At first I was a little worried as I sat in my seat at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts in Orlando for a showing of what has to be one of my most favorite musicals, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
I knew when I bought the ticket that the pricing for the primo spot roughly 8 or 10 rows from the stage mid-orchestra was only $75 that there had to be something up regarding this. I mean, at this theater for a regular Broadway touring performance, the price is in the $150 range. Not including taxes and bullshit convenience fees of course. The other thing that raised a little bit of a red flag was the fact that it had said "UCF Presents" on the ticket. Now, did that mean that UCF was the main sponsor, or, gulp, did it mean that the performance was put on by UCF students? It turned out, it was the latter. To further give worry as I looked up on the stage, was the decidedly Spartan look of it all. But then I remembered, of course this is classic Sondheim of the 1970s, and even the original Broadway performance with the iconic Angela Lansbury was decidedly low-key in set decoration. But as I later learned as the production went on have movable stage sets which, especially the pie shop / upstairs barber salon made total sense as the play went on and the evil machinations of our protagonists played out including the ingenious reclining barber chair / body chute combo.
No sooner did The Ensemble start belting out the ballad of Sweeney Todd, a song sorely missing from the movie version but understandably so since the movie was not simply a film of the Stage production but more of a live-action piece, I knew this was going to be fantastic. This has to be one of my favorite songs. Eerie and full of suspense, and like any good Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, the chorus reminds us of our moral place on Earth and foretells the ominous fate of those who deviate from it. Or some auspicious shit like that. And this Ensemble belted it in Perfect Harmony. And it didn't stop there and only got better
Johnny Flanagan and Manuela Guerra Canal. Remember these names, because I guarantee you, they are going to make it big. Not sure if their intent is to stay with stage production or some other entertainment media but I hope it is stage. They were made for it. They played, of course, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett respectively. I could well go on and name every member of the cast here as well since, frankly, there wasn't a weak link (sorta) in this strong ensemble of super talented college kids. That's right I have to keep reminding myself that this was a college production because, well frankly, if you never told me I would think this was Broadway.
We were certainly not in Sebring anymore having to deal with Highlands Lakeside Theater. Nor, for that matter, was this anything like the travesty of that Rollins College performance.
Okay, okay, so I'm gushing about this! Was there anything at all that I have to say negatively about this afternoon's final matinee performance? Their final day of performances is today but I'm thinking they have an evening show probably going on right now as I'm writing this, or, as you know, dictating this, at 8:15 p.m. By the way, I'm not home I'm of course still in Orlando and I'll get to that in the next post detailing this little trip.
Negative. Um, nothing. Now of course the usual gripes about the tiny seats, which aren't much bigger than good old Bob Carr, of course, but they're newer so I guess there's that. The dude on the left of me was actually doing a little elbow fight with me for the armrest until he realized that I wasn't hogging it, it's just the fat of my midsection prevented me from pulling my arm further in. The dude on the right of me, though, came in total thematic dress including a silver wolf's head walking stick. I gave him kudos on it. But if you ask me, as usual, of anybody I saw around me, even the guy in period clothing, I was the most enthusiastic, grinning from ear to ear through every song, clapping loudly for every performance.
As far as getting back to the actual songs, like I said, The Ballad and its many reprises, was awesome. Though everyone was mic'ed, the group together projected well enough that they didn't need it. The orchestra, yes, they actually had a live orchestra, was spot freaking on! The best numbers? Joseph Trewin's (Anthony) "Joanna" was so good as to nearly upstage Flanigan's (Sweeney Todd) superb "No Place Like London" and "My Friends." Guerra Canal's (Mrs. Lovett) "Worst Pies in London," "A Little Priest" and her duet with the actor playing Tobias (whom I can't find right now) "Not While I'm Around" was magically like seeing Angela Lansbury reincarnated. My only slight disappointment was "Pretty Women" which is a song I absolutely love from this musical but I think it was the fact that the dude playing The Judge wasn't up to par with our Sweeney Todd and this being a duet, required singers of the same caliber to have that dynamic chemistry. The same lacking can be said as well of the actress playing Joanna. But aside from them, and believe me, compared to most other performances I've seen over the past few years they are still far better than anything, it's just that when they are paired with such stellar talent as our leads, it was only natural that they would be a little less shiny.
BTW, I stopped into a Publix on my way to this hotel and got me some frozen P.F. Chang's potstickers, which will serve as tonight's homage dinner of little meat filled "pies." These are pork, though, not people.