Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Sondheim and Wheeler, using Christopher Bond's 1970 play, which itself was adapted from the wildly popular mid-Victorian "penny dreadfuls" published in London by Edward Lloyd, created one of the most masterful musicals ever written. But it is Sondheim's superb craftsmanship that fashions this tale into musical history. A Noise Within's production is done on a scale rarely seen, yet retains all of the power of this magnificent score. I dare you not to see it more than once."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...A Noise Within does an excellent job of presenting SWEENEY TODD on a relatively bare stage by using creativity and cleverness to compensate for size and dollars, thanks to Francois-Pierre Couture’s fluid scenic design. The depiction of the barber’s murders are especially skillfully done. Kudos to director/choreographer Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and music director Rod Bagheri, who do a superbly sensitive interpretation of Sondheim’s classic musical. And let’s not forget the uber-talented cast of actors with the musical chops to sing and dance to perfection. Amber Liekhus (beggar woman with a secret) aces those powerful notes with precision – along with Geoff Elliott, Cassandra Marie Murphy, and the strong cast. The net result is a moving and entertaining interpretation of Sondheim’s classic coup de maître. This is a not-to-be-missed production."
Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended
"...Julia Rodriguez-Elliot's brilliantly innovative direction and Cassandra Marie Murphy's spectacular star turn as Mrs. Lovett top the reasons not to miss Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street at A Noise Within."
ArtsBeatLA - Somewhat Recommended
"...Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical. Its combination of a beautiful score, clever lyrics and unusually gruesome subject matter is sui generis. When it’s firing on all cylinders, there’s little in the annals of musical theatre to top its sheer power. And yet it’s a difficult show to get just right – its level of complexity and challenge is high. Over the years I’ve seen several versions of the show that have their moments but don’t quite come together. Sadly, the current revival of Todd at A Noise Within falls into this category due to some miscasting and uninspired direction."
NoHoArtsDistrict - Highly Recommended
"...It’s a gorgeous, terrifying and heartbreaking story. The songs are spectacular and the arrangements heavenly…although the subject matter hardly is. But it’s an iconic powerful musical. The songs are Sondheim at his best and achingly tricky."
Night Tinted Glasses - Highly Recommended
"...Yet, strangely, most productions seek to copy either the movie or some other already popular production. One of the many, many reasons I loved A Noise Within's current version is how much they avoided that. In fact, several times I was absolutely startled! A slightly rare and often delightful event in seeing a show I know so well."
Stage Raw - Highly Recommended
"...Rod Bagheri’s musical direction takes Sondheim’s lush orchestrations and scales them back to a pair of pianos and a cello. Furthermore, the pianos are spinets that have an almost honkey-tonk tone, sending the musical accompaniment to Sondheim’s quasi-operatic score into a 19th century music hall. Given the rich and robust voices among the ensemble, I found the juxtaposition of voices and accompaniment to be both apt and moving."
Ticket Holders LA - Highly Recommended
"...What Rodriguez-Elliott and her team have accomplished is to offer one of Sondheim's most impressive achievements as an intimate chamber opera instead of a production sometimes overpowered by deep-pocketed Broadway razzle-dazzle. I have to admit I did miss the outrageousness of the classic Sweeney Todd's blood-splattered machinations, but I was floored by how much of the story came through without the grand excess so familiar to its audiences over the past 45 years since it revolutionized what a Broadway musical could be all about."
Larchmont Buzz - Somewhat Recommended
"...This particular adaptation, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliot with musical direction by Rod Bagheri, does have some remarkable performances and tech elements, but left us with a five o'clock shadow, if you get my drift. As a very censored adaptation, moments of violence happened in darkness, were highlighted by red lighting and a parachute element that never worked quite right, or were simple and lacking any sort of blood effect. While blood, of course, isn't necessary for a great show, it did feel like it was missing in this one and could have helped quite a bit to sell the barber's "demon" characteristic."
The Hollywood Times - Recommended
"...As Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott has observed, most of the central characters in Sweeney Todd appear to be suffering from some form of mental illness, which in today’s world we would understand as resulting from trauma. In the production at A Noise Within, Rodriguez-Elliott focused not only on the characters’ often troubled psyches, but on the complex intersection of mental illness and homelessness. From sets to costumes to musical arrangements, the production seemed designed with these concerns in mind, resulting in a very different Sweeney Todd from the other productions of the last four decades."
Broadway World - Highly Recommended
"...Those new to the show are in for a treat with ANW’s staging, and familiar fans will be met with exciting interpretations that will keep them on their toes."
