I have to admit Sweeney Todd is not my favourite of musicals and I was attending with some reservations.

Suffice it to say I was simply stunned by the superb interpretation by Director Sylvia Denning. The whole evening was enhanced by the music under the direction of Stuart Darling and his 24 piece orchestra.

There were some excellent performances by the lead actors notably Nick Clarke (Judge Turpin) who was so good at being bad that I was quite pleased when Todd finally despatched him, Paul Simkin (The Beadle), Nick Marsden (Pirelli) who was suitably flamboyant and Syd Young (Jonas Fogg).

However the performances of the evening for me were, Christian Wood as Tobias Ragg who played his part superbly, as did India McKenzie as The Beggar Woman/Lucy Barker and Liam Jefford (Anthony Hope) and Sarah Bayliss (Johanna) were simply delightful as the two young lovers, but who could forget the outstanding performances of Julian Smith (Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker) and Clare Albanozzo (Mrs Lovett). These two were stunning and were made for each other.

Mention must be made of the chorus who enhanced this production bringing it to perfection. The set was ingenious as was the lighting and the costumes were excellent.