Sweeney Todd Program 2025

Queens University of Charlotte proudly presents

SWEENEY TODD

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street A Musical Thriller

Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM

Book by HUGH WHEELER

From an Adaptation by CHRISTOPHER BOND Originally Directed On Broadway by HAROLD PRINCE Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick Originally Produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards In Association with Dean and Judy Manos Presented through special arrangement with Music Theater International.

Saturday, April 5th at 7:30 pm Sunday, April 6th at 3 pm and 7:30 pm Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street contains adult themes and language, sexual content, staged violence, and gun use.

Mature audiences 16 and older only.

QUEENS.EDU/ARTS

Prologue "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" - Company

Act One "No Place Like London" - Anthony, Sweeney, Beggar Woman "Barber and His Wife" - Sweeney "The Worst Pies in London" - Mrs. Lovett "Poor Thing" - Mrs. Lovett "My Friends" - Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" - Johanna "Ah, Miss" - Anthony, Beggar Woman - Johanna "Johanna" - Anthony "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" - Tobias, Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett, Company "The Contest" - Pirelli “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” - Company Johanna - Judge Turpin "Wait" - Mrs. Lovett "Kiss Me/Ladies in Their Sensitivities" - Johanna, Anthony, The Beadle, Judge Turpin "Pretty Women" - Sweeney, Judge Turpin "Epiphany" - Sweeney "A Little Priest" - Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett

Act Two "God, That's Good!" - Tobias, Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney, Beggar Woman, Company "Johanna" - Anthony, Sweeney, Johanna, Beggar Woman "By the Sea" - Mrs. Lovett Wigmaker Sequence - Sweeney, Anthony, Company "The Letter" - Sweeney, Company "Not While I'm Around" - Tobias, Mrs. Lovett "Parlor Songs" - The Beadle, Mrs. Lovett, Tobias "City on Fire!" - Johanna, Anthony, Company

"Searching"- Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney, Beggar Woman, Anthony, Johanna "The Judge's Return" - Sweeney, Beggar Woman, Judge Turpin, Company Final Scene - Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney, Tobias

Epilogue "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" - Company The Place: London, England The Time: The Nineteenth Century

DRAMATIS PERSONAE In order of appearance Anthony Hope………………..Liam Lanier - Michael Jonathan Sweeney Todd…………..………………...Chris Smeltzer Beggar Woman…………….Victoria Gonzales - Sharon-Clare Finklea Mrs. Lovett………………………Kel Williams - Andrea Parrone Judge Turpin………………….………..Laurence Cox Beadle Bamford……………….………...Zachary Parham Johanna…………………..…….Casey Adams - Monika Vrabel Fogg……………………..……….Jet Francis - Benjamin Nowinowski Tobias Ragg……………..………..Rhianon Chandler Pirelli…………………..……...Keely Billiar - Crystal Stroupe Birdseller………………………….Gianna Posse - Becca Rager

Ensemble Kameal Brown, Piper Barnes, Keely Billiar, Grace Carmody, Omari Emmanuel, Jet Francis, Kylee Greene, Corey Jenkins, Nolan Kehlri, Lily Knecht, Kelsey Kott, Gianna Mars, Benjamin Nowinowski, Halli Nguyen, Andrea Paige, Claudia Perez, Gianna Posse, Becca Rager, Berkeley Rasmussen, Riley Siekman, Emily Verolme, Kodi Yara

Chorus Micah Burkheimer, Jenny Burgett, Lois Buesser, Mary Len Cutter, Deb Cutler, Christian Dodd, Kim Blanchard, Ian Hirsch, Rocio Gonzalez, Kate Kasimir, Karen Lanham, Annalise Murphy, Allison Modaferri, Meghan Modafferi, Pilar Long, Trinity Sanford, Stephanie Sharpe-Smith, Jack Smith, Avery Wallace, Matt Winslow,

This production of Sweeney Todd is made possible by a generous anonymous donor.

Directed by Laurence Cox

Musically Directed by Justin Smith

Stage Managed by Lindsey Lefler Projections by Jordana Psiloyenis and Andrea Arcia Jarquin Costumes by Lindsey Lefler and Tori Smith Lighting Design by Laurence Cox

Props by Erin Douglas

Lightboard operated by Jordan Edleblute

Sound by Jean-Paul Lepeley

Makeup by Emily Verolme

Set Paintings by Avery Wallace Oven and Pirelli’s Chest constructed by Zach Thompson Kristof Leopold, Gambrell technical director Marcus Christensen, Eliza Ely, Maya Mizelle, Emily Verolme, Rowen Watson, stagehands Yoon Sun Song, Lois Buesser, and Brenda Fernandez, rehearsal pianists Special Thanks to Professor Lora Smith and COM 495 for their work to promote this production: Samuel Ayala, Sev Alton, Breelyn Geist, Fabian Torres, Declan Gleason, Shukriyah Hasanka, and Amber Nadata "Very Special Thanks to Professor James Duke and the Central Piedmont Community College Theatre Department for their generous loans of sets, props and costumes."

