PRESSEN OM SWEENEY TODD

OPERA GIR STRÅLENDE KRITIKK TIL SWEENEY TODD

Verdens ledende operamagasin sier følgende i sin anmeldelse:

- Michael Mayes’s dramatic scale was epic and his baritone would probably have sounded almost as huge without amplification.

- Susan Bullock’s pitching of Mrs Lovett, a character Sondheim overworks a bit, was spot on, somehow making the pie-cook’s total lack of moral compass believable: brilliantly adept at the patter, she was comical without tipping into absurdity, not too cockney, not too sentimental and not too irritating.

- Christopher Luscombe’s semi-staging of Sondheim’s ‘musical thriller’ took an approach which, in the monumental brutalist arena of Grieghallen, carried suggestions of Greek tragedy.

- There was an extra frisson in the moment when Todd almost killed his disguised daughter, Joanna (the full-voiced Caroline Wettergreen).

- Lester Lynch’s Judge Turpin was unctuously sinister (and gratifyingly audible when his microphone suffered a prolonged blip).

- Peter Kirk made a pinging, livewire Toby.

- The airier tones of Samuel Boden were well suited to Anthony Hope and the romantic number ‘Joanna’, in which the Bergen Philharmonic clearly relished the lushness of Jonathan Tunick’s scoring.

- The tenor line-up was completed by Christopher Gillett’s darkly quizzical Beadle and David Curry’s stage-hogging, silver tongued medallion-man Pirelli.

- Gillian Kirkpatrick wove the Beggar Woman’s shreds and patches consummately together.

- The conductor Stephen Higgins – who collaborated with Sondheim himself on A Little Night Music and Sunday in the Park with George at the Châtelet in Paris – ensured that each of the show’s diversity of tones was struck with style and precision and that the guignol never became unpalatably grand.

(Magasinet Opera bruker ikke stjerner eller terningkast i sine anmeldelser)

OPERA NOW GIR 5 AV 5 STJERNER TIL DET MUSIKALSKE
OG 4 STJERNER TIL REGIEN

- Heading the outstanding, talented cast was Michael Mayes as Todd, his razor-sharp baritone laced with just the right amount of menace, and the phenomenal Susan Bullock channelling Julie Walters in her Oscar-worthy turn as the conniving Mrs Lovett.

- The tonal warmth of baritone Lester Lynch added another layer of creepiness to the abusive Judge Turpin.

- But it was the captivating David Curry (Pirelli) who stole the first half of the show, strutting about (…) for the shave-off.

- Tenor Samuel Boden as Anthony sang as s sweetly as the birds admired by his romantic interest Johanna (Caroline Wettergreen), while Gillian Kirkpatrick as Johanna’s mother Lucy, Christopher Gillett as the Beadle and Peter Kirk as Tobias also excelled.
- Håkon Matti Skrede’s Edvard Grieg Choir were in fine vocal fettle.

- Pumping out the score, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, under the meticulous and assured baton of conductor Stephen Higgins, demonstrated its considerable showbiz chops.

- With the entire cast singing off-book in Cathrine Ahlsen’s splendid black and red costumes, and director Christopher Luscombe making good use of the spacious stage (lit by Ivar Skjørestad), BNO’s dramatic hybrid is a winning formula.

BERGENS TIDENDE GIR 5 HJERTER

- En forestilling som holder en knivskarp balanse mellom stor patos og grusom komikk.

- Den amerikanske barytonen Michael Mayes som synger Sweeney Todds parti, har ikke bare en helt formidabel stemme, han har et voldsomt scenisk nærvær.

- (Mrs Lovett) Partituret synges med entusiasme og høyt humør av den britiske sopranen Susan Bullock, som gir rollen en slagferdig, gemyttlig karakter med underfundige referanser til den engelske «music hall»-tradisjonen.

- De to sentrale skikkelsene understøttes av et sterkt ensemble. De fleste av solistene er i utgangspunktet operasangere, men alle klarer overgangen til Sondheims musikalformat med bravur.

Les hele anmeldelsen i Bergens Tidende

BERGENSAVISEN GIR TERNINGKAST 5

- Dette stykket er blodig, makabert, humoristisk og herlig tragisk

- Det er lenge siden undertegnede har opplevd en så sterk baryton som Michael Mayes.

- Caroline Wettergreen spiller Johanna i det blodige eposet, og for en sanger vi har blant våre egne rekker, og så til og med fra Fana da.

Les hele anmeldelsen fra Bergensavisen (abo)