SWEENEY TODD at OBCTheater

OBCTheater presents Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Historic Civic Center Theater September 8 – 17, 2023. Performances are Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays 1pm & 7pm and Sunday 2pm.

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's landmark musical tells the tale of a resourceful pie shop owner and a vengeful barber. After he's sent away by a corrupt judge, Sweeney returns to London years later seeking his long-lost family, and forms an unlikely partnership with Mrs. Lovett, who serves up pies underneath his former shop. Together, they wreak havoc on Fleet Street and serve up the hottest - and most unsettling - pies in London.

“There’s more artistic energy, creative personality, and plain excitement in ‘Sweeney Todd’ . . . than in a dozen average musicals,” wrote the New York Times of this dark and twisted Victorian tale of corruption, injustice, murder, meat pies, revenge, and love.

“We have assembled a stellar cast and crew who bring new life and laughs to this thrilling masterpiece of musical theater says Amanda Kalkanis, Director and OBCTheater producer.

The cast includes Paul Kehler as the morose and vengeful Sweeney Todd, Tania Pirittano Nelson as the hilarious Mrs. Lovett, TJ Punchard as the young, naïve sailor Anthony Hope, Camryn Hamm as the beautiful young Johanna, Caroline Nelsm as the beggar woman, Adam Granados as Aldofo Pirelli, Patrick Mciver as Tobias Ragg, Jamie Snyder as Judge Turpin, and Robert Hoyt as the corrupt public official Beadle Bamford. Rounding out the cast in the incredible ensemble is Nate Beals, Meredith Bolthouse, James Ellis, Kellen Ford, Shawn Hart, Diego Huerta-Gutierrez, Jackie Lorenzo Cox, Scott McDermott, Ali Naim, Demmi Ross, Jennifer Sparks, Alycia Thomas, Nathanial Vogel and Jacob Webb.

Production credits include direction by Amanda Kalkanis & Nancy Hart, music direction by Robert Hoyt, choreography by Radames Mones, set, costume and production design by Nancy Hart and lighting & sound design by Daniel Milligan.

“Sweeney Todd” opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical . Some say Sweeney Todd was a real person, but there is no proof of this. He first appears in 1846-47 in a story published in one of the weekly magazines known as Penny Dreadfuls. Real or not, he has captured the imagination of playwrights and movie makers ever since. The story was almost immediately turned into a play; an expanded version was published in 1850, and American version in 1852, and a new play in 1865. There were British films in 1926 and 1936, as well as Tim Burton’ highly acclaimed adaptation of Sondheim’s musical in 2007.

Sondheim was inspired by Christopher Bond’s 1973 spooky melodramatic play. Sondheim noted that the story is received differently in England, where, “it is essentially charming . . . because they don’t take Sweeney Todd seriously. Our production was larger in scope. [Director] Hal Prince gave it an epic sense, a sense that this was a man of some size, instead of just a nutcase. The music helps give it that dimension.”

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.obctheater.com, or call 951-264-5794. OBCTheater performs at the Historic Corona Civic Center Theater at 815 W 6Th Street, Corona, Ca 92882.