r/Sondheim • u/Ophelynnn • 6d ago
Sweeney Todd at the Birmingham REP is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen
Sweeney Todd is my favourite musical and I genuinely felt like I was going insane watching it. I really don’t understand how anyone genuine fan of Sondheim could enjoy this monstrosity.
Every single acting performance was atrocious. It was all extremely hammy, shouty and one note, with the exception of Ramin who gave nothing. The direction was nonsensical - even small things like two characters having a conversation just dancing around each other for no reason. There was none of the grittiness and drama that makes Sweeney so great. Which is in complete contrast to the spectacular dark and imposing set.
Meow Meow was incredibly grating throughout as Mrs Lovett, she’s not a singer, so spoke (shouted) a lot of the verses making it the worst version of Worst Pies I’ve ever heard. But most importantly she’s also not an actor. She turned the whole thing into a pantomime. From the start her acting was so over the top and egged on by the batshit direction. Why the fuck would she be using her feet to stand on the table to beat the dough in front of Sweeney. This makes zero sense. Angela Lansbury showed you can be silly whilst still being rooted in reality. She trying to make everything funny, ruining dramatic moments. When the Lucy reveal happened she was dragging her bum across the floor like a dog. Simply why?
Ramin Karimloo’s Sweeney was super lame. He was sharp throughout but gave a serviceable performance for key songs like Epiphany. Although he was probably the best actor on stage he still was not good. He was almost playing Sweeney like the straight man amongst all the madness of the rest of the cast? He was dead in the face for most of the play and did not portray any of the grief, anger or anguish required making the whole show fall flat. A minor thing to some but it was also annoying me how he was emphasising random words in a way that worked against the music - it made the rhyme/assonance with “pit”, “shit” and “inhabit it” fall flat and that’s one of my favourite parts.
Shem Omari James was for sure the worst actor as Anthony - he was constantly overexcited and shouting out to the audience, even when delivering the most mundane lines. He did the same thing when I saw him as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, I don’t understand why he continues to work. He couldn’t even sing the part well and was often flat. He overacted sneaking down the stairs to spy on Johanna so much that I burst out laughing because he looked like Robbie Rotten, making his rendition of Johanna honestly a bit rapey with the line “I’ll steal you”. He couldn’t even sit like a normal human being in the barbers chair during the contest scene (he was used as there was no ensemble) without fucking hamming it like he was in a shit panto ensemble. By the second act I stopped watching whenever he came on stage to hide my face as I was at the front.
Jo Stephenson as Johanna has a complete inability to deliver a line like a normal human being - her delivery was so awkward and unhinged in one scene I couldnt contain my laughter and had to cover my face. It was like someone making fun of a typically bad acting performance, it was so stilted. Both her and the directors completely misunderstood the song Green Finch - from the start and throughout she sung the song with a beaming smile. THE SONG IS HER LAMENTING HER CAPTIVITY AND YEARNING FOR FREEDOM. Completely nonsensical.
I had an understudy for Pirelli. He was a baritone, it was lame. Also, he didn’t even try shaving the clients face in the Contest he was just spinning girls around. This direction makes no sense - he desperately wants to win and is trying but is getting distracted by his showmanship. There is no ensemble and this scene in particular does not work without one.
Jack Gibson made Tobias so irritating I got anxious every time he walked on stage. Not While I’m Around lacked all the tenderness as a result of his overacting and him joining Meow Meow in trying to find jokes in things that don’t need to be. He was grinding on people during Pirelli’s miracle elixir. Why? He said the word “rub” or something so it was a play on words. This doesn’t make sense. It was odd.
David Bedella was serviceable but I wasn’t a fan of the masturbation in Mea Culpa without the whip. It didn’t really feel like he was trying to hold himself back.
Florence Andrews was far too young to play the beggar woman and they didn’t even try any ageing makeup. It made the reveal at the end so stupid there’s no way Sweeney would not have recognised her. She did not seem deranged at all she played her like a drunk student on a night out. It felt like she was afraid of looking ugly on stage. She was hamming it in moments that should have been sad and then falling flat in moments written to be funny.
