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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT face=Georgia>Blank
Canvas’ ‘Sweeney Todd’ smolders but is short on stagecraft</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; tab-stops: 270.75pt"><B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><SPAN
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</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></SPAN><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">“Sweeney
Todd,” </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>with
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">is
a most unconventional musical.</SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Georgia>The show is overtly operatic, with little dialogue, a melodramatic
storyline, and a dependence on ensemble performance to narrate and progress the
story.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">Its
unconventional hero is </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">a homicidal barber out to
revenge his wrongful imprisonment and the destruction of his young family.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Set in 19<SUP>th</SUP> century London,
Todd whittles away at his clientele as the fruits of his labor are processed
into meat pies and sold by Todd’s delightfully demented landlady, Mrs.
Lovett.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Todd lies in wait until the
Judge that set this madness in motion and who is now the guardian of his
daughter, Johanna, walks through his door to receive the closest shave he’s ever
had.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">And, as is
typical of works by Sondheim, t</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>his
one consists of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">enigmatic and frequently
discordant music and lyrics that, while often void of melody and lacking that
hummable quality found desirable in conventional show tunes, still manages to
touch the soul while challenging the intellect.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>Despite the show’s eccentricities, productions of it still require
the same core components found in all musicals:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>talent on stage and talent behind
it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The current production of
“Sweeney Todd” at Blank Canvas Theatre has the former in spades but is woefully
lacking in the latter.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>