Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was first produced in 1979 on Broadway where it won eight Tony awards including Best Musical. Widely acknowledged as Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, Sweeney Todd tells a dark tale of vengeance and murder, leavened with ghoulish humor, in Victorian London. Returning after being wrongly imprisoned, Sweeney vows revenge on the Judge who incarcerated him, and finds an unlikely ally in Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a struggling meat pie shop who finds a good use for Sweeney’s victims.

Three-time Tony nominee and Drama Desk Award Winner Carolee Carmello takes the stage as Mrs. Lovett in her debut with Opera Saratoga, alongside internationally acclaimed bass baritone Craig Colclough, who was last seen with the company in the title role of Falstaff, making his role debut as the Sweeney Todd. Laura Bergquist, who made her Opera Saratoga debut leading the company’s critically acclaimed production of Man of La Mancha last summer, will conduct the staged concert performances, directed and choreographed by Kyle Lang.

PROGRAM NOTES

Produced by Opera Saratoga in Partnership with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Originally Directed On Broadway by Harold Prince
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Originally Produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in Association with Dean and Judy Manos

SWEENEY TODD is presented through special arrangement with Music Theater International (MTI). All performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com