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'Sweeney Todd' comes to local stage

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier

Singer/actress Nancy Stedman

It was a terrifying moment at a matinee of the original 1979 Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd" when a bridge on the stage began slipping and nearly crashed down on actress Angela Lansbury.

Waiting in the wings was Nancy Stedman, a member of the chorus who witnessed the dramatic interlude in the hit Broadway musical.

"Because director Hal Prince wanted everything authentic, they went to an ironworks place in Connecticut to get a bridge made," recalls Stedman, a Pennsylvania native who performed in various shows in New York before moving to Charleston more than 20 years ago.

"It was a preview matinee, and the audience wasn't at first aware of what was going on. We were at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre), and the tech people said it was the heaviest weight that had ever been on a Broadway stage at that time," the actress says.

"That's why it was so scary because we were standing backstage waiting to go on, and noticed that a chain from the bridge was whipping around. We whispered as loud as we could to Angela to move off, and she sensed something was wrong," says

Stedman. "While she kept on singing, Angela calmly guided the little boy, Toby, across the stage as the bridge, which fortunately had safety catches on it, and bit by bit crashed to the stage, just as they moved out of danger."

Although it was nearly 30 years ago, the memory is fresh in Stedman's mind as she looks forward to seeing the new version of the Tony Award-winning "Sweeney Todd" when it is staged Friday and Saturday as part of the North Charleston Performing Arts Center's "Best of Broadway" series.

The grim and ultra-bloody story about "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," as it is subtitled, is based on the 19th-century legend of a London barber driven to a life of crime after a malevolent and jealous judge takes his wife and child from him.

Those who saw the recent film version starring Johnny Depp may be assured the stage version is not nearly as gruesome and is lightened by the memorable music composed by Stephen Sondheim, ("Company," "Follies"), who often favors the dark side of life. The book by Hugh Wheeler is an adaptation by Christopher Bond. In the original production, Lansbury played Mrs. Lovett, who was Sweeney Todd's cook and lover/helper in his evil scheme, and the cast included a colorful, lively chorus of singers and dancers.

The 2005 incarnation of this melodic pastiche of cutthroats and bodies burned to a crisp to bake in meat pies "because times is hard" features only 10 actors, each of whom is a musician who performs on stage. Rather than a sweeping orchestra, chamber music is used. As New York Times critic Ben Brantley writes, "You become newly aware of the harmony in Mr. Sondheim's calculated dissonances."

Director John Doyle used the same technique with his staging of the 2005 revival of "Company" to great acclaim. One critic called Doyle's revival of "Sweeney Todd" the most addictive, delicious dish on Broadway in years with such lovely tunes as "Johanna." The show, which enjoyed a successful run in London before coming to Broadway, was awarded a Special Citation by the New York Drama Critics Circle and won Drama League, Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Revival of a Musical.

"This is a story of revenge and Sweeney Todd was so bitter that he took his rage out on others and became even more miserable," says Stedman, who adds that acting in the show was "exhausting, but challenging, as you had to deal with the sadness and futility of the horror every day. Yet it was totally fascinating."

With a laugh, Stedman adds, "As the prologue says, 'Beware the tale of Sweeney Todd.' "

Reach Dottie Ashley at 937-5704 or dashley@postandcourier.com.

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