Victorian London: Characterizations Voices and Festival Theatre

victorian london: Until Oct. 19 at the Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake. shawfest.com or 800-511-7429As the last production in its 55th season — and the final one in Jackie Maxwell tenure as artistic director — the Shaw Festival goes grandiose and gory, in the form of the celebrated musical thriller Sweeney Todd, the story of a barber-turned-murderer originally set in Victorian London, according to Toronto Star. While the production features fabulous musical direction and ensemble singing, and some fine performances in featured roles, the central characterizations and voices are not sufficiently strong, and the conceptualization and staging can be unclear, with sometimes troubling results. By Karen Fricker Theatre Critic Sun., July 31, 2016 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, music directed by Jackie Maxwell. Article Continued Below The nature of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Hugh Wheeler achievement with this show has always been paradoxical. Over the years it has been much interpreted: Hal Prince original 1979 Broadway production played the material as a critique of capitalist class politics, while John Doyle stripped-back 2004 London/New York revival located the whole thing inside an asylum, underlining that the title character loses his sanity. On the one hand, it contains some of the most beautiful songs in the musical theatre canon and some of the deftest, funniest lyrics, but its subject matter is revenge, obsession, murder and eventually cannibalism. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.