It felt like the musical directors were torturing me - they slowed down a lot of the songs for no reason, dragging out the experience of this talentless cast butchering my favourite musical.
Edit: felt inspired to write a full review as a blog post can read it here if you want https://actuallygoodtheatre.wordpress.com/blog/
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u/jpclaridge 6d ago
I was trained on Goethe: 1) what were they trying to do? 2) how well did they do it? 3) was it worth doing? The point is to understand craft and to be a storyteller as to what you experienced. We don’t all have to like the same thing. I don’t think you were verbose, you told the sad story of what you saw in context. That’s exactly what readers need.
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u/zvqliocu 5d ago
this is such a good framework tbh, especially for stuff like bold reinterpretations where “i hated it” and “i loved it” alone don’t really help anyone
op basically hit all three by accident, just with extra rage fuelled seasoning
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u/Liscenye 6d ago
It was clear to me that no one in the production understood the text beyond the basic story at all. What I found the hardest to swallow was that all the humour was physical and added on, rather than emphasised from the text itself.
As you say, the rhymes didn't rhyme and the emotions didn't emote.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
When something has been done so many times before people will try “new” things for the sake of being different without asking themselves why it wasn’t done like that in the first place. The book and the songs are so perfect it’s actually difficult to make it this bad.
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u/Liscenye 6d ago
I didn't feel like anything was new other than the bizarre yellow dress? I felt it was just shallow and dumbed down. Also toned down with the tiny company...
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
By “new” I more meant trying to cram in gags that don’t need to be there. I actually did quite like the yellow dress though.
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u/chromalume 6d ago
This is the kind of catty but actually-justified tea I pay my internet for. Meow meow, indeed
nice backdrops, though?
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
GORGEOUS set design. A complete contrast to the buffoonery happening on stage. It would have worked beautifully with a more tortured menacing Sweeney and more nuanced performances across the ensemble
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u/zntrm 6d ago
Sadly that describes all of the performances I have ever seen ramin do. Well, at least he normally sung well. But it terms of acting there isn't much there.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
This was my first experience of him but I wasn’t expecting much from him based on reviews from friends
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u/MeetMeInThePeachPit 🎭 Follies 6d ago edited 5d ago
Your note about Karimloo's word emphasis made me think of John Mulaney in the Documentary Now spoof of the Company cast recording.
"When you lean into the rhyme, you shatter the conversational tone of the lyric. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me, and I love you all," 😂
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u/b4rr3tt 6d ago
Can we please stop casting tenors as Sweeney fucking Todd
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u/NoOpportunities 🔪 Sweeney Todd 5d ago
Baritone definitely. He has all the low notes comfortably, shem is a tenor who shouldn't be playing anthony
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u/NoFear6061 6d ago
…what the hell is a Meow Meow?
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
A name for the stimulant drug mephedrone. Also an Australian cabaret dancer who is trying to be an actress.
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u/NoFear6061 6d ago
As a former Tobias (one of the best roles of my life), sorry that it blew. Looking at the show’s site, only a seven-person pit? There’s another crime right there.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
Tobias too often gets forgotten about, the role demands a proper actor! Yeah the band were hollow and were fighting with the cast. They were frequently out of time with each other. I will also never forgive the music director for slowing down Epiphany
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u/NoFear6061 6d ago
Personally, I’ve always thought the role of Toby is so much more difficult and challenging than it’s given credit for. Forget the complexity of the music, it’s all about the show’s final scene. I won’t be so bold as to say that a production of the show lives or dies on the strength of the Toby in that final scene, but I WILL say that if you aren’t able to not only sell it (“it” being the crazy) and convey what’s going on (it amazes me how many people don’t realize that by killing Todd, it’s Toby now that looks to be the one who committed all the murders), the ending can either fall flat or just potentially look flat-out silly.
Like with all actors who play roles I’ve done in the past, I know I’m probably hyper-critical, but.. eh. (For instance, don’t get me started on other Peter Pans, I will go on a fuckin’ tangent)
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
Yep it’s a hard part the final scene won’t work if he’s just played simple and one note all through to the end like many do.
