It takes talent, ingenuity, and a whole lot of chutzpah to trim an original Broadway cast of 26 down to a mere 11 performers and deliver a Sweeney Todd with the entertainment goods of a production more than twice its size, but that’s exactly what Ophelia’s Jump has done on a matchbook-sized stage over in Upland.

Few are those who haven’t at least once “attended” the tale of Benjamin Barker (Robert Hoyt), the London barber convicted of a crime he did not commit and shipped off to Australia by a lecherous judge with designs on Barker’s wife Lucy.

Now, fifteen years later, Lucy is out of the picture and evil Judge Turpin (Jeff Sable) has set his sights on Sweeney’s beautiful blonde teenage daughter Johanna (Em Flosi).

Meanwhile, there’s a new man in London town, one who bears a striking resemblance to Barker but goes by the name of Sweeney Todd.

When Sweeney stops in at the pie shop located downstairs from his onetime tonsorial parlor, the down-on-her-luck proprietress Mrs. Lovett (Caitlin Lopez) isn’t fooled by the new name, recognizing at once returning ex-con, for whom she has kept his shaving instruments intact, polished, and sharpened to a killing edge.

His razors restored to him, Sweeney now begins a murder spree with Judge Turpin as his ultimate goal, and when confronted with the question of where to put the bodies, he and Mrs. Lovett come up with a tasty solution to both their problems.

Meanwhile, Sweeney and Anthony Hope (Jaylen Baham), the sailor he met on his ocean journey back from Australia, attempt to free the barber’s now grown daughter from the clutches (and matrimonial plans) of the evil Judge Turpin and his accomplice in crime Beadle Bamford (Tyler Marshall).

Also figuring in The Tale Of Sweeney Todd (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler) are Italian-accented con-artist Adolfo Pirelli (Sammy Linkowski), whose “Miracle Elixir” promises astonishing hair growth and more; Tobias Ragg (Mads Durbin), Pirelli’s sweet but simple-minded (and now unemployed) assistant; and a nameless, demented Beggar Woman (Amanda Gillette Colclough), in whom Sweeney’s face sparks some distant glimmer of recognition.

All of this adds up to a musical that’s thrilled Broadway audiences in four different productions and captivated regional theatergoers in countless revivals since its 1979 debut, and though I have seen Sweeney staged with as few as nine performers, Ophelia’s Jump’s eleven (completed by ensemble members Jackie Lorenzo Cox and Patrick Geringer) seems the ideal minimum.

Pretty much everyone but the show’s two leads doubles in ensemble tracks, which means that Colclough and Flosi might be Beggar Woman and Johanna in one scene, then don different colored wigs (designed by Krys Fehervari) to become pie shop customers in another, and for the most part this approach works quite niftily, though somewhat less so with the two cast members sporting facial hair whose distinctive appearance is less easily disguised. (I could have sworn I saw The Beadle get his throat slit midway though, but then he showed up later so I must have been mistaken.)

And if a mere eleven voices might not suffice in a Broadway-sized theater, they more than fill the teeny-tiny Ophelia’s Jump, with the added plus that because Beatrice Casagrán’s set extends to three out of four corners of the house, the effect of all eleven harmonizing is surround-sound spectacular.

Casasgrán proves herself the quintessential Jack of all Trades, not only scenic designing but directing, choreographing, and scenic-and-properties designing the whole shebang with imagination and flair.

 Hoyt has the dramatic presence, booming baritone, and acting chops to make for an impressive Sweeney, and Lopez (who proved herself a trouper par excellence at the performance reviewed) makes Mrs. Lovett her own imposing but adorable and comedically gifted creation with vocal chops to boot.

Bahan’s passionate Anthony, Flosi’s delicate Johanna, Durbin’s sweet and caring Tobias, Colclough’s bats-in-the-belfry Beggar Woman, and Sable’s evil-licious Judge are all topnotch as are stage vet Cox and rising newcomer Geringer in multiple tracks each.

Most memorable of all among supporting players are Linkowski (a positively delizioso Pirelli and a sinister Mr. Fogg) and Marshall, who takes flamboyant theatrical flair to fabulous extremes as Beadle Bamford.

Leading man Hoyt earns bonus point for music directing a particularly challenging Sondheim score, and sound designer Benicio Corona de Flores does an admirable job of mixing prerecorded tracks with amped vocals.

Sheila Malone’s lighting is dramatic as all get-out, her 19th-century style projections help set each scene, and makeup designer Mia Valdez gives each character a suitably eerie look.

Mireya Brocatto is stage manager and light board operator.

I’ve now seen a grand guignol total of seventeen different productions of Sweeney Todd, humongous, tiny, and in-between, and each has had its pluses and occasionally minuses. Ophelia’s Jump’s may be one of the smallest in size, but its entertainment value ranks it high up on the list.

Ophelia’s Jump, 2009 Porterfield Way Suite H, Upland. Through October 25. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 4:00.
www.opheliasjump.org

–Steven Stanley
October 4, 2026

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Tags: Hugh Wheeler, Los Angeles Theater Review, Ophelia's Jump Productions, Stephen Sondheim