Sweeney Todd brings a dash of blood-curdling revenge to Westbury Theatre

There are few musical comedies that balance humour with rape, tortured revenge, multiple murders and home baked cannibalism.

The only one that comes to mind is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street set to open at the Westbury Theatre on Thursday, May 4.

Although gruesome, the 1979 multiple Tony-Award winning musical by Stephen Sondheim is a proven hit.

ELOPE Musical Theatre mounts Sweeney Todd with a cast of 30 attired in mechanical steampunk costumes. The action takes place on a two-storey set as the industrial revolution metes out havoc on the lives of ordinary individuals.

This production has a large roster of St. Albert artists in various roles. In addition to assistant director Josh Languedoc and costume designer Julienna Lazowski, the actors include Matt Boisvert (Antony) and Nadine Veroba as the mysterious beggar woman.

Veronica Masik, Lucy Drapala, Katherine Palka and Ed Medeiros all round out the vocals and movement as part of the ensemble.

In Hugh Wheeler's book of musical horror, Sweeney returns to London after escaping prison life. He searches for Judge Turpin, a corrupt lawmaker who framed and sentenced the barber to life and ravaged Todd's beautiful young wife.

Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney's new landlady, who makes unappetizing meat pies, tells him his wife is dead and the judge has custody of Sweeney's daughter, Johanna.

When another barber, Pirelli, realizes Sweeney is an escaped convict, he becomes the first victim in a series of disappearing bodies.

Mrs. Lovett disposes of the bodies by adding them to her meat pies. Soon their tastiness becomes the talk of the town, and their high demand attracts lineups.

Meanwhile Turpin plans to marry his ward even as Sweeney hopes to save his daughter. Thrown in the mix is Anthony, a young sailor in love with Joanna.

“He (director Jon Shields) sees the show as the world trying to eat itself. He's designed the world as a capitalistic machine and people try to feed off that machine by killing each other. It's about those above beating down those below,” said Languedoc.

This is a musical where evil lurks at every corner. Yet the one figure that remains incorruptible is Boisvert's Anthony.

“All the characters are distorted by the world around them, but Anthony comes out unscathed and saves Johanna. He's the one who in the end is incorruptible,” notes Boisvert.

Playing Sweeney is a role on Boisvert's bucket list, and he auditioned with hopes of snagging it. Instead the role went to Randy Brososky, a talented actor who has displayed incredible power in past roles.

“Randy has grown so much. He's very intense, has a lot of singing and not a lot of downtime.”

In the meantime, Boisvert focused on creating believability for Anthony, a farmer's son from Plymouth, turned sailor.

Working with former St. Albert resident Betty Moulton, a University of Alberta drama department linguist, Boisvert created vocal nuances that sit between the upper crust's plummy accent and Mrs. Lovett's Cockney slang.

“It was important to me for the character to have credibility.”

In addition, Boisvert has high praise for the ensemble.

“They are the ghosts, the victims of Sweeney, but they are also the victims of the industrial revolution. They just stand there which makes it like a spooky ghost story.”