Northern Ireland Opera and the Lyric Theatre present Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
The Lyric Theatre and Northern Ireland Opera bring you Sondheim’s musical thriller about the infamous boogeyman of Victorian London. A gentlemanly barber who, seeking revenge for his wrongful incarceration and the tragic loss of his family, returns to London as the murderous Sweeney Todd.
His personal quest for vengeance becomes a bloodthirsty and insatiable vendetta against humanity as he lures the people of London into his lethal barber shop while his sinister landlady Mrs Lovett bakes their remains into gourmet pies.
Is Sweeney a one-man horror show, the victim of a corrupt society, or a gruesome source of entertainment for audiences to this dark and deadly spectacle?
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Originally directed by Harold Prince
Original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Originally produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnston, Martin Richards in association with Dean and Judy Manos
Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited
Richard Morrison, The Times: ★★★★
‘Steven Page… his portrayal of psychotic, obsessive revenge is spine-shiveringly intense.’
‘A nine-piece band delivers Sondheim’s dark, dissonant score admirably under Sinead Hayes’s direction. And fans of audience participation, and indeed cannibalism, will love the chance to sample Mrs Lovett’s pies.’
Robert Beattie, Seen and Heard International
‘Walter Sutcliffe’s cracking production captures the audience’s attention from the outset…This is a superb production of Sweeney Todd with first rate performances from cast, chorus and instrumentalists. Go and see it!’
Alan In Belfast Blog
‘Director Walter Sutcliffe has created a consistently stylish show that relates its story with heaps of operatic pizzazz but none of the genre’s supposed stuffiness.’
No More Workhorse Blog
‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a dark, thrilling nightmare of a musical that pushes the boundaries of what the genre can and should be. This production veers from comedy to cruelty and horror to heartbreak at a lightning speed, but never sacrifices its delicacy for its darkness. This is a black, shimmering delight of a show; it may be long but once it is over, you wlll want to go right back to the start to watch it over again.’
The Independent ie. ★★★★
‘Steven Page as Sweeney Todd brings immense dignity to this role. His partner in crime Mrs Lovett (Julie Mullins) holds the stage in great style… John Porter as the sailor Anthony Hope, suitor to Johanna, gives a heartfelt performance using his beautiful, honeyed tenor voice to great effect…This offers all the satisfactions of musical Grand Guignol. It is a thoroughly enjoyable show, serving up wit, brio and super-sized meat pies.’
The Irish News
‘The principals, Steven Page as Todd with Patrick Stewart diction and a fine baritone and Julie Mullins as Mrs Lovett are superb… The thrust of Sweeney Todd’s story gripped us. For the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru, as the demon barber has it.’
Opera (April 2019)
A Sweeney Todd that swaggered with energy and eagerness to bite… As the titular demon barber, Steven Page returned after last year’s scheming Peachum in The Threepenny Opera to bring simmering, pent-up menace to a vocally contained performance hinting at baleful victimhood as well as bloodthirsty villainy. As his exuberant partner in crime, Julie Mullins’s feisty, fun, strongly sung Mrs Lovett brought a winning blend of sentimentality and sharpness perfectly in keeping with Sondheim’s ‘dark operetta’.
Opera Now (April 2019) Music ★★★★ Staging ★★★★
Steven Page…a saturnine presence and big, cavernous voice, but also a theatrical creature of impressive range… And with the atmospherics of the clear, insinuating single-instrument band conducted by Sinead Hayes, Wolfgang Goebbel’s deepening-hell lighting and Dorota Karolczak’s designs spiralling into madness, this staging by Walter Sutcliffe had compelling momentum, keeping control over tightening screws of madness and the gleeful terrors of Sweeney’s razor, his mincing machine, his oven.
Audio described performance Thursday 21st February 7.45 p.m.
Opera, April 2019
'A 'Sweeney Todd' that swaggered with energy and eagerness to bite...'