"Sweeney Todd” by Encore Productions
The Space, Arboretum Street, Nottingham.

Encore present a semi-staged production of Sondheim’s musical about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Complete with a 22 piece orchestra and the Encore choir, this was a production I was really looking forward to seeing.

Sweeney Todd, whose real name is Benjamin Barker, uses his new alias to resume work in his barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop after being wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment by the corrupt Judge Turpin. After swearing vengeance against the judge that tore his family apart, Todd and Lovett plot a unique plan that helps them both and leads them down a dangerous, thrilling path with deadly consequences.

Encore go from strength to strength, and sometimes you wonder just where the ceiling is for this group's talent, because at the moment it seems infinite

The casting is perfect and with that incredible orchestra and choir on stage with the actors, it was reminiscent of when they had the big "Les Miserables" semi staged concert on London a few years back. The lack of scenery, for me, didn't matter because the story is a strong one and the music is so incredibly lush while being intricate and complicated, bordering on the operatic.

Duncan Leech (Judge Turpin) like everyone gave a wonderful performance as the bullying and slightly unnerving Turpin; thrashing himself in a state of undress while spying on his ward, Joanna. He made you feel quite uneasy, a sign of a good actor to evoke such emotion in an audience.

George Lamb ( Beadle Bamford) has dot to be one of my favourite comic characters in this musical, and possibly one of the best performances I've seen George give on stage. He just completely embodied the camp but comic character. His facial expressions, changing from salacious, manic and sadistic pleasure to practically bored rolled eyes look really gave a brilliant fun element to this very dark piece of theatre. Like Turpin, a character you weren't sorry to see get their comeuppance.

Christopher Mundy (Tobias) showed a believable transgression from

innocent servant to Pirelli to the protective and faithful young man who ended up being driven mad by the visions that he saw in the hell hole of the Lovett's pie ovens.

Lucas Young (Anthony) showed again what a fine voice he has as the romantic and lovelorn sailor who fought to free Joanna from the clutches of Turpin and the walls of the city's asylum.This man has the ability to play any role he wants just like a chameleon.

Helen Whittle (Johanna) is another actor who has an incredibly good voice and her operatic talents are well suited in this musical. It is with ease that she reaches those gorgeous Sondheim high notes.

Kimberley Allsopp (The Beggar Woman) plays a crazy woman so well, but there's a secret hidden in this character, which if you don't know the story of Sweeney Todd, I ain't gonna spoil it for you. A fine vocal style as well as she switches pace in her songs so fast.

Jorge Diniz (Adolfo Pirelli), a new name to me, gets to play quite a complex character in Pirelli. An Irishman who has a secret and pretends to be an Italian, but we all know what happens to faux Italians who try to blackmail the demon barber of Fleet Street... don't we?. Another adept vocalist who hasn't the easiest of pieces to sing but must have vocal chords made of elastic.

Danielle Hall (Mrs Lovett), well what can I say? I can't recall hearing Danielle sing before but she has kept this talent well and truly hidden. I love this role, as Danielle really extracts every piece of humour from Lovett. This is especially true in the duet with Todd "A Little Priest". Wonderful character acting and a brilliant vocal; nothing is forced with Danielle, and this makes her very easy to watch.

Adam Guest (Sweeney Todd). As with Danielle, you know you can relax watching Adam, which is not so accurate a description of his character, because they know what they are doing on stage. I did not realise though just how unnerving Adam's acting can be, and I've seen Adam act many times. His wild eyes are quite frightening and he looks completely manic on some scenes. The people sitting on the front row I imagine may have been a little nervous as he took to the audience, razor in hand seeking revenge on Turpin, or anyone who took his fancy. A brilliant character performance and wonderful vocals to match. Possibly the perfect performance of Todd.

Musically Directed and produced by Sam Griffiths. He had the incredibly difficult job of bringing out the joy, pain, fun and darkness of Sondheim's music. Practically a non stop score and he was on his feet all evening. A beautifully layered and lush arrangement of this wonderful score, and when you add the additional layer of the Encore Choir to the mix, it takes you to aural heaven.

Directed by Andrew Bould, he was not content on presenting this as a faithful copy of what had gone before. For one it was semi staged which could have given limitations but not in the eyes of Mr Boult. I loved what he did with "By the Sea" and created a whole new feel and comic image. The song is not really a major song within this musical but this visionary rework made it one of the many highlights for me.

The lighting, and may I say that the "inferno" lighting effect for the "bakery" was very effective, was the responsibility of Richard Heappey. Creating the right feel for the different areas of the piece by a change of hue; subtle but did the job.

Dave Dallard is the man behind the sound desk and while at the start there were a few lost words from the songs, this was quickly sorted out and the wonderful acoustics of the theatre was taken full advantage of and the beauty of Sondheim's words were heard by all.

Encore are very good at using the best people and this musical shows this to full effect. What i also love id that Encore have such a well respected reputation that the best people also want to work with Encore. And that is why this cast is so perfect.

A very well deserved standing ovation at the end just proves to me everything that has been writ above, and I was proud to be one of the first to get to my feet to show my appreciation of a incredibly talented group of people and a wonderfully entertaining piece of theatre. In such a short period of time this lot have had to stage this show, the results are breathtakingly good.

Always one to give back to the community, Encore always hold a collection after every performance for a well-deserved, and relevant to the show, charity. This time, with the story being about a barber, they

have chosen the Little Princess Trust charity who provides real hair wigs free of charge to children and young adults up to the age of 24, who have sadly lost their own hair due to cancer treatment and other illnesses.

Friday night was practically a sell out so you may just be able to get a ticket for Saturday’s matinee or evening performances. Please try not to miss out on this one.