Feature: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET at Rosetint At ECA Arts Hall

Rosetint Community Theatre’s first season opens with its first licensed musical – Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This is the full production, not the one that was downsized for Off-Broadway and parodied by Forbidden Broadway as “Teeny Todd.”

The show will take place in the 200-seat black box theatre of the ECA Arts Hall with a cast of 23 performers and an 18-piece orchestra. The production “honors the challenging music, lyrics, and book,” says Casey Pickett. “We knew we wanted to do a larger cast from the start,” adds Managing Director Charlotta Lebedenko. “Part of Rosetint’s mission is to create new and plentiful theatre opportunities for New Haven. With a larger cast, we knew we’d also need the larger orchestra. That’s how we got to 18 in the pit, 23 performers on stage, with an audience capacity of 200. It’s quite the opposite of small.” Still, you will feel almost as if you’re an eyewitness to the events in the show instead of just being a casual spectator. Isn’t theatre all about engaging the audience? You can consider yourself engaged in this show. 

Because Stephen Sondheim was always meticulous about every word, producers have to consider that, and it can be a bit intimidating. But Lebedenko notes, “The beautiful thing about Sondheim’s words is that they do plenty of the heavy lifting for you, our job is to let it be heard. For our production, balancing sound became key in getting the piece right. We found ourselves ripping [our] hair out while trying to mix 23 wireless mics and amplify sections of the orchestra like the strings and woodwinds. The end result is spectacular. Live Sondheim coming from 41 beating hearts is ‘enough to make you come all over gooseflesh.’”

“We’ve built the set from modular boxes, painted white with rust and splotches, and as the show goes on, blood appears to drip down the set,” says Pickett. Lebedenko elaborates, “We wanted to design a set that would act as the scaffolding for any good community theatre’s first couple seasons.” She explains that it is “largely made up of various wood blocks and 3-D shapes [and] the actors bring locations to life by assembling these pieces into furniture and skylines, with the main event being our massive barbershop and basement oven unit. Fully equipped to swallow up dead bodies, it’s far and away the biggest undertaking our infant theatre troupe had to handle, built by the masterful Josh Bibbey. Colin Anderson wears two hats on our production, programming eerie, whimsical lighting and playing the hopefully Anthony, onstage.
 

Pickett adds: “Our artistic goals include, but are not limited to producing musicals, plays, immersive events and educational theatre training for all ages.” Judging by the first two shows, Rosetint is off to a terrific start. Was it difficult to get permission to perform this show. “No trouble at all!” said Lebedenko. “Securing the rights was as simple as asking and receiving. The catch was holding off on the announcement until after Hartford Stage Company’s production had closed.”

“Rosetint wants YOU!,” says Lebedenko. “We’re growing fast and in need of hands! We welcome people of all skill levels who have the passion to create something excellent. Visit our website and reach out if you feel the desire to help build something great.”

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street plays through September 19th. The ECA Arts Hall is located at 55 Audubon Street in New Haven. The company’s next production will be The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which runs from October 16th, 17th, 23rd, and 24th at Lost in New Haven, which is set in a local history museum. How amazing is that? For more information, visit www.rosetintct.org.

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