Magic

Magic’s theatre man Paul Phear has been rubbing shoulders with the stars oft the West End again!

This time he has been chatting to Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball, who are treading the boards at the London boards at the Adelphi Theatre.

The pair are starring in the acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

You can listen to Paul's interview with the stars below

Paul's review - Thrills and Chills
 
At the Lyric on Shaftesbury Avenue the compilation musical Thriller Live is vibrantly keeping the music and moves of Michael Jackson alive, but if it’s a real musical thriller you’re looking for, then seek out a close shave from Mr Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
 
The question I’ve been asked the most about Sweeney is ‘How gory is it?’ and I suppose the answer is ‘enough’ without being gratuitous or too graphic, but there are several bloody moments with a particularly satisfying slaying towards the end of act two. Quite a good squirt of ruby red on that one to be honest. I’m not a lover of ‘slasher’ films, but I found it possible to watch without hiding behind my hands. Several around us couldn’t.
 
Written in the late seventies’ by Stephen Sondheim this new production has been time-shifted from the Victorian era to somewhere between the two world wars, and its location at the Adelphi on the Strand, just a short walk from Fleet Street, adds a level of authenticity to the proceedings. Whether  Sweeney Todd was a real person or a  ‘bogey-man’ invention is open to question, but if he was real it’s no surprise that the Londoner’s who call on us to ‘attend the story of Sweeney Todd’ are both  fascinated and horrified  by his legendary crimes.
 
Mr Dimples himself, Michael Ball (Sweeney) creates some macabre and psychotic moments as the barber returned from penal servitude in Australia vowing revenge on those who falsely tried him.  Well you would wouldn’t you. The moment when he sings the heart-breaking ballad Johanna about his longed for daughter whilst efficiently slitting throats in his barber’s chair gave me the chills. Shudder! We will never be able to look at Michael in the same way again, his eyes flashing as wildly as his brightly polished cut-throat razors, and sprays of spit like showers of poisonous venom flying from his lips. Shudder again! It’s great to hear him use that remarkable voice to its fullest effect. As Edna Turnblad in his last West End hit Hairspray we only heard some of his vocal talent, here it’s fully displayed across some of the best musical songs ever written.
 
The last time I saw his co-star Imelda Staunton  in a musical she was breaking two thousand hearts every night as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at the National theatre in the long distant eighties. She brings plenty of that pathos to Mrs Lovett, self-proclaimed maker of ‘the worst pies in London’ who hatches the elegant solution of what to do with the corpses stacking up in the barbers above her pie shop. She’s an  actor you feel totally comfortable with from the moment she appears on stage.  In her hands  the desperate Mrs L is equally endearing, hilarious and glibly murderous. I say just give her next year’s Olivier Award for best actress in a musical now, because if there’s a better performance to come, then this will be a remarkable year.
 
The show looks great, almost operatic in size and the huge orchestra sounds fantastic, definitely more Olivier nominations for set, sound and lighting I think. It’s perhaps not for the very squeamish, but I think you’ll find Sweeney Todd thrilling in every sense of the word.
 

Listen to Paul chatting to them about the show…

Part One



IMELDA STAUNTON & MICHAEL BALL by Magic Jamie


Part Two


MAGIC MEETS SWEENEY TODD CAST by MagicEnts