Following critical acclaim across the country, Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical thriller is coming to Melbourne this Spring with Victorian Opera’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street A Musical Thriller.
The performances will take place at the iconic Arts Centre Melbourne Playhouse from 14-21 September, with an extra show on the 16th just added.
Sweeney Todd tells the gruesome story of a man living life by the razor’s edge. This spine-chilling musical thriller will transport audiences to the dark heart of London’s Fleet Street, where betrayal, vengeance and dark comedy intertwine.
Starring Ben Mingay (Shrek the Musical, Frayed, Pirates of Penzance, Packed to the Rafters) and Antoinette Halloran (Mary and Max, Macbeth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll), and directed by celebrated Australian opera and musical theatre director Stuart Maunder AM, this is a masterpiece of musical theatre not to be missed.
Once, there was a barber who had it all — a happy life, a beautiful wife. But it all ended in a savage act of betrayal. Enter Sweeney Todd. From the haunting melodies of Stephen Sondheim to the chilling narrative crafted by Hugh Wheeler, this production explores the transformation of a once-content barber into the infamous “demon barber”, a suave and perilous figure with a rising desire for vengeance. Alongside the beguiling and eccentric Mrs Lovett, they hatch a twisted plan — equal parts genius and ghastly. Mrs Lovett’s reputation for serving the best pies in town may be short-lived as Sweeney’s thirst for vengeance teeters on the knife’s edge.
From Stuart Maunder AM, about the work, “I love this piece. The terror, the thrills. For all its melodrama, blood and gore this masterpiece of music theatre tells a universal human story; revenge, obsession, and lust, yes – but also pain, yearning, and even love. This is Sondheim at his most powerful, moving, and terrifying. And what a cast, I am in awe.”
Considered one of the most powerful, dramatic, and theatrical horror tales ever set to music, Sweeney Todd will leave hearts racing and spines tingling long after the final curtain falls. Tickets for the extra performance of Sweeney Todd go on sale tomorrow, Friday 28 June.
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES:
Saturday, 14 September, 2.00 pm [PREVIEW]
Saturday, 14 September, 7.30 pm
Monday, 16 September, 7.30 pm [NEW SHOW]
Tuesday, 17 September, 7.30 pm
Wednesday, 18 September, 7.30 pm
Thursday, 19 September, 7.30 pm
Friday, 20 September, 7.30 pm*
Saturday, 21 September, 2.00 pm & 7.30 pm
For more information and tickets, visit victorianopera.com.au/production/sweeney-todd