Sweeney Todd comes to UTPA
Note: This article originally appeared in the Feb. 21, 2013 issue of The Pan American. The Pan American was the student newspaper at my former university, The University of Texas - Pan American, where I got into writing. Ultimately, TPA was shut down as a result of a merger with neighboring university to make way for The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley and the new student publication did not transfer anything from TPA. Here's one of my articles for them that was saved thanks to the miracle of Google Docs.
With a slash of the demon barber’s razor, Sweeney Todd’s customer is dead.
As blood gushes from his victim’s neck, Todd pulls a lever, causing his latest conquest to fall down a chute and land in the kitchen of Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop, where he will be ground into meat for her pies.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is an award-winning but violent musical by acclaimed composer Stephen Sondheim more than 30 years ago. It has been shown all over the world, and the latest production will be put on by the University Theater Department.
Sweeney Todd tells the tragic story of Benjamin Barker, a wrongly convicted man who returns to London under the new identity of Sweeney Todd. He had been sent to a penal colony in Australia 15 years prior to his return, by a corrupt judge who lusted after his wife. After hearing of her death, he plans to exact revenge by killing the judge, and then decides to murder unsuspecting customers in his barbershop.
Brian Warren, a professor in TV/film/theater, is the director of the product, which has been in the makings since September 2012 and will show on Feb. 27 to March 3,
“The musical, since being written in 1979, has become a classic,” the University of Houston graduate said. “We like to expose our students to all the great writers and Stephen Sondheim is one of them.”
Warren serves as the UTPA children’s theater specialist, but is no stranger to adult musicals with dark subject matter, having directed The Evil Dead Musical in fall 2010. Warren, who has been at the University since 2002, explained that musicals are more challenging to work on than a stage play because of all the elements involved.
“All theatre requires a collaborative effort from a lot of talented folks, but musicals add the extra level of vocal and instrumental music and often dance,” he said. “The coordination of music, dance and dialogue all add up to a difficult endeavor that shows the community what our students and others working on it are capable of.”
Despite his excitement to work on the musical, Warren admitted to being hesitant about the production. He worried that the amount of violence could make some audience members uncomfortable, but ultimately moved forward with it.
“It’s set in a time removed from the modern world, and in the course of the story, it shows how violence and revenge results in catastrophe,” he said. “In movies, we see people like Bruce Willis going on violent rampages, but Sweeney Todd teaches the lesson that violence as a means of justice is wrong.”
STAGING THE DRAMA
Still, the bloodshed that occurs on stage as Todd disposes of his customers is part of the reason for the musical’s popularity. Theater professor Jennifer Saxton, the costume designer for Sweeney Todd, is worried about how the blood will look on stage since it may not be noticeable to all the audience members, depending on where they’re seated.
“Blood looks great in TV and film because everyone can see it," she said. "But on stage, the blood is concentrated in one general area.”
Blood will still be shown, and Saxton figured out a way for it to not drench the costumes too much.
“The blood will only hit shirts, barber’s capes and arm guards that protect the costumes from the blood,” she said. “When Sweeney kills someone and gets blood on his arm guard, where the blood will land on, he’ll just take it off and throw it down the chute with the body.
Gina Marie plays Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney’s partner in crime. The Pharr native doesn’t think that the violence should prevent any audience members from enjoying themselves.
“I don’t think it matters because, while it does have plenty of intensity, there’s also equal parts comic relief,” the 25-year-old theater performance major said. “Knowing that it’s supposed to be entertaining helps with those feelings of seeing violence onstage, but there’s great entertainment underneath that darkness. Sweeney Todd provides equal amounts of gore and laughs. It’s a great time [for the audiences].”
For Marie, playing Mrs. Lovett, who harbors a crush on serial killer Todd, is a role she has pined for. She’s been working to make her interpretation of the role work by studying Cockney accents to make hers believable.
“Mrs. Lovett has been my dream role since I first started performing in eighth grade. I remember seeing a stage version of it with Patti Lupone as Lovett, and thinking ‘Yup, that’s the role I want for the rest of my life,’” she said of the Tony award-winning Broadway actress.
Following several deadly shootings such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Connecticut Dec. 14, and the California shooting rampage of ex-cop Christopher Dorner, several media outlets, such as Entertainment weekly in their Feb. 15 issue and ABC’s Nightline, questioned if there’s too much violence in entertainment. Warren thinks the wrong question regarding media and violence is being asked.
“In any play, it’s hard to control the violence since so many of the most famous ones are filled with violence,” he said. "Violence is ingrained so much into the human fabric, that the question isn’t ‘How much violence can we show?’ but, ‘How can we control our violent tendencies?’”
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opens with a Pan Am night scheduled for Feb. 26. Due to the content matter, no children below the third grade will be permitted.