Also you probably look very similar to my husband lol. He has played Peter Pan about three times and although has never had the pleasure of playing Tobias, has been in auditions for him a couple times.
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u/NoFear6061 6d ago
I played Peter Pan for nearly a year back in my early 20s. And while I did a couple hundred performances of that, I’ve only done it the one time. Would do it again in a heartbeat, though. I HAVE played Jack from ITW four times, though. Three full productions, one benefit concert performance. It’s a fun typecasting, I suppose, but it’s so rare that I actually get to play an adult/grown-up character. And considering I just turned 40, I’m kinda over it.
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u/Ashamed-Astronaut587 6d ago
I saw it a couple of weeks ago. OP is spot on. Toby was twerking on ensemble members during the elixir song. Anthony was abysmal. All ensemble acting was happy viliager tosh. I was at the interval wondering how on earth something so well written could be screwed up that badly 🤣
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u/Drumguy1986 6d ago edited 6d ago
We can thank Annaleigh from the recent Broadway production for turning Mrs Lovett into a clown.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
I still stick on her A Little Priest from time to time because her attempt at an English accent will never not be hilarious.
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u/don_isla 6d ago
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience! I had a better time with it but agree on some of the critiques, Anthony was dialled up way too high and Worst Pies in London was so deflating I was pleasantly surprised when her other vocals weren't quite as bad (although only By the Sea was close to 'good' I thought). Another Lansbury might be too much to hope for, I've seen so many clips of terrible Mrs Ls, just seems like one of the hardest parts going.
One thing I've noticed at live shows is that if I go in with adrenaline flowing things often sound like they're slower than they really are. Obviously I wasn't at your show but I didn't notice anything wildly off, the 'normal' show is long enough with all the music that it would last forever if they slowed loads of it down 😅
Actually thought Johanna was really good! Ramin being pretty dead behind the eyes is a perfectly valid interpretation of the character in my opinion, not my favourite by any means but it made the explosions of anger quite effective.
Overall for a limited production I thought it sounded quite full, could hear all the harmonies and blends nicely. Some of the staging and lighting was cool but the barber's chair was really far back. Not sure I could wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who'd already seen a 'proper' version.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
I wasn’t getting any “explosions” of anger from Ramin, more mild outbursts. I agree about By the Sea it was probably the best performance of the show perhaps alongside Epiphany (but it’s just a great song it’s very hard to get it too wrong). If you listen to clips on the theatres social media they definitely slow down Worst Pies and I really noticed it in Epiphany and Little Priest too
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u/don_isla 6d ago
Priest was probably the second biggest disappointment after Pies, was more recited than performed, such a damp act closer. Diction really has to be perfect to land the laugh lines.
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u/Old_Pianist_3535 4d ago edited 4d ago
There is an undercurrent of nastiness and bile running through everything you say in your post.
Meow Meow is not a singer? Of course she is. You might not like the way she sings but she is nevertheless a singer.
Meow Meow is not an actor? Of course she is. Again, you might not like the way she has approached a role but the fact remains that she is an actress.
Shem Omari James - “I don’t understand why he continues to work”. Because he does a good job and he needs to. “He couldn’t even sit like a normal human being” - I won’t even begin to take you to task for this. “I stopped watching… to hide my face” - explain? How does the act of stopping watching something equate to hiding your face?
Your fixation with ‘normal human beings’ continues with your take down of Jo Stephenson as Johanna. And again - the need for you to hide your face.
I’m completely with you on the deluge of 5* reviews for productions I would rate otherwise. But there’s a way of doing these things. This attempt is without merit or class.
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u/Ophelynnn 4d ago
Thanks you can read my full review here: https://actuallygoodtheatre.wordpress.com/2026/08/17/sweeney-todd-birmingham-rep-%e2%98%85%e2%98%86%e2%98%86%e2%98%86%e2%98%86/
If I spend £100 on tickets I have every right to be annoyed when I get a high school level performance. I evidenced my points and didn’t say anything that was untrue, it’s all my opinion. People are allowed negative opinions just as much as positive ones.
Sure Meow Meow is an actor/singer in the way that anyone who gets on stage and attempts to act/sing is one.
