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A cut above most musicals

Harford 'Sweeney Todd' show meaty

BY KAREN TOUSSAINT

Posted 9/01/10

(Enlarge) Lance Bankerd will play the menacing main character, Sweeney, in the Phoenix Festival Theater production of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at Harford Community College, Sept. 10 through 19. (Photos courtesy of Julie Cioccio)

Sweeney Todd would probably agree that a man’s best friend is his razor.

As “the demon barber of Fleet Street,” Sweeney uses the best razors in London to shave — and then dispatch — members of the upper class. In his opinion, he’s avenging the rape of his wife and his deportation to a penal colony in Australia, orchestrated by evil Judge Turpin with the apparent sanction of society.

Seasoned director Todd Starkey, in his 12th season at Phoenix Festival Theater, and his talented cast do a “bloody good” job of staging a Stephen Sondheim musical that might be rated PG-13.

“I’m thrilled to bring a thriller to Harford County,” Sondheim said at a recent rehearsal.

As Phoenix’s first show of the new season, it promises to be a humdinger.

“Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” runs in the Chesapeake Theater at Harford Community College, 401 Thomas Run Road in Bel Air, Sept. 10-19. Shows are at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and at 3 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for those 17 and younger. For matinees only, senior citizen tickets are $9. Call 443-412-2211.

You don’t want to miss Lance Bankerd as Sweeney Todd. Pale, big and bald, he exudes menace, yet shows vulnerability when reflecting on the loss of his beautiful wife.

“It’s easy to play Sweeney as a bogeyman,” Bankerd said. “What I am attempting to do is, I really want people to see that there is a reason why Sweeney becomes a monster — to show that the man is more than just the villain. He’s a guy who has experienced a lot of loss. You have to work to get the audience ‘into’ the character. You have to find the things that make him human.”

Bankerd came early to the stage, joining the cast of the perennial holiday favorite “Babes in Toyland,” at age 2. He’s continued in the show for 25 years. The artistic director of Factory Edge Theatreworks in Baltimore, he directs “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” He fell in love with Erika Unruh of Havre de Grace, now his wife, when he played the King to her Anna in “The King and I.” Recently at Oregon Ridge Dinner Theatre, he was the Phantom to her Christine. Here, she plays Joanna, Sweeney’s daughter.

If you’re familiar with the show, you know that Mrs. Lovett plays a vital role as Sweeney’s accomplice in murder. Never one to waste anything, she sees a way to boost sales of meat pies (gulp!) at her shop. Experienced actress Debbie Desmone’s Mrs. Lovett is a practical businesswoman, a widow with matrimonial designs on Sweeney.

Gregory Mank, of Delta, Pa., plays the villainous Judge Turpin. He describes Turpin as “a pious vulture … the devil incarnate.” He first encountered Turpin when he and his wife, Barbara, saw the show when it opened on Broadway.

“I said that I felt sorry for the character who was playing the judge,” recalled Mank, who later visited the actor backstage at the Kennedy Center, still playing Turpin. “There was a long line of people to see Mrs. Lovett [Angela Lansbury], but no one else was there to see Judge Turpin.

“The judge is dark and twisted,” he continued, musing, “It’s my job to get the audience to root for a serial killer [Sweeney}. It’s a great challenge for an actor to get ‘into’ that dark world and then take it off the way you would take off your top hat and leave it behind.”

Mank is no stranger to villainous roles. For 26 years, he has starred as the evil miser Barnaby in “Babes in Toyland.” More than a decade ago, he played Captain Hook in a Phoenix production of “Peter Pan.”

A budding romance between Sweeney’s daughter, Joanna (Bankerd), and the honorable sailor, Anthony (Brendon Kennedy), injects a hopeful note into the action. Joanna longs to escape lascivious Judge Turpin, who adopted her as an infant. Anthony declares his love in the haunting ballad, “Joanna.”

“Anthony is a quintessential romantic in a world that is quintessentially unromantic,” said Kennedy, a Bel Air baritone who is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. “He sees the best in everyone.”

Conor Perkins, a senior at Bel Air High School, plays Tobias, a simple lad whom Mrs. Lovett takes under her wing.

“He looks out for Mrs. Lovett because she’s the first person who shows compassion for him,” Conor, 17, said.

While this is his first community theater experience, Conor has starred in roles like Judas in “Jesus Christ, Superstar” and Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” at Bel Air High. Three years ago, he, his father, Patrick, and his sister, Erin, created a summer theater group called the Shadow Players at St. Francis de Sales Church in Abingdon. They have written and produced three shows there.

Jenny Wassom, of Aberdeen, plays the Beggar Woman, who has a secret past.

“She’s the saddest character in the whole show. She’s a demented woman that wanders in and out of the show begging for scraps and trying to live anyway she can,” Wassom said.

Michael Bareham plays the Beadle, Judge Turpin’s right-hand man. James Fitzpatrick plays the barber, Pirelli, whom he describes as “the first meat pie.” It’s been a hard year for the actor, who as the dentist in “Little Shop of Horrors” was eaten by a plant and as Jesus in “Superstar,” was crucified. Leonard Gilbert plays Fogg.

Solid support comes from the company, including Gail Bareham, Charis Bartenslager, Kim Brueggemann, Carol Craig, Steve Flickinger, Tyler Fritz, Leonard Gilbert, Sarah Ford Gorman, Dan Hasty, Bevin Hensley, Charlie Johnson, Erin Kirchner, Natalie Knox, Adam McDowell, Sammie Real III and Randy Weber.

The production staff includes Terri Matthews, musical director; Larry Hensley, musical staging; Robbie Elliott, special effects; Lori Pitcock, stage manager; Dawn Klein, set designer; Mark Briner, costumer; Bill Price, lighting designer; Jessica Brockmeyer, producer; and Jeff Kanyuck and Kerry Brandon, technical directors.

Accompanying singers in numbers like “Pretty Women,” “By the Sea” and “Not While I’m Around” are orchestra members Crystal Rufenacht (flute), Rick Hauf (clarinet), Tony Domenico (trumpet), Liz Antwarg (trombone), E.J. Reilly (bass), Jack Loercher (percussion) and Terry Mathews and Jeffrey Winfield on keyboards.