‘Sweeney’s’ Judy Kaye a cut above

I have to add to your reviewer’s passionate bravas for Judy Kaye in the touring production of “Sweeney Todd” now at the Ahmanson Theatre [“Tuneful Barbarism,” by Charles McNulty, March 14]. She gives a performance that is really out of this world.

I’ve seen many productions of “Sweeney,” including the Broadway original, but I’ve never seen a Mrs. Lovett this complex. I cannot overstate how moved I was -- as was all of the upper mezzanine, including a restless bunch of high schoolers. When a performer can bring stillness to restless high schoolers in the upper mezzanine, she can do anything.

Tom O’Leary

Los Angeles