Review for ‘‘A Night In Charlotte With Sweeney Ty’’

“With the right angle and right lighting, there is monumental beauty in everything”, declares Ty Bru, director of ‘‘A Night in Charlotte With Sweeney Ty’’. A man of many talents, disciplines and artistic concerns, Ty Bru crafts his modern version of a Broadway Musical with the above statement serving as a compass.

Breaking with the expected esthetics and content of a stage musical, A Night in Charlotte With Sweeney Ty is composed of a series of rap numbers, drawing in theme from social issues, interpersonal relationships and the hardship of carving out a living nowadays. Although each song’s intense lyricism and lively beat compose an impressive homage to classic 90s rap, the song sequence and themes do not always align with the stated musical inspiration of the project.

In the esthetic department, we again come face to face with the director’s statement on beauty, as moody lighting, carefully chosen colors and effective makeup compose an immersive and effective scene, all the while shot with vigorous camera movements and innovative angles. The end result is a kinetic and lively presentation that kept us on our toes, punctuated by the lead’s raw performance.

The above elements combine, sometimes more and sometimes less successfully, to usher into a very modern, very gritty and almost punk deconstruction of the Sweeney Todd name and okay, and the reconstruction of the legend of Sweeney Ty.