Review of Sweeney Todd on Broadway

I’m going to admit, I had no interest in seeing Sweeney Todd originally. I am apparently one of the few people I know who had no idea who Josh Groban was before this, and apparently he’s one of the biggest draws of the show.

My sister even knew about this show because Jordan Fisher was in it, but by the time I ended up seeing the show, he had already left. I was not surprised he didn’t last long. Anyways, what convinced me to buy a ticket for this show was the Tony Award performance. It wasn’t Groban. It wasn’t Gaten, the kid from Stranger Things (which I have not seen). No, it was the fact that the choreography and zombie-like movements caught my interest.

I had an August trip to New York planned, so not even a week later I had a ticket to Sweeney. I was second to last row in the balcony and paid about $100 for my seat, but, to be honest, that seat was more than enough for me. I saw everything perfectly and thought that the sound design was good enough—I could hear everything properly.

I’m pretty simple when it comes to Broadway, and when I don’t rush or end up with TDF tickets, I usually sit last row. That’s done me well throughout the years, outside of the partial view seat at A Strange Loop.

Onwards with the review!

A star-studded cast brings Sweeney Todd back onto Broadway.

Like many other Gen Z kids who grew up in the early 2000s, I watched the Johnny Depp movie version of Sweeney Todd. I had no recollection of the songs, and the only song that I knew about going into this was the one that I had seen during the Tony Awards.

I didn’t bother listening to the soundtrack beforehand, but, to be honest, I was kind of underwhelmed by the music. I think it wasn’t my cup of tea at the end of the day, although I love bloody, gory things, but I think my problems tend to stem with the fact that I wasn’t a fan of how Groban plays Sweeney.

Each actor brings their interpretation of a role whenever they manage to land a role, but this version of Sweeney felt a bit more melancholic than what I would expect from the show.

The blood itself is very minimum, and Groban plays Sweeney as someone who is more contemplative when it comes to his grief. He is motivated more by the grief itself than the revenge, which makes his final moments with his former dead wife even more impactful. But it didn’t simply land for me as a viewer. The audience around me loved it, but I wasn’t sold on it.

What was interesting to me was the celebrity power behind Groban. This audience was screaming every time the man opened his mouth. As someone who straight up had no idea, I was impressed by that fact and the dedication of his fans.

But it made for some annoying moments when they end up covering the actual song when someone hits a high note. Ruthie Ann Miles does such a good job as his former wife that’s gone insane as well, and I actually preferred her performance over his as well.

The star of this show to me though was Annaleigh Ashford. That woman has perfect comedic timing. Her Ms. Lovett is funny, raunchy, and willing to manipulate Sweeney to try and get him to love her, even if it costs her her life in the end. I was also not expecting her accent going into this, as well as her scenes with Gaten as a motherly figure.

She circles back in the beginning from talking about her maternal instincts to actually becoming a mother for Tobias, which is immense character growth to me. Sweeney’s character growth, to contrast, is succumbing deeper into the issues that plagued him, which ends up making his problems worse.

The other best part of the show to me was the original reason I was compelled to see it in the first place: the ensemble. I think that this is a show that needs the beating heart of the ensemble, even if it’s to provide a throat to slit and turn into a meat pie later on.

I wasn’t aware of the refrain about Sweeney and his exploits that happens between scenes, and I thought those were some of the most gorgeous moments in the show. Sondheim truly was a genius when it came to his lyric-writing, and though I wasn’t a fan of the entire music as a whole, there are some really good numbers that foreshadow what’s to come.

Set design was also something I found myself paying more attention to throughout the show as well. I didn’t want orchestra back seats because you might miss the suspended bridge above the stage, which is where Johanna’s scenes take place and Sweeney sets up shop for his murderous operations. I was shocked the audience ended up dying of laughter when Sweeney slit people’s throats and dumped them down the shaft, although I can see why they thought it was funny.

Overall Thoughts

I’m glad I saw the show, but I’m also glad I didn’t spend a ton of money on it. As someone who doesn’t spend a lot on Broadway shows, I am shocked when I hear people end up spending hundreds of dollars on a seat. I spend like $300 for six shows, not just one seat.

But to each their own. This was a pricy show, but it was pretty high quality in the acting. Taste is also subjective; I think that although I didn’t like the interpretation as much, I can see why people ended up loving it a lot. Annaleigh Ashford was worth the price of the ticket for me though!

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