The Demon Butcher of Fleet Street will make a visit to College Avenue this weekend. Michigan Tech Theater takes the stage with Nich Radcliffe’s largest cast yet. More than 20 students will take the audience on a journey through the bloody streets of 19th-century London where Sweeny Todd stalks the streets.
So there’s a lot of very funny moments that are very intentionally funny. Sondheim and Wheeler constructed them to be funny. Whereas, you know, play like Purple Hearts, we found the humor. In a play like Last Menagerie, we found the humor. But in this play, it’s there. We don’t have to really kind of mine it. – Nich Radcliffe, Director, Michigan Tech Theater
Sweeny Todd: The Demon Butcher of Fleet Street musical was created by Hugh Wheeler, with music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, with adaptations from Christopher Bond’s 1970 play. While often associated with the notorious crimes committed by Jack the Ripper in the White Chapel district during the late 1880s, Todd’s first appeared as a character in The String of Pearls written about 40 years prior.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the violence and the blood and the gore and those things. I enjoy a good thriller. I’m not much of a horror guy. I like to eat while I’m watching movies. And that kind of tank that. So, I don’t want to give anything away, but at the same time, I do want to let people know that the way we’re handling the blood and the gore is in a more creative way and not with stage blood or anything like that. – Nich Radcliffe, Director, Michigan Tech Theater
The performance on stage is joined by the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra. Radcliffe says that music can only add to a show such as Sweeny Todd. Before taking the stage and filling the pit, the orchestra and cast will meet for rehearsal. Radcliffe says that point in preparation is really the first time the groups meet and can parse through how the music and acts on stage play off one another.
There won’t be any staging involved, props, or anything like that. The actors will have their scores, and it gives them a chance to make a real connection and start to build some chemistry with that orchestra. And a lot of times directors don’t bother to go to that. It’s the conductor’s rehearsal. But because this is the first musical I’ve directed here, I very much plan on coming and just sitting in the house and just sort of taking in that experience and, enjoying seeing that interaction between these performers on the stage and these musicians that’ll be in the pit. It was very funny. We had kind of a joke in rehearsal a night or two ago. Joel keeps saying, well, it’s a small band. It’s a small band. It’s 25 pieces. – Nich Radcliffe, Director, Michigan Tech Theater
Michigan Tech Theater does note shows on Thursday Friday and Saturday include graphic themes such as murder, language, and sexual violence. The first performance on Thursday will begin at 7:30 pm. Shows on Friday and Saturday will also start at 7:30 pm at the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts. Tickets at full price cost 20 dollars. Find more details here.
