‘Sweeney Todd’ proves welcome challenge for theater, music department

Sometimes revenge is a dish best served hot.

That will be in case in late February when the theater and music department present the horror musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The lead character, Sweeney Todd, who is played by senior Andrew Jamison, is a psychotic barber returning to Fleet Street in London for vengeance.

Todd’s barbershop is located above Mrs. Lovett’s meat pie shop, which allows him to kill his clients with his razor before they are dropped below for Mrs. Lovett to bake her unique dish.

“We chose this production because of its popularity and recognizable name,” said John Dement, theater professor.

Usually the theater department chooses the play based on the season’s cast. However, the process shifts while in production of a musical because the title cannot be chosen until the crew knows they have the appropriate voices.

“It is easier to fudge acting skills than musical talent,” adds Dement.

Once the rights were bought for $2,000, the crew held auditions the second week of December and the cast was able to take the script home over the holidays to prepare for rehearsals which began a week before Fall classes.

The actors and vocalists are not the only members of the musical that need to prepare for opening night because there is a lot of work that must be done to create the rest of the show.

“I begin the process of creating the stage by going to the first read-through and I imagine the story as a member of the audience,” said Don Henschel, the stage and scenic designer.

He then makes a list of essentials with his crew.

“The better the script, the less materials that must be provide because excess props will cause a distraction from the story,” Henschel said.

Henschel also creates a storyboard to illustrate the play scene-by-scene.

Henschel and his staff then collaborated with the director to integrate ideas for the final model of the sets.

“In order to stay on schedule, I created a time chart that describes what must be built and how many hours it will take to design and build,” he said.

According to this chart, hundreds of man-hours will go into creating the London set of Sweeney Todd.

The theater department is able to cut some costs by using material from previous shows.

“A wooden wheel featured in the musical was used in another play over twenty years ago,” mentioned Henschel.

Since this production is a period piece and a large cast, the labor and efforts for costume design is greater.

“Sometimes costumes can be pulled from storage, but other times a costume must be created from scratch and in this case only about ten percent of the costumes could be pulled,” said Elizabeth Lewandowski, head costume designer.

For some costumes, 20 hours of labor won’t even get them completed.

“It takes an army to make a show,” Lewandowski said.

This show creates a challenge because the costumes for the women are very intricate.

“One corset takes about ten hours to create and there are 15 to make because every female cast member must wear a corset due to the setting of the play,” she clarified.

Lewandowski’s crew includes two student assistants, an assistant designer, two makeup designers, and one hair designer with their assistants.

“It can take over your life if you’re not careful,” Lewandowski excitedly remarked.

Vocal coach Don Maxwell said he believes the collaboration between the theater and music department makes the production better.

“The music department is limited for what it can do by itself because the department lacks costumes, props, and extras when producing a show,” Maxwell explained.

This show has the orchestra play ing throughout the entire play with ongoing singing from the actors.

“This is a particularly difficult production because there is very long and complex music, but the cast is doing a great job making it look natural and easy,” Maxwell said.

Sweeney Todd opens Thursday, Feb. 28 and continues to Saturday, March 2 in the Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre.

For ticket information, call the box office at (940)-397-4393.