FLAGLER

'Sweeney Todd' heralds holiday season at Flagler Playhouse

Macabre musical opens Friday

Danielle Anderson Correspondent

Heralding the Halloween season, Flagler Playhouse will open its new season with a little gothic intrigue featuring three weekends of “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” which opens Friday, Sept. 21.

Pulling off a show of this magnitude — one of Stephen Sondheim’s most intricate works, based on “The String of Pearls,” a series of 1846 penny dreadful stories of "Sweeney Todd" compiled into a single work — the playhouse will tackle the tale in musical form.

Drawing twice as many actors to audition as there were parts to cast, director Larry Williams calls it a testament to the show’s popularity and reach among actors and audiences.

“It’s really an opera: gothic horror, a little comedy, a lot of drama,” said Williams. “It’s a big show. It hasn’t been done in this area that I know of, and it’s a real challenge. Because of the complexity, I started rehearsing July 1 with the 10 leads and they are phenomenal, and so is the ensemble. The ensemble is made up of chorus people but these, technically, it’s made up of leads. It’s that good.”

The playhouse production promises to move audiences between London locations "in the blink of an eye," a feat Williams is astounded they are able to make happen. Heading up the set design crew, actor and engineer Matthew McGuinness helped devise the system that comes complete with a trapdoor to dispose of “dead” bodies.

“It was quite a challenge, mechanically, to get something to work and work in the confines of the set that we’ve got," McGuinness said. "We’ve got a great crew who seem to be able to put together anything Larry (Williams) comes up with.

“It’s like working on something completely different than I usually do and once we got it all finished, we all celebrated that it had gone from this crazy idea on paper to actually working,” he said.

Head costumer for the show, Nancy Jo Ricca, said she drew from authentic period patterns to create the costumes, with the help of five seamstresses.

“It’s been quite a challenge," she said. "Not only so many people, but also because the Victorian times was such an elegant time. Not just for women but for men. The clothing they wore is just gorgeous.”

Monica Clark, president of Flagler Playhouse, is excited to unveil the ambitious show to patrons and audiences.

“It’s a big show,” she said. “They say it keeps getting better and better, and that’s what we’re striving for. We have a team of perfectionists who want a challenge and we want to put on shows that actors want to be in. Being a community theater means being there for the audience and the actors.”

The Flagler Playhouse production of "Sweeney Todd" will strive to offer a trip back to 19th century London, complete with parlors, pie shops, meat grinders and more, as one man’s obsession with the women of the Barker family and another man’s desire for revenge on the judge who wreaked havoc on his life collide.

If you go

WHERE: Flagler Playhouse, 301 E. Moody Blvd., Bunnell

WHAT: "Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sept 21-Oct. 7; matinees at 2 p.m.

TICKETS: $25, adults; $20, students

DETAILS: 386-586-0773; flaglerplayhouse.com

MORE ONLINE: Check out our dress rehearsal photo gallery at news-journalonline.com/photos