Orchestra Jennifer Dior, Reed 1

Teil Buck, Reed 2

Donovan Perkins, Reed 4 Paul Smit, trombone

Reese Manceux, Reed 3

Stephanie Lipka, Reed 5 Anne Linebarger, trumpet

Peter deVries and Aria diLoreto, violins Matt Lavin and Liz Burns, cellos

Amanda Turner, viola Nixon Bustos, bass

Yoon Sun Song, keyboards Adam Collins and Chaela Lewis, percussion

By turns funny, romantic, heartbreaking, and dark as night, Sweeney Todd is a towering achievement of American lyric theater. In 1979, Stephen Sondheim seized on the true story of an insane Victorian barber in London who murdered and cannibalized his victims, later turned into a play by Christopher Bond. He elevated the tale from tawdry serial-killer narrative into a sprawling metaphor for the dehumanization of the modern age, the futility of revenge, and the lengths people will go to for love. His characters do terrible things, yet their characterizations are so exacting and their music so terrifically wrought that we feel sympathy for them, as is the case with all great tragedies.

With its complex score, exhausting vocal demands, and ramped-up dramatic stakes, Sweeney Todd lives somewhere between musical theater and opera. One might argue that it draws from positive aspects of both—it has the accessibility of a great musical and the sophistication of a great opera, and has been successfully staged by both Broadway-style houses and opera companies.

Much ink has been spilled on the way Sondheim’s extensive use of leitmotifs small musical themes that symbolize the various characters and themes of the show permeates Sweeney Todd. A complete listing of these would take many pages, but prominent among them is the use of the Dies Irae, the ancient Roman Catholic plainchant melody describing God’s wrath on Judgement Day. First heard in the chorus in the opening ballad on the words “Swing your razor wide, Sweeney!” the haunting motif is then subjected to a bewildering variety of transformations throughout the show, deeply appropriate for the title character’s insatiable desire for revenge. There are motifs for all the characters, but also for the show’s various themes like revenge, and even for inanimate objects like Sweeney’s beloved razors. Indeed, the truly attentive listener will be able to guess the big character twist at the end of the show simply by listening to the transformation of these leitmotifs - more, I will not say!

Throughout, Sondheim’s wickedly inventive use of pitch-black irony builds in layers of dramatic meaning and emotional resonance. Johanna and Anthony sing a rapturous love duet while, underneath, the Beadle and the Judge make their way to unknowingly face Sweeney’s vengeance (“Kiss Me”). The climactic duet between Sweeney and the Judge about to be murdered is set to a plaintive, slightly cheesy melody (“Pretty Women”). The sterility and silliness of Victorian parlor music are undercut by Toby’s ghostly voice floating up from the cellars where the meat pies are made (“Parlor Songs”). Anthony’s soaring love song to Johanna is later disfigured and transformed into a grotesque petition of lust by Judge Turpin (“Johanna”). And the towering “Epiphany,” Sweeney’s transformation of the target of his revenge from Judge Turpin to society as a whole, is immediately countered by the dark, punning humor of “A Little Priest.”

A project this large and complicated takes a village. To work with this immensely hard-working company of principals, ensemble, and chorus, as well as the small army of artists working behind the scenes, has been the privilege of a lifetime. I’m also grateful to our tremendous faculty and staff, especially our program directors, Prof.

Meg Johnson and Dr. Jennifer Piazza-Pick, and ADM Executive Director Dr. Siu Challons-Lipton, for their unwavering support and careful, caring instruction of our students, as well as Laura Kratt and her hard-working Gambrell team. Now: attend the tale.

- Justin Smith

Music at Queens The Music and Music Therapy programs in the Department of Art, Design and Music at Queens prepare its students to think critically and excel professionally as performers, scholars, music therapists, and instructors. These programs are housed in the newly constructed Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement which features the 1,000-seat Sandra Levine Theatre and the intimate Greenhoot Recital Hall. Our two choirs number over 85 singers, host a spring opera program, and have developed an international reputation for excellence, placing first at competitions in Canada (2023) and Greece (2024).

We have a choir for you, regardless of your major or whether or not you attend Queens. For information on our offerings, contact Dr. Justin Smith at smithj11@queens.edu.

For more information on the Music or Music Therapy programs at Queens, please visit www.queens.edu/admissions or email adm@queens.edu.

Music & Music Therapy Events 4/11

Student Recital #4

Greenhoot

3:30 pm

4/11

Luke Haefner Recital

Greenhoot

7:30 pm

4/12

Kel Williams Recital

Greenhoot

5:00 pm

4/14

Guitar Ensemble

Greenhoot

7:30 pm

4/16

Composition Factory

Greenhoot

7:30 pm

4/27

Senior Showcase

Atrium

5:00 pm