Utah Opera: Sweeney Todd

Utah Opera opens its 2024-2025 with Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd. This is one of two works in the company’s season line-up that I was excited to see because I hadn’t seen it before. It is a work that challenges the distinction between musical and opera, having elements of both genres, so both theater and opera companies choose to produce it. Intrigued to see how Utah Opera would interpret it, I purchased a ticket to Wednesday evening’s performance.

The chorus begins by giving meaningful exposition of Sweeney Todd’s character. The audience then sees Sweeney (Michael Mayes) on the dock in London with Anthony Hope (John Riesen), a young sailor who has just rescued and befriended him. Sweeney proceeds to explain his past: his current name is an alias, he was a London barber named Benjamin Barker, a corrupt judge ruthlessly pursued his beautiful wife and exiled him to Australia, and his daughter Johanna (Amy Owens) has become the judge’s ward. He has returned to London to avenge the harm Judge Turpin (David Soar) has done to him and his family. He encounters Mrs. Lovett (Audrey Babcock), a baker of pies, who realizes his true identity and promises to keep that a secret. Sweeney reestablishes his business in his old shop above Mrs. Lovett’s bakehouse, and he sets his revenge plot against Judge Turpin in motion, which snowballs into exacting revenge against humanity as a whole. Sweeney’s business becomes the front for his malicious plot in which sitting in his chair for a shave results in a slit throat and never being heard from again. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett forge a nefarious partnership in which the barber’s murdered clients become a “secret ingredient” that improves the apparent quality of her pies and increases the revenue of her business. Meanwhile, Anthony Hope has met and become smitten with Sweeney’s lovely daughter Johanna, whom he seeks to rescue from the lecherous Judge Turpin. Characters race against time to rescue Johanna, execute revenge against the judge, and evade the authorities — a race that spirals into madness and leaves many casualties in its wake.

Sweeney Todd delves into the depraved dark side of human nature and reveals the tragic consequences of pursuing selfish ambition and obsession. No one is immune because selfishness is not a victimless crime: the innocent reap the consequences of others’ selfish actions and become collateral damage; the innocent victim sometimes becomes the evil perpetrator. The premise of the plot and the thematic content are dark and heavy, which might not be everyone’s preference. Even though I hadn’t seen Sweeney Todd before, I was familiar with the gist of the plot. Even so, I wasn’t prepared for how watching the plot unfold would make me feel. I had moments of questioning whether or not I liked or approved of the subject matter as entertainment. Watching portions of it did make me uncomfortable. However, I think that the worthwhile take-away from that experience is that confronting the darkest regions of human motivation and experience should make us uncomfortable. We should recoil at objective evil. I often describe art as being both a lens and a mirror that sheds light on a perspective different from our own and gives us an opportunity to reflect on what underscores our own motives and actions. An opportunity for that deeper reflection made the uncomfortable subject matter worth it. Also, whenever I watch or read material with gritty or uncomfortable content, I look for something that redeems or elevates the piece from simply being a portrayal of base human behavior. That moment happened toward the end of the opera when Sweeney Todd realizes that his actions have resulted in an ironic, tragic mistake that ultimately destroyed the one thing all of his vile actions were seeking to defend. The audience glimpses a moment of his remorse.

Utah Opera’s production of Sweeney Todd is absolutely brilliant! They handle the subject matter with restraint, not over-exaggerating anything or making it unnecessarily grotesque. I absolutely loved the casting in which all of the leads and the chorus are evenly matched and perform their respective roles at a high level. The Utah Symphony also sounded incredible playing Sondheim’s score. Michael Mayes delivers an outstanding portrayal of Sweeney Todd that gives us a glimpse of the character’s humanity in spite of his madness and evil deeds. The audience is able to empathize with his motives for revenge even if his course of action is objectively wrong. Mayes sings and speaks with a full, resonant, deep voice that completely commands the stage. Equally impressive are John Riesen and Amy Owens as Johanna, both of whom have beautiful, melodic voices. The chorus in this production is particularly compelling as they give important background information about Sweeney, and they do so with impeccably clear diction. Utah Opera’s set design rounds out this fantastic production with set pieces on both sides of the stage that rotate fully and cleverly depict the characters’ residences and the connection between Sweeney’s barbershop and Mrs. Lovett’s bakehouse.

Sweeney Todd is a perfect production for October when our cultural focus shifts to the spooky, otherworldly, and macabre. I loved Utah Opera’s production, and I do recommend seeing it. Just be advised of the darkness of the content and determine if that is something you would enjoy. Utah Opera gives it a PG-13 rating for mature themes and instances of violence. Two performances remain, Friday evening and a Sunday matinee. Click here for information and tickets.