Eye On the Arts

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman New York, New York April 5, 2023 -- How can Stephen Sondheim's remarkable and ghoulish musical tragedy Sweeney Todd exhume such glee from audiences? Hugh Wheeler's book wryly comments on graft and unchecked political greed and power. It's a place where "truth" is suspended between obsession and evil in the misty and dank Dickensian streets. Helmed by Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, the revival sweeps into the dank London mist with superb singing, acting and lots of friskily questionable characters. Rescued from the sea by a young man, Anthony (Jordan Fisher), the haunted Sweeney Todd (Josh Groban) slinks around the once familiar myriad of backstreets to the foreboding mantra "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." Barely making a living dishing out wretched meat pies, Mrs. Lovett (the delightful Annaleigh Ashford) spies Todd and recalls his true identity: Benjamin Barker (the barber accused of murder). Undaunte...