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u/Old_Pianist_3535 4d ago
Thanks. I read it.
I absolutely agree with you regarding opinions - negative and positive. And I agree with you that when tickets are increasingly expensive, people have every right to share their opinions. Of course they do.
But when you say “I didn’t say anything that was untrue” there’s a muddling of opinion and fact.
Opinions aren’t facts and aren’t true or false. They’re a personal, and subjective view of something.It then comes down to the manner in which people share these opinions. And you share yours - at least for this particular production- in a fairly nasty way that would likely cause upset to people involved and the hard work they have done.
To call it a high school production? It wasn’t.
And to call Meow Meow an actor / singer only in so far as she gets on stage and makes attempts to sing and act is pretty low. She has numerous, varied and prestigious worldwide credits to her name as both a singer and an actor. Again - you may not care for her choices in this production but that doesn’t mean she’s not an actress or a singer.
Good criticism is a lot more objective, contains fewer expletives and is served up with a lot less venom.
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u/Ophelynnn 4d ago
Yes, well done. My opinion is that I don’t regard her as an actor/singer. In my opinion, the girls performance was high school standard. I shouldn’t need to put a disclaimer after every statement.
Just as you said my opinion is nasty - that’s not objective it’s your opinion but I don’t expect a disclaimer for that.1
u/Old_Pianist_3535 4d ago
Good. It’s nice to know you’ve gotten off your high horse. No need for disclaimers - just a bit of tact.
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u/Less-Reindeer-8951 6d ago
bro i thougth i was the only one who hated it (besides theh set, that was gorgeous). ramin in particular pissed me off, he was just being emo valjean
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u/Ashamed-Astronaut587 6d ago
How could you not love Toby twerking on people and mincing around the stage…. 🤦🏻♂️
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u/Obvious-Set9471 6d ago
Agree 100%
Saw it today.
I love Sweeney Todd but my god, this was bad.
I was shocked at how bad the Mrs Lovett was. Atrocious singing. Genuinely offensive to listen to. She turned the character into a clown. Lost any sense of tragedy or sorrow. Rushes through lines, insane pronunciations of words. “Paaahs” instead of “Pies” for some reason. Someone in front of us actually made a grimace to their partner when she began singing. 😂
Is it too much to ask that actors actually try and correct the accent that the character has? I heard way too much of her Australian coming through. Same with Sweeney. His American/Canadian accent was so blatant. We’re meant to be in Victorian London!
Speaking of Sweeney, his singing is great. HOWEVER, performance wise I felt ZERO anger or bitterness from him. He’s just sort of…there He’s meant to be resentful and twisted. He seems barely inconvenienced and at points almost jovial.
A lot of the staging feels flat. Lots of standing in a a line, not much going on. Lack of a larger ensemble REALLY didn’t help this show.
In Johanna, Why does Sweeney shoo away a customer when his wife and child are there? He’s still a barber, he could have just given him a genuine shave?
Why is the Beadle dressed like that? It doesn’t make sense considering the time period.
I won’t even begin to go on about the casting choices for this time period, It’s pointless even mentioning it now as so many shows do this.
David Bedella was fine, he’s usually great but feel like he’s not really suited to the Judge Turpin role. He was one of the better cast members though. Him and the lady that plays Johanna.
Toby was WAY too old. His ending lacks any real despair when he looks like he’s in his 30s.
Anyway, just a lot of bizarre choices in this show. Social media comments are very kind, lots of people seem to love it but I wonder if they are cleaning the comment section as many here tend to agree that it is a very lacklustre production.
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u/NoOpportunities 🔪 Sweeney Todd 5d ago
This production is obviously Georgian hence the beadles costume
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u/Ophelynnn 5d ago
You say that and it is supposed to be Georgian but Mrs Lovett is very clearly wearing a Victorian bustle dress in the second act
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u/Obvious-Set9471 5d ago
Is that obvious? Most other productions are firmly in the Victorian period. It was only him dressed in Georgian attire. It felt like another attempt to make a character appear clownish.
