A CUT ABOVE THE REST

Heartbeat Opera’s gloriously filthy Halloween
extravaganza gives Sondheim’s demon barber
a decidedly different kind of clientele

After sunset, the official hours of Judson Memorial Church may be over. But inside, worship is very much in session with the delightfully deranged Queeney Todd: The Demon Bottom of Fleet Street. A musical theater, drag, and opera mashup with camp, carnage, and castration galore, Heartbeat Opera’s dragged-out reimagining of the Sondheim classic is a slice and dice and full-out slay.

Steps from Washington Square Park at Judson Memorial Church, you’re greeted by a host in a dazzling outfit and a fan who welcomes you in. (For those of you who skipped PAC NYC’s CATS: The Jellicle Ball, fans are an absolute staple of drag culture and performance.) Club music blasts as you enter and find your seats. The sanctuary is cleared of pews, but Queeney welcomes all parishioners to the church of camp. The very front row consists of cocktail tables where performers will gladhand and ham it up with the audience while they enjoy libations from the bar. Plan on spending a bit for the drinks after tickets.

Queeney Todd: The Demon Bottom of Fleet Street is the creation of director Kemar Jewel, music director Jacob Ashworth, along with Peregrine Teng Heard and Garrett Bell. A parody of the Stephen Sondheim classic Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and a very, very loose parody at that.

Speaking of loose, our titular character Queeney Todd (the scenery-chewing Nathanial Sullivan) has returned to London after a decade abroad, ready to hop back onto Grindr, settle scores, and be a moody, messy heaux. Todd runs into Matt Dengler’s Mrs. Lovedick, who runs a sex shoppe (“Shop-aye!”) and has “the worst thighs in London.” After Todd arranges a few sexual encounters facilitated by the notorious aforementioned app (definitely not a coffee app), and a few mishaps with a barber’s blade, Todd and Lovedick hatch a plan to collect dismembered… well… members.

Needless to say, Queeney Todd is queer art to be protected. At. All. Costs.

Now let’s get one thing out of the way right now: if you thought you bought tickets for a beat-by-beat drag parody of Sondheim’s serial killer musical, you might need to go back to the bar for another drink. Within the confines of the basic story of the venerable 1979 show about a barber hellbent on revenge comes a hellish revenge tale with a unique bent of its own.

Other stellar cast members include Eliza Bonet as the seductive Rosina, stand-in for the disturbed, amorous beggar who propositions Todd hard upon his arrival in town. Imara Miles steals scenes as The Top (actually many various tops Todd will seduce and slash, each with a unique hook). Jonathan Burke brings more comic energy as The Barber, a rival to Todd.

Providing music and pleasant banter at times is a band consisting of Ashworth on violin, Anjali Shinde on flutes, Wil Dannenberg on horns, and Dan Schlosberg tickling the ivories on piano and keyboard. The band plays in drag (because of course they do) and is managed deftly by musical directors Jacob Ashworth & Dan Schlosberg.

The score is just as outrageous as the action, with new arrangements of everything from Handel, Verdi, and Rossini to Disney and Ginuwine. It’s a musical free-for-all that makes the most of opera’s grand passions and drag’s gleeful irreverence.

Lighting designer Yung-Hung Sung makes excellent use of DJ-style lights and theatrical Fresnels to light the sanctuary-turned-theater, with Doaa Ouf’s projections used sparingly and with restraint so as not to overshadow the ridiculous fun being had onstage.

David Quinn’s costumes evoke Victorian England with twists of camp and drag while keeping things familiar enough for a show that evokes Sweeney Todd. Queeney Todd himself is decked out in a wig not dissimilar to Johnny Depp’s turn as the demon barber in Tim Burton’s 2007 film.

Makeup by Maiko Ando exaggerates our drag performers’ faces and expressions and uses plenty of fake theatrical blood to boot. Perhaps the hardest-working member of the production team is props supervisor Corinne Gologursky, who has collected quite a number of fabulous phalluses for the bloody proceedings.

There are, sadly, some issues with the presentation: many of the show’s clever parody lyrics are lost because our performers are not mic’d. No one’s wearing a lavalier mic onstage, which loses some voices in the mix when the production is at its loudest. Some audiences might scratch their heads at the major departures from the story of Sweeney Todd to create Queeney Todd, but let’s be so for real… You’re either on this roller coaster or you aren’t.

With the over-the-topness being the point and zany fun being had by all involved, Queeney Todd is right at home in the West Village, where New York City’s drag and alt-ballroom culture exploded (along with Harlem), and it is perfectly timed for spooky season. It’s probably best practice, if not mandatory, to enjoy a few drinks, bring your fan, and attend the tale of the Demon Bottom of Fleet Street.

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photos by Russ Rowland

Queeney Todd: The Demon Bottom of Fleet Street
Heartbeat Opera
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square S. in New York
Oct 22, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30 & 31
ends on October 31, 2026
for tickets (from $45), visit Heartbeat Opera

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