WA Opera serve a rich visual, vocal and musical feast in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd

REVIEW DAVID CUSWORTH 4 stars

Sweeney Todd at The Maj is a visual, vocal and musical feast; hot and spicy with just the right amount of cheese.

Sondheim’s 1979 classic presents a pastiche of styles — opera, operetta, musical and pantomime — combined here with cinematic touches; faithful to the original with added effects.

Production values are as high as the towering set; 19th century factory walls and chimneys clad with wooden gantries and gates dominating the busy stage, with gaslight and smoke for ambience.

Music, too, has massive impact, from the opening organ salvoes to a powerful pit orchestra under Brett Weymark’s baton.

But all drama hangs on a strong title role, Ben Mingay bringing presence and passion to the heart of a devilish plot. His fixated character and dark vocals were confronting, engaging and comical; a pieman to put the “us” in “crust”.

Antoinette Halloran’s Mrs Lovett was the perfect foil to this stark edifice; sonorous in song and coquettish in character, she blended romantic lead and soubrette with energy and charm.

Their partnership holds a staggering amount of the action and the decisive duet, A Little Priest, tied the knot with panache and pizzazz.

It’s a long journey to this point, carried by strong ensemble playing and many deft scene changes.

Director Stuart Maunder also pitched accents and diction nicely, neatly sidestepping the dreaded Dick Van Dyke/Angela Lansbury faux cockney.

Star-crossed lovers Emma Pettemerides (Johanna) and Nathan Stark (Anthony) led a wealth of local talent on stage; delicate tone and expression contrasting with the sonic smorgasbord around them.

James Clayton as the turbid Judge Turpin ranged from nuanced nastiness to masterful melodrama, with a physical and psychological edge to match the demon barber.

Matt Reuben James Ward brought an original slither to the oleaginous Beadle.

Paul O’Neill was the consummate showman as Pirelli/O’Higgins, comically shifting roles. His henchman, WAAPA graduate Joshua Reckless as Toby, morphed from child hustler to hopeful homeboy to lunatic with ease.

Perhaps the hardest role fell to Fiona Campbell, as the Beggar Woman whose secret identity underpins the story. More sinned against than sinning, she gave and took both rough and smooth; ghosting through like a latter-day Banquo.

And the chorus were all triple threats in their voice, acting and movement; their build-up chant of “Sweeney, Sweeney, Sweeney” worthy of those other devils playing at Optus Stadium on opening night.