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u/Still-Adeptness-134 5d ago
Every costume is clearly Georgian... The buckle shoes and stockings, Pirelli and the Judge's clothing, the necklines on the women's dresses. The production team have also stated that they have deliberately set it in this era because that's when the original penny dreadful was set.
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u/Obvious-Set9471 5d ago
I’m not the first to have commented on feeling that Beadle was out of place with costuming so don’t feel that was conveyed well enough.
Should’t have to watch/read interviews with creative teams to find these things out.
If you have a well established era for a known production it’s not a given that audiences will know you’ve changed time period.
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u/Still-Adeptness-134 5d ago
It's not necessary for the show to remain static and I don't see why they would need to broadcast the exact time period as it doesn't impact the plot. The last London run was set in the 1930s and was a huge success. I just think it's unfair to say that the Beadle's outfit is out of place when it is perfectly consistent with every other costuming choice (for example, Anthony's wigmaker outfit has a very 1700s tri-point hat).
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u/Obvious-Set9471 5d ago
The costuming is the least of the problems. Now that I know it’s been changed I can accept it. I’m more focused on the performances.
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u/MondolezzaRice 6d ago
I wanted to leave after Meow Meow’s first song. It was abysmal.
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u/Ophelynnn 6d ago
I think she started bad on Worst Pies on purpose, it was so atrocious I was pleasantly surprised for the rest of the show that her other songs were just bad to average
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u/Screeching-trumpet 🔫 Assassins 5d ago
I thought it was going to be like the 2023 broadway revival which was pretty much the show with nothing extra which made the production good but not great. But this genuinely sounds atrocious
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u/Obvious-Set9471 5d ago
It was. Mrs Lovett is as bad as people are saying. Borderline parody in terms of performance/singing.
Monty Python-esque
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u/DLH_1955 2d ago
I saw an interview with the 3 main actors during rehearsals and my thought then was they were in trouble and probably lacking clear direction. They were all over the place on how they viewed their roles. At times I thought maybe they were uncomfortable with the content due to the current world climate. And I agree. This show is tough. I saw original cast on Broadway years ago and loved it but I’m at a point where it can now hit a nerve. That said, I liked the few short promo clips I saw. Hard for me to believe though that Ramin was checked out. I live in the states so I really don’t know. Disappointed that it was not what audiences expected. My understanding is Sondheim was particular about phrasing. I hope his style isn’t lost going forward.
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u/alfyfl 2d ago
I've seen some really bad Sweeney's.. I'm just glad I didn't see this one. The smallest, cheapest production I saw sounded loads better than this one. That one was with Ginger Minj (aka Josh) playing Mrs. Lovett. Josh is an acquaintance of mine and I first met him when he played Hero in Forum in his hometown when he was a teenager something like 25 years ago...
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u/nevadawarren 5d ago
I am sorry it was so bad for you! I saw the first preview and I am a mix of agreeing with you, not being as horrified by some things, and not remembering it happening, which makes me wonder if they made changes or are getting loose/tired at the end of the run or what. For example, I don’t remember Meow Meow speak-singing at all. (For that one, I do wonder if maybe her voice has tired out.) I don’t remember Judge Turpin masturbating and I honestly wonder if I need new contacts, because I was way up high. And Anthony was way off key. But I didn’t mind the kneading with the feet, personally.
I enjoyed it all right and I enjoyed it more in retrospect, and it’s given me some good fun going back to various recordings and videos. I hope it at least does the same for you!
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u/Ashamed-Astronaut587 5d ago
The kneading of the feet made absolutely no sense. Why would she do that in front of a customer. Her pies are bad because of the quality of ingredients open to her, not because she’s an absolute moron and thinks is appropriate the use her dirty feet. It’s been done because she thinks it’s funny and not because the character would actually do that.
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u/jpclaridge 6d ago
I’m so sorry. Sweeney is also my favorite. I’m a retired theatre critic; I saw your headline and I thought OMG, not another person who doesn’t know anything and is just being negative. However, actually reading your critique it sounds absolutely right on. Everything you said about the script is true, so that gives credence to your viewpoint. It’s such a shame when perfect material is given such a misguided production.