Sweeney Todd
at American Heritage Center for the Arts

Reviewed on November 6, 2009

Sarah Diamond
Boca Raton High School
Submitted for publication to

An earsplitting shriek resounds through the small theater as the stage washes red and another victim falls to Mr. Sweeney Todd. After seeing "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", you just may become reluctant to visit your neighborhood barber shop. This thrill of fear is exactly the reaction intended by American Heritage Center for the Arts as they present an extreme, nightmarish musical that is impossible not to enjoy.

"Sweeney Todd" tells the tale of a Victorian barber who is unjustly deported from London and returns 15 years later to seek vengeance on the judge who destroyed his wife and kidnapped his daughter, Johanna. He partners up with a crazed cockney pie chef named Mrs. Lovett and together they conceive of a plan to take London by storm. Sweeney, still full of bloodlust, begins murdering his customers and Mrs. Lovett bakes them into delicious pies. This classic chilling musical was written by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and Hugh Wheeler (book), and features such classic songs as "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", "Johanna", and "A Little Priest".

The cast of "Sweeney Todd" had universally stunning vocals and demonic energy. The ensemble made a particularly striking performance. Every word and note throughout the play was crisp and perfect and animated by a sinister power that pervaded the whole show.

Adam Glickman in the title role easily dominated the show with his strong voice and impassioned portrayal of a man gone mad. Glickman's Sweeney Todd was positively frightening; looming over the audience, staring straight into their eyes, daring someone for a shave. With all that intensity, Samantha Sadicario's portrayal of Mrs. Lovett was something of a comic relief. Sadicario managed to make a cannibalistic cook utterly hilarious, because she knew to play up the character's colorful, clumsy, lovesick side.

Also pitch-perfect was Katrina Kiss, a soaring soprano who played the fluttery Johanna. Joshua Grosso as her love, Anthony, and Pablo Torres as Mrs. Lovett's shop-boy, Toby, both had remarkable vocals and characterizations as well. Another standout was Magen Young as the Beggar Woman, whose violent mood swings and frantic cries of "Mischief!" could characterize the desperation of the times.

The allure of "Sweeney Todd" can be partly attributed to the magnificent black-box set, a dark iron platform with three rotating compartments. The infamous barber's chair had a real trap door where Todd could slide his victims down to the bake house below. The costumes and makeup were also crucial to the look of the play; the characters needed their messy hair and pale, gaunt faces to be truly credible as London gutter rats. The sound was almost completely without hiccups and fizzes. That being said, the music had a tendency to end a little too early and cut off the end of the instrumentals of some songs.

"Sweeney Todd" may be intense, but American Heritage relied on more than just shock value to make their show unforgettable; they relied on the raw emotions and abilities of their very talented cast.

Gabrielle Hanson-Moore
Dillard Center for the Arts
Submitted for publication to

"...you shall drip rubies" is the line that seems to foreshadow everything that follows its initial delivery in American Heritage Center for the Arts' production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." They truly put on a show that proved that revenge can sometimes consume a person completely.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, "Sweeney Todd," is based on the 1973 play, which holds the same name. Opening on Broadway in 1979 and running for 557 performances, this musical tells the tale of one named Sweeney Todd, who is actually Benjamin Barker, a man who was put in jail for fifteen years on false charges. After learning that his wife poisoned herself after being attacked by the Judge Turpin, who now holds his daughter, Johanna, in his home, he swears that he will get his revenge; helping his eccentric landlady Mrs. Lovett excel in her business of selling meat pies at the same time.

On the whole, the cast of "Sweeney Todd" was extraordinary. They were full of energy, sang exceptionally in numbers like "The Ballad(s) of Sweeney Todd" and demonstrated exactly what they were supposed to be--villagers. While the main characters of the show did bring a lot to the table, the ensemble really helped carry the show as well.

Leading the cast as Sweeney Todd, Adam Glickman definitely confirmed his ability to play a dark and tortured soul bent on revenge in musical numbers like "Epiphany" and "My Friends" where he showcased his baritone abilities, and when paired with his unconventional and outlandish counterpart, Mrs. Lovett, played and sung superbly by Samantha Sadicario, together they dominated the stage. Sadicario did this personally when singing "The Worst Pies in London" but together, Glickman and Sadicario rose to new heights in numbers like "A Little Priest" and "By the Sea."

