Following their recent successes of Oliver! and Evita, York Light Opera Company return to York Theatre Royal for a very special 70th-year performance of the multi-award-winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Director Martyn Knight and Musical Director Paul Laidlaw at the helm.
Sweeney Todd is the unsettling, witty tale of a Georgian-era misanthropic barber who returns home to London after fifteen years of exile to seek vengeance on the corrupt Judge who ruined his life. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs Lovett, the resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up, God, That's Good!
Director Martyn Knight commented “Over 80% of Sweeney Todd is set to music, either sung or underscoring dialogue. Our principals and ensemble are proving that York Light can deliver this challenging score. We have established leading performers with years of experience and some very good up-and-coming new talent in the younger roles. Paul Laidlaw has worked so hard to get the company up to a very high standard.”
Neil Wood portrays the maniacal Sweeney Todd with passion and vigour and Julie-Anne Smith brings Mrs Lovett’s wit to life. Other cast members include Madeleine Hicks as Johanna, Maximus Mawle as Anthony Hope, prolific York Lighter Rory Mulvihill as Judge Turpin, York Theatre Royal’s own Box Office Manager Richard Bayton as Beadle Bamford, Jonny Holbek as Tobias Ragg, Clare Meadley as the Beggar Woman and Martin Lay as Adolfo Pirelli.
Noted as composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim's most perfect score - with highlights including The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Not While I'm Around, A Little Priest and Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Sweeney Todd is a tasty, thrilling, theatrical masterpiece which is sure to both excite and delight audiences.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is on at the York Theatre Royal Main Stage from 22 February - 04 March.
CAP performance 27 February.