Sweeney Todd with Ramin Karimloo and Meow Meow at Birmingham Rep – review

Joe Murphy has followed up his sparkling Birmingham Rep main stage directorial debut of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a personal favourite. He’s referred to Sweeney Todd as Stephen Sondheim’s “masterpiece”, and you can tell this is a passion project for him in this atmospheric production.

To whet the appetite, there’s a beautiful stage curtain recreating the painting of “Lucifer Falling from Heaven” in sketched shades of grey, but when this rises, there’s more to impress in a remarkable set by designer and rising talent Elin Steele.

An imposing, huge statue of Lady Justice in white stone overlooks all the proceedings in a grimy London. Everything is tinged with black by humanity in this morality tale, from the grotty landscape to traditional Georgian outfits, as our anti-hero, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, seeks justice for horrific past wrongs.

Smoke billows and there are striking, beautifully arranged shadows by lighting designer Rory Beaton to set the mood of this visceral three-hour production.

The stage soon opens up into two levels, which will incorporate Mrs Lovett’s rather disgusting pie shop and bake house and, above it, Sweeney Todd’s gruesome barber’s.

Murphy has assembled a strong, relatively small cast, accompanied by a seven-piece live orchestra, but every one of them turns heads. It feels like a big-scale epic despite its intimacy.

Acclaimed musical theatre star Ramin Karimloo is perfectly cast as the brooding barber. He’s menacing but likeable and dashing enough to garner sympathy, not to mention his outstanding vocals.

Karimloo has made his name in shows from Les Misérables to Phantom of the Opera, and effortlessly breathes life into Sondheim’s difficult lyrics, while weighing them down with emotion.

He’s well-matched with award-winning cabaret performer Meow Meow, real name Melissa Madden Gray. Almost a caricature, her comical Mrs Lovett is the Morecombe to Karimloo’s Wise. This Mrs Lovett even has a Brummie accent, in a welcome nod to Birmingham Rep by its artistic director Murphy.

Meow Meow is a regular in musicals, including the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but her cabaret experience comes in handy. She’s over the top but deliciously so. Introduced while rolling dough with her derriere and feet, Lovett brings the laughs, but also a touch of sentimentality when later exposed for her lies, wrong choices and even fake hair. Meow Meow is at her best in the song “By the Sea”.

Surprisingly, there’s no blood ahead of the interval, but it dips into more gruesome territory later. While never overly gory, it’s cutthroat and ominous throughout. A songbird gets strangled, blood strains out of the meat grinder, and the body count quickly rises in the cleverly constructed chair of death.

Yet the most unsavoury scenes involve sexual predator Judge Turpin. Award-winner David Bedella plays the judge with terrifying fervour. He’s picked up three Oliviers for Jerry Springer: The Opera, In The Heights and & Juliet, and seems to relish the creepiness of this character, playing him with lusty greed.

It’s left to Jo Stephenson and Shem Omari James, as Johanna and Anthony Hope, respectively, to balance the doom with romance. Their songs are delightfully dreamy, especially “Kiss Me” and James’ rendition of “Johanna” that whisk you away.

When Sondheim is done well, the music really sings, and Murphy has excelled in creating a vibrant, new version that puts the music at the fore. Right down to the glorious final rendition of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and the closing shadows of the demon barber and Mrs Lovett, this dazzling production is sure to bring goosebumps of excitement.