Sorry, “A Doll’s House,” you have been aced by “Sweeney Todd.”
is an intricate, witty piece of storytelling— from an adaptation by Christopher Bond and book by Hugh Wheeler—with gorgeously frisson-filled orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. The show, directed with imaginative brio by Thomas Kail, is not fault-free , but those faults are not fundamentally undermining.
Opposite Groban is a seriously Tony-contending, barnstorming performance by Annaleigh Ashford as pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, her comedy of gleeful carelessness curdling to fatal obsession. She is punky, off-kilter, kind of feral—quiet, then booming. The two are perfectly mismatched, a forced union of conflicting needs that can only lead to disaster. When Groban holds his barber blades up, he tells us they are his friends, and they do indeed “glisten” as they catch the light. Together they will do “wonders.” As he sings that, Mrs. Lovett sings a counter-verse of love and connection for him, revealing that while allies they want such different things. She imagines real jewels, while he imagines the rubies of blood dripping from necks.
Ashford’s Cockney accent travels arounds the rest of the British Isles slightly, but no matter. She’s a physical comedy genius, a total, very artful ham, bringing the shole show to a giggling standstill as she slides down the stairs. When Mrs. Lovett sings her song of romantic fantasy, “By the Sea,” Ashford drapes herself over Groban, lost in the vision of an idyllic future life .
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