News From the Festival
Festival to Present Its First Outdoor Musical
By Liz Armstrong
The Utah Shakespeare Festival production of the musical Sweeney Todd in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre this summer will be a new experience for the Festival and will lay the groundwork for the theatre’s future. This will be the first time the Festival has produced a musical in an outdoor theatre, but it won’t be the last.
To accomplish this task the Festival is in the middle of a massive upgrading of the sound system in the theatre, a project that will allow the musical voices and accompaniment to be heard by everyone in the audience. In addition, these changes will help with acoustics in the theatre for all plays.
Production Manager Richard Girtain is excited. “We’re going to use this space in the future for musicals,” he said. “Of course, we will continue to focus on classical repertoire in the Engelstad Theatre, but this is not a one-and-done for musicals there.”
The Englestad Theatre, modeled after open-air Elizabethan theatres of Shakespeare’s time, wasn’t built with a sound system to support a musical like Sweeney Todd. The design of the theatre relies almost entirely on the projection of the actors’ voices as the “sound system. “The space wasn’t designed to do this kind of work,” Girtain said. “So we are adding the infrastructure for that.”
Girtain explained that there are actually two parts to this project. First, especially for the upcoming season, the goal is to implement a system to support musicals. “Supporting a musical requires a different sound system to support the voice,” Girtain explained. “We didn’t have microphones, speakers, and a mixing area like we have in the Randall L. Jones Theatre for musicals.
However, there is a second, equally important, part to this project that patrons may appreciate even more: The long-term goal is to also reinforce the spoken word in all plays, not just musicals. “When we reinforce the sound of the spoken word, we want it to be a natural, subtle improvement,” Girtain said. “It will help the audience to understand the words better, but hopefully they won’t know the sound system is even there.”
Girtain explained that when focusing on reinforcing voice, it’s important to think about the placement of speakers. “Audience members don’t want the voice to come from behind them, but from the stage, from where the actors are singing and speaking, so we are adding equipment to do that,” he said.
The discussion surrounding this project began over two years ago, but the first sound study was conducted last June. Girtain explained that an acoustical consultant, Acoustic Distinctions, visited the theatre to help get the project rolling. “They measured the space, the road noise, etc. and created a plan for us to mitigate it,” Girtain said. “In an indoor theater, you can control ambient noise, and you have more surfaces to bounce sound off, so you can control the sound better. In a theatre with no roof, and basically no walls, there’s lots of ambient noise coming in, and that’s the biggest challenge. We don’t have control of the sound outside the theatre.”
But the implementation of this sound system hasn’t been an easy process. With supply chain issues, contractors trying to catch up on projects they couldn’t complete during the pandemic, and the increased cost of supplies since 2020, Girtain and the Festival electrics department led by Scott Palfreyman and Danielle Davis have had their hands full.
“Getting everything here in a timely manner has been one of the biggest challenges, especially with the deadline of a show opening,” Girtain said.” Yet, despite a few bumps in the road, the sound system will be ready to go for Sweeney Todd, and it will provide an even better sound experience for patrons.
“This change is going to make the enjoyment of all of our productions better because the voice is going to be easier to understand,” said Girtain. “Whatever seat you’re in, you’re going to be able to understand the text better.”
Enjoying a musical outside will be a completely different experience than attending one in an indoor theatre, and Girtain is excited to see how the patrons react. “We are good storytellers here at the Festival, and this will help us more clearly articulate those stories,” he concluded.
Q&A with the Director of King Lear
Vincent J. Cardinal brings vast experience to his direction of King Lear this summer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He has directed across the country, including work at the Festival: The Foreigner in 2018, Every Brilliant Thing in 2019, and The Comedy of Errors in 2021. He is excited to accept the challenge of making “a production that tells the story clearly and honestly while being entertaining and moving.” Find out what else he has to say about this stormy and majestic tragedy.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival: As playgoers, what should we watch for in this play that would help us enjoy/understand it better? Are there any special “easter eggs” you have implemented into the play as a director?
Director Vincent J. Cardinal: It is the story of a king who demands love and admiration and, through a series of epic reckonings, becomes a man who has earned love and respect. It is also the story of two families. There is King Lear and his three daughters and the Earl of Gloucester and his sons. Each family grapples, in their unique ways, to secure their futures. An image that audiences might appreciate is that of fire. It can illuminate and it can destroy. It can purify and it can ruin. Lear states: “But I am bound upon a wheel of fire, / That mine own tears do scald like molten lead.” In our production, audiences might take note of how fire is used throughout the play.
