'Sweeney Todd' at Amity Regional High School - My Review

Amity High School, a large and modern building in Woodbridge, includes students from the towns of Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge. The self-funded theatre department, Amity Creative Theatre, is supported mightily by P.A.C.T., the hardest working parent group I have ever encountered. The long hallways outside the school auditorium had been transformed into "Fleet Street" with a multitude of concessions for sale.

As I showed my printed ticket I had purchased online, I was presented with the largest program I will have in my extensive collection. The 92-page 8 1/2 by 11 glossy pages included some color photos in the middle, a huge amount of ads and black and white head shots of every member of the cast. Alumni parents, seven local businesses, and eight corporate sponsors were given special thanks for committing to give the students the opportunity to present the challenging and sophisticated production of Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Theater teacher Robert Kennedy co-directed the show with his wife Andrea Kennedy and they were assisted by Marques Christopher and student producers Samantha Testa and Zach Arons. The students were in rehearsal four days a week and all day Saturday since January. Mr. Kennedy took to the stage before the show to thank his business manager and everyone who supported the show, including the patrons who come back to the performances every year. The sold out crowd was virtually all adults and teens. In his notes, the director writes:

While certainly on the edge, Sweeney Todd is a daring piece of musical theater with which all serious theater students should be familiar...In producing the play in 2013 here at Amity, the question really became, 'What does this piece have to say to us today?'...With its themes of the division between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' the story is eerily reminiscent of the political debates we are waging in this country today.

Then the cast emerged in colorful and period-appropriate costumes that were designed by Julie Chevan and provided by Costume World Theatrical in Florida to sing the opening number "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and I was transfixed. The impressive set, essentially divided into quadrants, featured a metal spiral staircase in the center. Projection screens backed the upper level and were used judiciously. The director used its many levels to insure that the audience missed nothing. Superb lighting by Dan Hassenmayer suggested the horror without the gore. All the musical numbers were impressive, but I probably appreciated the "Ballad" and its reprises sung by various permutations of the ensemble the most for their nuances on a theme.

The 31-member orchestra of music students took on the Stephen Sondheim music and expertly provided the constantly churning score from the floor in front of the stage. My front row seat allowed me to hear the brass section especially well. Orchestra director Philip Dolan conducted the musicians and Peter Randazzo provided the musical direction for the wonderful singers in the cast.

The program included a four-column synopsis that filled in a few blanks in the story for me; the director chose to tone down some of the seemier details of the story and limited the gore to lighting. Not a drop of blood appeared onstage, not even on a piece of cloth; the violence was highly stylized.

No amount of production values can cover for a cast's lack of talent; this is definitely not the case with the students in this large cast. There was not a single weak link in the intricate acting and singing involved. Bowen Kirwood, a senior from Orange, was a scary Jonas Fogg and senior Ted McNulty managed the accents of the barber Pirelli. A sophomore from Bethany, Kahari Blue, commanded attention as Beadle Bamford and James Ottaviano, a junior from Bethany appearing in his first musical, did a fine job as Judge Turpin.

Young Tobias Ragg was played by Peter Charney. A freshman from Bethany, Mr. Charney is president of the ACT and appeared as Eddie Foy, Jr. in The Seven Little Foys, and can be heard on the original cast album. Nicole Simon, a junior from Woodbridge, was perfect as the ever-present Beggar Woman. Junior class member Shaylen Harger had the voice of an angel as Johanna and Max Karsanow, a sophomore from Woodbridge and a tenor in the Chamber Singer, was her perfect duet partner as the young sailor Anthony Hope.

As Mrs. Lovett, Bethany resident Alida Ballou was Broadway material. This junior has appeared in five productions at Amity. She had the mannerisms, the voice and the comic timing of this character and she wore a more subdued version of the hairdo. Kevin Durkee, a sophomore from Orange, took on the title role of the demon barber with aplomb. He sang the complicated lyrics extremely well, and kept in character right though the curtain call. I look forward to seeing him in future performances.

Amity's Sweeney Todd marks the ninth performance by young actors I have attended this year and I have already added three more to my calendar. Many fine shows like this one will be vying for the top spot on my top ten list and I can already see that it will be a very difficult list to make. Congratulations to the cast and crew of this excellent production.