SEQUIM — Cast members with Ghostlight Productions’ latest show, “Sweeney Todd,” the titular demon barber of Fleet Street, are sure of one thing: There will be blood.
The musical dark comedy plays Thursday through Saturday at Sequim High School’s Auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.
Tickets are available at glp.ludus.com/index.php and range from $14 to $20. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. with an additional Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.
The show is not recommended for younger audiences, organizers said.
Through “Sweeney Todd,” director Mark Lorentzen said he promises to answer composer Stephen Sondheim’s question: “Is it possible to scare a modern musical theatre audience?”
Making “Sweeney Todd” is a longtime dream, Lorentzen said.
In the musical, Sweeney Todd (Kyle Bartholick-LeMaire) seeks vengeance against the despicable judge (Tim Thorn) who framed him, hurt his wife Lucy and imprisoned his daughter Johanna.
Back in London, Todd meets Mrs. Lovett (Angela Poynter), a struggling pie shop owner, and the pair find success with Todd’s barber shop supplying a “special ingredient” for Lovett’s meat pies while supplying his thirst for blood and vengeance.
Bartholick-LeMaire, who grew up doing theater, said Sweeney Todd was “always one of those roles you hope you get to play one day.”
Bartholick-LeMaire said he finds the character to have a lot of depth.
“On the outside, he’s very still and calm looking, but his inside is just full of turmoil,” he said. “His inner energy he can’t necessarily show. He has to always hold it down.”
His release comes through every customer in his barber chair — a 6-foot structure with a trap door that leads victims to Lovett and her oven.
“(With the first victim) he finally gets a little bit of relief from what he feels inside, and that’s what sets him on his path,” Bartholick-LeMaire said.
Poynter said any time an actor plays someone evil or bad by society’s standards, there’s always a justification.
“With Todd, you can’t judge him as an actor, or then you’ll never be authentic and truthful,” Bartholick-LeMaire said.
“You have to understand why he is the way he is, and sometimes that’s difficult.”
Humor
Poynter said even if people are more familiar with the Tim Burton movie version of the show than the stage production, they will find the two to be totally different.
“The immediacy of things happening live is so much more intense than watching a video,” she said.
“I love me some Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, but what I want people to understand is that that’s the more Hollywood-stylized version of the show, while the stage play has a lot more immediacy. It’s a lot funnier and not as dark.”
While there is a lot of dark humor, Bartholick-LeMaire said, “if it was so dark, I don’t think the play would work.
“It has to have the humor in it.”
Music
“Sweeney Todd” will feature a live orchestra along with a music recording.
Actors say Sondheim’s music and lyrics are rich with content.
“Every song is wonderful in its own right and propels the story,” Poynter said. “(Sondheim) is extremely clever and his characters are witty.”
Bartholick-LeMaire added: “There’s a lot in the music, with sections that are meant to scare and startle you and keep you on your toes.”
Both he and Poynter said they love the same songs, including “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” sung by Johanna (Sunshine Peterson), and “Not While I’m Around” by Lovett and Tobias (Morgan Bartholick-LeMaire).
“They’re theater standards, beautiful songs, and both would be my favorite in terms of musicality,” Poynter said.
“Steven Sondheim is unique. He writes these gorgeous melodies, but then all these complicated songs with difficult lyrics. His lyrics are just astounding, and it’s a shame a lot of the lyrics get lost because they’re so fast.”
Bartholick-LeMaire said, in reading the lyrics, he’s discovered layers upon layers of meaning for the characters.
“He weaves these motifs through the show, and you hear the melody of a character or a song, and every character has a signature, but it will change according to the situation or the character,” Poynter said.
“You could write a thesis on the show.”
For more about Sweeney Todd,” visit ghostlightwa.org.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
