Attend this Sweeney Todd

I was finally lured to Metro Stage's Sweeney Todd this weekend - its last - despite, I admit, my skepticism over its casting. Was there really a Sweeney Todd and a Mrs. Lovett wandering around Boston and its 'burbs, I wondered?

Well, there are, in the persons of Ben DiScipio and Shana Dirik (left and below right), who take Sondheim's two most demanding roles and play them for all they're worth and then some. Trust me; some thirty years ago, I saw Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury in the original production, and I caught Michael Cerveris and Patti Lupone in the fascinating Broadway revival. DiScipio and Dirik could have stepped into either couple's shoes.

Indeed, DiScipio was more murderously intense than Cariou, and Dirik has a better voice (and better diction!) than either Lansbury or Lupone (at this point), and she's as funny and demented as either. Whenever these two stalked the stage, this production was electrifying, and as director Paul Farwell seems to have followed closely Harold Prince's footsteps in the 1979 original, at times one felt one was watching something like "Sweeney Resurrected."

What's more, there were other pleasures beyond this impressive central duo; the production's women were remarkable, with sparkling acting and singing from Victoria Thornsbury as Johanna, and compelling vocals, but less convincing internal mania, from Arjana Andris as the Beggar Woman. The chorus was likewise in fine shape, and the reduced instrumental ensemble sounded surprisingly crisp. Things got rockier with the supporting male vocals (with Robert Case the notable exception), despite their generally on-target acting. And the physical production was, inevitably, a bit ragged (Metro Stage is a fledgling attempt to bridge the community-professional theatre gap). Still, director Farwell managed most of the show's complicated business smoothly on his constricted stage, and some sequences, particularly "City on Fire," worked perhaps better than they had on Broadway.

All in all, this proved a surprisingly strong showing for Metro, given that Sweeney Todd is the kind of operatic peak many a professional company would hesitate before attempting. Those fans who have longed to scale its heights again, in the company of expert leads, would do well to check out Sweeney's final bow, tonight.

Working it

This review is of necessity short but sweet, because Working, presented by Metro Stage Company at the YMCA Theatre in Central Square, has only one performance to go (tonight). But if you can catch it you really should. And don't bother wondering how Stud Terkel's famous series of interviews could ever have been transformed into a musical - it's really more of a revue than a musical, but the material fits comfortably within the form's current parameters, and the music, from a wide range of contributors led by Stephen Schwartz, may not give Sondheim any competition but can easily hold its own against the likes of Cats or The Producers (the catchiest ditty is probably James Taylor's "Traffic Jam").

So just go, because Working turns out to be genuinely smart and affecting, and though this version is a bit low-tech, and is flecked, it's true, with a few acting and vocal gaps, it's nevertheless startling in the generally high standard held by a huge ensemble (some two dozen featured performers), who have been directed with subtlety and insight by James Tallach (the bouncy musical direction is by Adam MacDonald). And this consistent level of craft, like a quiet tide, somehow lifts the piece to real heights of emotional power.

Terkel, of course, is in many ways a sentimentalist - nobody in Working is lazy or backstabbing or conniving, and the intersections of class and race are only treated lightly (but more honestly than you'd find on most local stages). Still, his sentiments are universal ones, and may have never been treated in a musical before. There's no romance, for example, in Working - although plenty of comedy - unless you count the love of work for its own sake (which many of Terkel's interviewee's genuinely share).

And yes, the exploitive, even inhuman conditions of many workplaces make their inevitable appearance ("Millwork"), but generally Working is hearty and optimistic about endeavor, and about the meaning it gives life - as well as the sadness that sets in when that meaning is gone ("Retired"). There are songs about first jobs ("Neat to Be a Newsboy"), menial jobs ("He Builds a House") and even hand jobs ("What I Could Have Been"). And there's actually a song about the joys of bad waitressing ("It's an Art"), hilariously put over by Meredith Stypinski. Plus there are stand-out acting cameos from David DaCosta, Rebecca Shor, Ann Carpenter, Kendra Alati, Rachael Fisher-Parkman, Dinah Steward, Cliff Blake, Joshua Smith and Lucas Lloyd (as well as strong support from the entire ensemble). Where have all these people been all my life? Banging around either the community theatre scene, or the edge of the professional one, it turns out - two worlds which Metro Stage seems to seamlessly bridge.

But the show is at its deepest in its honest exposure of what it means to work when that work has been shorn of glamour, or social esteem, or even the satisfaction that comes from "making a difference" - when it's just work, done to get by, or, most poignantly, to provide for the next generation (I defy you to remain dry-eyed during "Cleaning Women" or "Fathers and Sons"). It's at moments like these that Working suddenly seems better than any musical I've seen this season - certainly better than Pirates!, but also better than Jerry Springer or Grey Gardens or Cabaret, all done at bigger and better-funded companies. In the end, the big news about Working is that with it, Metro Stage Company makes its claim to joining the local mid-sized theatrical tier, alongside the likes of SpeakEasy, the New Rep and the Lyric Stage. There's some new competition in town, boys (and girls)! Next up for this crew is Sweeney Todd (!) - which would sound like folly if you hadn't seen how they worked Working.