‘Sweeney Todd’ Broadway Review: Pop Goes the Bloodshed
metroweekly.comSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (★★★★★). The big question looming over the head of every theater geek when the cast was announced: Is Josh Groban menacing enough to play Sweeney?It was a fair query.
Sweeney Todd is about a British man wrongly punished for a crime he didn’t commit. Consequently, he is banished to Australia.
His wife Lucy allegedly kills herself with arsenic and his daughter, Johanna, was taken from him. Such troubles can test a man’s patience and ultimately lead him to commit acts an otherwise rational fellow wouldn’t consider.Given Groban’s “nice boy next door” looks and reputation, many wondered if he had the chops to embody one the best and bloodiest male roles in musical theater.The answer: Not really.
But neither is he completely miscast. Ultimately, he rises to the challenge. Although he repeatedly slinks into pop vocal stylizations for Sondheim’s traditional score, he still sings with clarity and conviction.
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