THE BEAUTY of Sweeney Todd the musical is, whilst the plot and subject matter is as dark as it gets, it has bucket loads of humour in the script.

And with the catchy tunes that get stuck in your head, what is not to love.

Bournville Musical Theatre Company’s task was the same as Judge Turpin’s – to do it justice at Birmingham’s Crescent Theatre main house.

The tone is evident as soon as the curtain goes up with the prologue, the Ballad of Sweeney Todd, No Place Like London and The Barber and his Wife setting the scene and the dark serious storyline. But light relief is quickly upon us with the comedic ‘Worst Pies in London’.

The BMTC chorus was also key to the performance – with great voice and well-drilled choreography, it provided strong foundations for the main characters to build upon. They played Londoners going about their daily business, pie shop customers and even asylum patients (the latter a particularly intimidating and atmospheric group role).

Then comes the main cast and more talent on show who all glistened as brightly as Todd’s razor.

Each one had their moment in the spotlight and rose to the challenge as they did.

Natalie Buzzard was solid as Joan Fogg and Claire Brough was good as the Beggar Woman, popping up at intervals, making a nuisance and adding a splash of  humour when offering sex for money to any man in the vicinity. She also provided the more urgent and sinister edge in the second half as she strove to warn about what was going on.

Lewis Doley as Adoflo Pirelli grabbed a few laughs and teamed up well with Todd before his inevitable demise (as we all know, there’s not many left by the end of this show).

Reece Bushell did well as Tobias, first Pirelli’s sidekick and then taken under Mrs Lovett’s wing. His performances of Pirellii’s Miracle Elixir and Not While I’m Around showed his ability and versatility.

Paul Strait made the role of the smarmy Beadle Bamford his own. Whilst loathing his subservience to the judge, you could not help but laugh at his self-serving antics and he earned a lot of giggles with his Parlour Songs in act two.

Talking of the Judge, Luke Hopson pitched his character portrayal as the sleazy Turpin brilliantly. Such was his performance, you wanted him to meet the cold steel of Todd’s razor and willed ‘his ward’ to escape his clutches. Great duets with Todd on ‘Pretty Women ‘ and its reprises too.

That ward – Meg Donovan as Johanna – was perfectly played and what a vocal range. Her renditions in this super soundtrack were among the musical highlights of the evening. She lent her voice to Green Finch and Linnet Bird and other numbers and did not miss a note all evening.

Another good vocal performance was put in by Kevin Tofte as Anthony Hope – especially ‘Johanna’ and the Kiss Me duets with Donovan. Again, he was another character taken to the audience’s hearts.

But, for this show to be the roaring success this was, you need a top drawer front two – Todd and Mrs Lovett. And the BMTC provided it with Dan Guzman and Rhian Clements putting in the performances of the night.

From the moment they got together for their first two-hander ‘The Worst Pies In London’ to their relationship’s ‘climax’ at the end, they were faultless.

You could tell both of them were loving every second of playing the deadly duo on stage and their duets received the biggest cheers, whoops and applause of the evening.

You did not want the iconic ‘A Little Priest’ to end as it generated real laugh-out-loud moments to bring the curtain down on the first half.

More hilarity came as Clements wriggled and writhed her body around Guzman while he maintained Todd’s cool dead-pan (no pun intended) exterior in the quaint, nostalgic and extremely funny ‘By the Sea’.

He strutted around confidently and dominated the stage, particularly in his barber shop, and produced some impressive vocal performances. Despite how evil he was, you could not hate him – just how Todd should be played.

She was lovable – despite the character’s darker manipulative side – and you wanted her to find happiness despite her morally questionable decisions.  They say ‘behind every good man is a strong woman’ and Todd and Lovett’s relationship epitomises that ethos – illustrated beautifully in this production.

The orchestra was wonderful and the set suitably functional, enabling the action to switch from the streets to the pie and barber shops and other settings.

Sweeney Todd at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham – expertly directed by John Morrison – is well worth a watch. There are four performances left – make sure you book your place in the Demon Barber’s chair.

The remaining shows are at 7.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (May 22, 23 and 24) and there is a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Click here for tickets and more information.

*****