Five things to know about 'Sweeney Todd' at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron

"Sweeney Todd" is a fiendishly spooky musical, launched just in time for the Halloween season at Weathervane Playhouse, which has created a memorably hellish production. In this eight-time Tony Award-winning musical, featuring the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, the unjustly exiled barber Todd returns to London to exact revenge on the corrupt judge who ruined his family, teaming up with pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett in the process.

Here are five things to know about this scary production in Akron.

This show's built for gore

Director Richard Morris, who's also the set designer, has created an ingenious system to dispose of Todd's "victims." His set design, a hallmark of Weathervane's production, is a marvel. The character's elaborate barber chair with the red arms and seat is a contraption where the seat drops with the help of a lever, sending each victim actor down a slide built into the floor of a second story set piece.

More:‘Play That Goes Wrong’ full of stunts by Weathervane cast

In more bloody fun, audiences see each victim partially emerging from a chute door in the wall of the set's basement bake house, where Lovett has her own system of dealing with the bodies. Let's just say it involves a very large oven, another important feature of the set that allows our imaginations to run wild with its fiery lighting inside.

Star sets the bar high

Opera singer Brian Keith Johnson, who plays the title role, elevates the singing in this production to new levels. The baritone, a longtime Akron Public School teacher whose singing career has brought him around the world, excels in songs ranging from the eerily beautiful "Pretty Women" to the fiendish "My Friends," when the barber is reunited with his fine silver razors.

Johnson is a powerful actor, too. The image of him holding his arm up with the razor that's soon to become Todd's weapon, shouting "At last my arm is complete again!" is an iconic moment in the show.

More:Theater Review: 'Sweeney Todd' delivers on the macabre, plus strong singing and acting

The musical features a typically difficult Sondheim score, which most of the accomplished cast handles very well. One duet, "Kiss Me" between Shelby Carlisle's Johanna and Josh Budd's Anthony Hope, was clearly wobbly, though. It comes at a particularly desperate moment for Johanna, desperate to escape the clutches of the villainous Judge Turpin (John Pickering), and Budd's pitch strayed throughout the song's difficult counterpoint.

There's humor and romance

Heather Culotta, who co-stars as the dementedly funny Mrs. Lovett, is the comedic lead of the show. Her dynamics with Johnson are very funny as Culotta's Lovett dishes out all the twisted humor and Johnson plays the straight man, whose character is bent on murder alone.

Culotta subtly reveals Lovett's romantic intentions toward Todd early on. And for the first time, I picked up on a gleefully twisted reference that Lovett makes to another piemaker who makes stray cats disappear in her pies.

More:Local Flavor: River Merchant offers great view, satisfying food in Kent

In this musical that's so full of carnage, there are more bright spots of humor. That includes Oscar Waters IV as the dramatically fake Adolfo Pirelli, a charlatan who pretends to solve men's hair problems.

And in the romance category, the love between sailor Anthony and Judge Turpin's young ward Johanna is sweet and pure.

Ensemble is strong

The 12-member ensemble is a vital part of the show, from Savanna Jo Curtis as the lovely bird seller to the groups of townspeople bathed in red light, warning of the tale of Sweeney Todd. And no one could forget the frightening group of women who sing "City on Fire" after escaping the lunatic asylum.

Tobias character is haunting

Director Morris' choice to cast a young boy in the role of Tobias Ragg, apprentice to Pirelli, brings an even more fearsome element to the role than seeing Tobias played as a mentally handicapped adult. Twelve-year-old Michael Younkin brings a child's innocence to Tobias but also portrays the twists and turns in his character arc like a pro.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Musical: "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Where: Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane, Akron

When: Continuing through Oct 16, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays

Onstage: Starring Brian Keith Johnson, Heather Culotta, Josh Budd, Shelby Carlisle, Michael Younkin, John Pickering, Tyler Ferrebee, Adrienne Smedley

Offstage: Stephen Sondheim, music/lyrics; Hugh Wheeler, book; Richard Morris Jr., director/scenic designer; Jack-Anthony Ina, associate director/musical staging/lighting designer/master electrician; Ayron Lord, stage manager; Edward Ridley Jr., music director; Jasen Smith, costume designer; John Coyne, sound designer/house sound technician; Samantha Balaj and Laura Niehaus, properties designers; Makenna Bird, assistant stage manager; Adrian Rehill, production assistant; Kathy Kohl, assistant technical director

Cost: $12-$35

Information: weathervaneplayhouse.com or 330-836-2626

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Weathervane's 'Sweeney Todd' a wonderfully hellish production in Akron