BLACK CAP - THE SWEENEY TODD EXPERIENCE

BLACK CAP – THE SWEENEY TODD EXPERIENCE

20/09/10: QX gave the complimentary canapés a wide berth for an exclusive press and VIP performance of The Drama Queens’ take on Sondheim’s Broadway classic at the Black Cap earlier this week. Following on from the summer smash ‘Not The Sound of Music’, the epic saga of Fleet Street’s penny dreadful anti-hero is nothing if not a challenge to stage amidst the intimate confines of Camden’s favourite queer boozer.

However, having the entire cast lip-synch to the original Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou soundtrack certainly upped the camp factor and solved what may have proved a minor problem in finding space for a full orchestra and West End-style chorus in front of the cabaret stage!

Despite an initial air of bemusement, the audience soon warmed to the psychotic-culinary exploits of Britain’s first ever celebrity-chef-cum-serial-killer-couple as Sweeney and Mrs Lovett blazed a trail for the likes of Jack the Ripper, Myra Hindley, Jeffrey Dahmer, Delia Smith et al. Featuring a grandstanding performance from director and leading man Spike Rhodes, along with a dragtastically unhinged Mrs Moore as human flesh-lovin’ Lovett (bringing a whole new meaning to the terms ‘knuckle sandwich’ and ‘pie face’ – hur hur) further star turns included Neil Underwood and Patrick Hoy as nasty Beadle Bamford and Judge Turpin, plus a talented supporting cast taking in drag stars Lady Ebbonknee Zealy and Linda Bacardi. Bloodthirsty and bizarre!

The Black Cap, 171 Camden High Street, NW1.
Words by Chris John
Photos by James Pople

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