.
Don't see it if You do not like Steve Sondheim musicals. You do not like traveling to the village to see a show.
See it if Immersive and frightening experience of a brilliant Sondheim score and book. Masterful performances all around
Don't see it if You don't like Sondheim and you don't appreciate being a part of the action
See it if You want to experience an exciting, thrilling, and electrifying production of one of Sondheim's greatest works.
Don't see it if You're uncomfortable with maintaining close physical proximity with actors and the thought of having meaningful interactions frightens you. Read more
See it if you love Sondheim. See it if you hate Sondheim. See it if you don't know who Sondheim is. It is brilliant. You really need to see this one.
Don't see it if you are an idiot. There is no reason on God's green earth not to see this show. It is frickin' amazing. And get the pie first.
See it if You want an immersive, shocking, original,fabulous version of a revenge-prompted masterpiece with great Sondheim music and lyrics.
Don't see it if You only like the "june/moon" cornball musical comedy loved by rubes with no intellect or taste!
Critic Reviews (56)
“Buckhurst manages to find the perfect, and sometimes elusive, mix of macabre, mirth, and melodrama…Yep, you’ll laugh, you’ll gasp…And you’ll leave humming every bit of Sondheim’s magnificently diverse score, and immediately want to go back for seconds. (Even the three-piece orchestra is sufficiently wonderful!) Much of the credit for the production’s success belongs to the stunningly chosen eight-person cast.”
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“Secomd as Sweeney Todd and Siobhán McCarthy as Mrs. Lovett are two of the four holdovers from the London production, and their simultaneously chilling and hilarious performances are reason enough to make this a must-see show…The other four cast members are welcome additions for the New York transfer…This production of ‘Sweeney Todd’ somehow feels seminal.”
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"This is a pint-sized production of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler opus...Sondheim’s piano score for the musical is richly vibrant and as played by musical director Matt Aument, thoroughly and thrillingly fills the room...Yes, I prefer the full Jonathan Tunick treatment; but it wouldn’t work, or fit, here...The engagement seems to be an instant hit...This pie-shop 'Sweeney Todd' makes a tasty rendition of Sondheim’s masterwork, and serves up the show with style and thrills."
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"The terrific, pint-sized, meat pie & mash production of 'Sweeney Todd' has gotten terrificker, to coin a nongrammatical but pretty much accurate adjective...Altogether enhanced by the presence of a pair of strong-singing Broadway vets...The slight weakness of the production when it opened, for me, was the Lovett; good enough, but lacking the glazed insanity that need lurk near the surface of the character. Carolee Carmello shows us how it should be done!"
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"With his dead eyes, hollow cheeks and slicked-back hair, Jeremy Secomb is a very scary Todd. Any vocal shortcomings are more than made up for by his commanding presence. Siobhan McCarthy is as fine a Mrs. Lovett as I have seen...Kudos to director Bill Buckhurst for holding everything together. It’s a unique theatrical experience that I highly recommend. I also suggest ordering the pre-show pot pie and mash for $20 with beverage."
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"A radical staging shift does not diminish its power...Places the thrilling tale...in its most logical setting—a meat pie shop—and the results are deliciously devilish...Buckhurst uses the intimate setting to create a terrifyingly close experience...Music director Matt Aument and his trio manage to impart the lushness of Sondheim’s complex and gorgeous score...Jeremy Secomb is probably the most frightening Sweeney you’ll ever see."
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“Just 10 actors play all the characters with creep-fest glee, if not always vocally astonishing power. Jeremy Secomb’s baritone is a little light for Sweeney’s deepest dark heart…Sondheim’s score is expertly reduced to just a piano, strings and wind trio. Somehow, Sondheim’s restless chromatics, the difficult disjunct vocal lines, the extended song forms and, especially, the wrenchingly beautiful choral writing are approached with the affection and awe they deserve.”
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"Both the most intimate production of the show I've ever seen and also one of the most confrontational and powerful. It's not just in-your-face theatre, but also sometimes in-your-lap...Jeremy Secomb’s performance is chilling and intense, unrelenting in its severity and savagery. Sondheim's show is also darkly funny and Buckhurst doesn't stint on this, with Siobhan McCarthy embodying Mrs Lovett's practical amorality with hilarious spirit."
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