Katrina Kiss (Johanna) and Joshua Grosso (Anthony Hope) showed both, their ability to be comedic in a not-so comedic show ("Kiss Me" Parts I and II) and their ability to have an unmistakable chemistry onstage. Katrina Kiss' beautiful soprano voice ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird") matched with Joshua Grosso's effortless tenor voice ("No Place Like London" and "Ah, Miss") gave the audience an earful of lovely harmonies to listen to whilst watching the two fall in love. As stated before; however, this show would have not been the same without the ensemble's input. They easily added ten times more terror and life to the show.

There have been many high school productions of "Sweeney Todd" but one has not seen a good show until he or she has seen American Heritage Center for the Arts' take on the story, it was absolutely wonderful. Not only was their city on fire, but so was their show.

Faren Dalipram
South Plantation High School
Submitted for publication to

To "attend the tale of Sweeney Todd" is not an invitation for the faint of heart. Torrents of blood and emotion are released in American Heritage High School's killer adaptation of the gruesome nineteenth century musical Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Fleet Street experienced a period of merciless retribution by the right hand of the once-esteemed barber Benjamin Barker, as he returned to London subsequent to having his life ripped from him for fifteen years. After adopting a new identity and a sense of abhorrence to London's aristocracy, Sweeney Todd's desire for revenge against his enemy, Judge Turpin, began to consume him. With the assistance of the faithful Mrs. Lovett, he forged a grisly plan to avenge his family.

The residents of Fleet Street were played by an exceedingly talented cast. Lead actor Adam Glickman, who approached the crazed, blood thirsty character of Sweeney Todd with fanaticism and fury, delivered a convincing performance. Glickman's eyes alone relayed his character's troubled past, full of despondence and rage. The flooding of the stage with red lights during climactic moments reflected Glickman's vehemence, and increased the looming sense of terror.

The charming Mrs. Lovett was portrayed with humor by lead actress Samantha Sadicario, who wove an impeccable chemistry with the entire cast, both vocally and physically. Her presence cast a blithe air over the stage, lightening the despondent mood with quips and gawky gestures. Sadicario's voice rose above the dismal London streets along with Tobias Ragg portrayed by Pablo Torres, during the stirring performance of "Not While I'm Around." A standout vocal performance was delivered in "Kiss Me" by Joshua Grosso and Katrina Kiss as Anthony Hope and Johanna, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet secretively rejoicing in the throes of spontaneous love.

Featured actress Allison Lockhart portrayed a terrified and unkempt townsperson with liberty and precision. Her mannerisms and expressions added dimension to the ensemble, whose voices occasionally overpowered the lead actors' and actresses'. This resulted in the loss of dialogue essential to the plot, but nevertheless supplemented the building sense of chaos and bedlam.

The unsettling atmosphere created so thoroughly by director Jim Usher was enhanced by its uncanny likeness to a late nineteenth century London street. The stationary set was rudimentary in design, allowing for the creative expansion of Fleet Street through the rotating pie shop and flat. Various hues of brown and grey makeup effectively suggested the characters' fatigue and dementia, complimented by the bedraggled hair designs by Mary Schlicte, Sierra Kiss and Myrian Oterman. While the intimate nature of Black Box theater allowed the audience to gain a clear image of each character's face, it exposed the distracting aspects of their costumes, such as bobby pins and natural hair peeking out from underneath wigs. This minor setback detracted from a few intimate scenes, but did not demean the overall success of the show. In an effective showcase of talent and dedication, American Heritage's production of Sweeny Todd brought a new realm of gore to life.

Stephanie Mack
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
Submitted for publication to

The unkempt and downtrodden townspeople of London flooded the stage as mist and fog billowed ominously from its murky sewers, properly setting the mood for American Heritage's chilling production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.

This Tony Award- winning musical tells the tragic tale of Sweeney Todd, a once young and naïve barber who was wrongfully convicted and banished by the licentious Judge Turpin, who coveted his wife. The show, set fifteen years later as Todd bitterly returns to London, illustrates his convoluted attempts at revenge and his imminent, rapid, and bloody descent into madness, as well as his efforts to retrieve his now teenage daughter, Johanna, from Turpin's clutches.

