Concert Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’

Variety: Emma Thompson makes a smashing Gotham stage debut as the meat-pie maven Mrs. Lovett in the New York Philharmonic’s splendid staging of “Sweeney Todd,” more than holding her own in a cast of Broadway vets and alongside a formidable Sweeney, opera star Bryn Terfel. Continuing on from his 2011 NY Phil staging of “Company,” director Lonny Price offers a more conventional but no less powerful take on Stephen Sondheim’s grand guignol revenge opera than John Doyle’s stripped-down 2005 Broadway revival (in which the actors doubled as the orchestra), while what may be Sondheim’s most robust symphonic score comes to vibrant life under the hand of conductor Alan Gilbert. Two nights of this limited five-performance run will be filmed for future broadcast on PBS’ long-running “Live From Lincoln Center” series.