DEXTER, Mich.–Sweeney Todd is dark, black comedic musical thriller by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. And it is a show frequently done both in Broadway revival and regional theater. But the new production at The Encore Musical Theatre here, directed by Matthew Brennan, takes this very familiar story and music and gives it a fresh feel, sound and look that will hopefully draw new patrons who have never given the “Demon Barber of Fleet Street” a whirl.

The story and the character Sweeney Todd (played by David Moan) first appeared in a penny dreadful story, “The String of Pearls,” in Victorian England in 1846. The story focuses on a barber who returns to London after doing 15 years in Botany Bay. He finds that his wife has disappeared, and his daughter, Johanna (Emily Hadick) is the ward of a nasty piece of work Judge Turpin (Keith Kalinowski) who is enamored with the girl and plans to marry her.

David Moan and Sarah Briggs

Todd returns to barbering and links up with a widow, Mrs. Lovett (Sarah Briggs), who owns a pie shop. As he lures victims, who are either inconvenient or know of his past, to his barber chairs, he slits their throats with a straight razor and they are dispatched to the basement where Lovett bakes the flesh into her infamous meat pies; think pasties filled with thigh flesh, fingernails and shirt buttons.

While the show is typically set in Victorian London, Brennan moved, through costuming, the story to the 1930s. Turpin wears a top-hat, but the Beadle (Dan Johnson) is seen wearing a fedora. Mrs. Lovett wears a dress in the second act that could be out of a Fred Astaire film. The other big change is the set-up of the Encore Theatre, transformed by Brennan who is also credited as set director, from the black-box seating arrangement to a modified thrust with temporary seating on each side of the usual Encore stage. It was a welcome change to this space, and created a much more intimate experience.

David Moan’s Todd seemed slightly young for the character, but his brooding, mournful (of the loss of his wife) depiction is balanced with his shallowly buried mania that allows him to bump off bystanders as easy as a person swats flies. Moan’s vocals are spot on, and this seems like a role he can own for years to come if he wants. Briggs is an inspired casting choice by Brennan. Her vocals, especially on “ A Little Priest” and “By The Sea” are fabulous, and Briggs’ assertion of her almost Lucille Ball-like comedic timing and movements at choice times works perfectly for Brennan’s vision for the role. It’s hard to imagine anyone else doing it so well.

Moan and Briggs are supported by a terrific ensemble and featured players. Billy Eric Robinson comes across as funny and menacing, and very much draws our sympathy at the end of the play. His performance on “Not While I’m Around” is memorable. Hadick as Johanna also brings it. Jamie Colburn as the oily Pirelli, another barber who unfortunately gets in the way of Todd, has a great couple of scenes, and when he is on stage he pretty much owns the action on top of having stellar vocals. Emily Rogers handles her recurring scenes as the beggar woman deftly and her vocals are lovely as well.

Music director Tyler Driskill holds Brennan’s vision together, and gets the most of out of everyone. There literally is not one weak voice in the cast.

Sondheim musicals have had mixed popularity in regional theatre in Michigan. I’m not sure what it is about his music or shows that make them challenging fare for Wolverine patrons. But this production will hopefully transcend any biases lingering out there among people who think Sondheim is too eccentric or manic to enjoy. It is a marvelous fresh treatment of a familiar show that deserves to be seen.

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