Adam Glickman starred as Sweeney Todd, the severely weathered and vindictive protagonist. Glickman's hauntingly wonderful performance truly exhibited his versatility in this challenging role. He commendably captured the emotional torment of his character and accurately depicted his mental shift from chagrined sadness to utter lunacy. Opposite Glickman was Samantha Sadicario as Mrs. Lovett, his landlord and partner in crime as well as the owner and operator of Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies. In order to win Sweeney's love, Lovett hatches a scheme to bake his newly-shaven victims into her pies and sell them to the unknowing townspeople. Sadicario brought a lovably loony aspect to her character that added some much-needed comic relief to the stage, and her chemistry with the other actors was extremely evident.

The Supporting cast consisted of Katrina Kiss as Sweeney's daughter, Johanna, and Joshua Grosso as Anthony Hope, a young sailor and Johanna's love interest. Both Kiss and Grosso displayed a certain youthful innocence in their characters as well as in their love that flourished whenever they shared the stage. Pablo Torres's performance as Tobias, a young boy who worked in the pie shop, represented the process of the corruption of youth and his emotional transformation from innocent and passionate to cold and bloodthirsty. In addition, Christian Thompson as Judge Turpin and Jonathan Maisel as Beadle Bamford brought forth onto the stage the baneful characteristics of this antagonistic duo.

The ensemble, aided by Daniel Martinez as Pirelli and Magen Young as the Beggar Woman, kept the unsettling mood constant with their musical numbers. Although some actors occasionally broke character or stumbled on a line, the ensemble handled the issue with poise and composure.

The complexity of the set, which created the illusion of two levels with only one, truly mirrored the overwhelming complexity of the plot. The lighting wonderfully complemented the make-up, coordinated by Mary Schlichte, Sierra Kiss, and Myriam Otermin, highlighting the purposefully haggard and gaunt appearances of the actors. Although there were a few premature music cuts, the situation was quickly and accurately dealt with.

Especially in light of the difficult and morose material addressed in this piece, American Heritage's production of Sweeney Todd was truly noteworthy, and performed with maturity well beyond that of any high school student.

Lia Testa
Cardinal Gibbons High School
Submitted for publication to

On the dire streets of London, the demon barber of Fleet Street finds solace in slicing the heads off town hypocrites while his eccentric partner turns the remaining flesh into meat pies. As Sweeny Todd desperately seeks out retribution for the wrongs done against him, he is led to a state of mental turmoil that only death can remove.

Stephen Soundheim and Hug Wheeler's Sweeney Todd came to life in 1979 and was greeted with great success. The themes of social class struggle, vengeance, and fear pulse through the show as it weaves a tale of how forcefully evil breeds evil. The history of late 19th century England powerfully plays its part in molding the plot of Sweeney Todd. While emphasizing the disreputable position of the poor pauper class and the immense and unjust power held by the aristocracy, Sweeney Todd's intent to drag down members of sophistication is only seen to be more difficult.

American Heritage's production exemplified the honed skills of many actors working together to portray a superb piece of theater. Every character added to the eerie atmosphere of the play and the dramatic tension maintained throughout the cast was almost palpable. The crazed hair and make-up only added to the emotional chaos of the scene and expelled a sense of disheveled fear appropriately parallel to the nature of the play.

Sweeney Todd (Adam Glickman) gave a haunting portrayal of the famed revenge-seeking killer. He brought true characterization to the show and had outstanding vocal talent. He worked well with his on-stage partner Mrs. Lovett (Samantha Sadicario), who peppered the scenes with comedy and added bouts of flare throughout the entire show.

Johanna (Katrina Kiss) was a gleaming light in the production with her golden locks and melodic voice. She played her character with shimmering brilliance and created a tint of joy to the rather morose play. Another notable actor was Christian Thompson, who maintained stern characterization as the judge and delivered his lines with fine eloquence. His portrayal as the villain of the show was done with great veracity and dedication.

Sweeney Todd was a remarkable portrayal of how quickly the grieving heart can turn its way to terror. American Heritage reawakened the senses with their chilling performance of a ravenous murderer and his crazed partner in crime!