‘SWEENEY TODD’
7:30 p.m., Weekend Theater. $14-$18.
After gaining huge exposure on the big screen, “the demon barber of
Fleet Street” returns to his original home, the stage. Let’s keep our
fingers crossed that the Weekend Theater knows its fake blood. Based on
a character from a 19th-century British serial, “Sweeney Todd” tells
the story of a barber, the titular Todd, who’s exiled to Australia by a
powerful judge who wants Todd’s wife for his own. The story catches up
with the barber post-exile. Deranged and hell-bent on revenge, Todd
reopens shop, cutting more throats than hair. To hide his crimes, his
sometimes lover Mrs. Lovett hides the remains in her meat pies, which
quickly become the talk of London. The Weekend Theater bills this
much-beloved Stephen Sondheim musical as an “intimate production,”
which “shows us that sometimes melodrama is the most effective vehicle
for capturing basic truths about the human condition.” Andy Hall
directs and Lori Isner is musical director. The musical runs on
weekends through June 22 with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.