The Festival: What statement/ realization/ feeling do you hope audience members leave with after seeing the play?
Cardinal: I hope they are delighted by how robust and entertaining this great tragedy is when experienced live with great actors at the top of their craft.
The Festival: Why should people come see this play?
Cardinal: King Lear is one of the finest tragedies in the English language. There is great joy in experiencing the virtuosity of excellent actors speaking this text, breathing truth into these epic emotions, and telling a thrilling story that reminds us that love and community are more important than wealth and power.
The Festival: What challenges do you expect to come with directing this play?
Cardinal: Time. With a play this rich and with such a storied history of productions, I wish we had months to rehearse.
The Festival: Why are you excited to direct this play?
Cardinal: There is nothing like live theatre under the stars in southern Utah with this amazing company and this supportive community. The Utah Shakespeare Festival offers the opportunity to collaborate with some of our nation’s best designers, technicians, artisans, and management teams, not to mention a company of seasoned and rising actors. The Festival audience is smart, supportive, and terrifically enthusiastic. It is always exciting to work on first-rate plays with this community. I am so grateful to Brian Vaughn and Frank Mack for including me. King Lear challenges all of us to make a production that tells the story clearly and honestly while being entertaining and moving. It is amazing to be challenged at this level, as a team, by the greatest playwright in the English language.
The Festival: How long have you been directing plays? How long have you been with the Festival? Why are you a director?
Cardinal: My first professional directing job was at eighteen years old, but every production feels thrillingly like the first time. Directing is about creating the context for other artists to employ their genius in service of a shared story. I am a huge fan of theatre people and love to see them join forces and use their talents to illuminate what it is to be a human for a live audience.
Things You May Not Know about King Lear
By Liz Armstrong
King Lear, which is part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2022 season, is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It has been produced and studied (along with Hamlet) as one of the world’s greatest tragedies. But even with all this notoriety, the soaring and stormy play has a number of interesting tidbits that you may not be aware of. Try out these ten:
1 - One of the ideas most studied ideas surrounding the play is the character development of King Lear himself. Director Vincent J. Cardinal sums up his thoughts succinctly: “The journey of King Lear is of a man who demands love and admiration who then becomes a man who finally deserves love and admiration.”
2 - This is the Festival’s eighth production of King Lear. The first production was in 1965, followed by productions in 1972, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007, and 2015.
3 - In past seasons at the Festival, King Lear has been played at the Festival by Tony Amendola, Dan Kremer, William Metzo, Harold Gould, Anthony Defonte, William Wright, and Howard Jensen.
4 - Shakespeare wrote King Lear to be eighty years old or more—or “over four score.” Naturally, this has resulted in many actors who have played the king who were much younger than Shakespeare envisioned.
5 - The story of the old king has not always had such a tragic ending. The source of Shakespeare’s play (King Lier, written in 1594 or earlier) had a somewhat happier ending, with Lear surviving and being restored to his kingdom. Also, in 1692 Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear to have an even happier ending. In this version, Cordelia survives, is named queen, and is betrothed to Edgar.
6 - Tate’s more upbeat version of the play was hugely popular and was performed for over a century—until the early 1800s, when Shakespeare’s status as the English poet of poets became entrenched in the national consciousness.
7 - The character of King Lear hit too close to home during the reign of King George III and was banned from 1810 to 1820. Lear’s mental illness paralleled the real life ruler’s struggles just a bit too much.
8 - King Lear has inspired numerous modern writers. For example, Jane Smiley’s 1992 novel A Thousand Acres chronicles a successful farmer’s plans to retire and turn over his farm to his three daughters. Also, according to Danny Strong, the co-creator of the Fox television series Empire, which features a hip hop mogul and his three sons, was inspired by King Lear.
9 - You may not expect it, but the play includes a plethora of references to nature—over forty—and characters being compared to wolves, snakes, and sparrows.
10 - Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, thought Lear’s daughters represented the three fates in Roman and Greek mythology, with Cordelia representing Atropos or death.
King Lear Banned in England?
By Liz Armstrong
Considered by many to be not only Shakespeare’s stormiest tragedy, but his finest as well, you may be surprised to learn that King Lear was banned from England’s stages during the reign of King George III.
To find out why this popular play was forbidden, however, it’s important to dive into and understand the perplexing character of King Lear. Many describe the king as cruel, blind to his own faults, and extremely unlikeable. It is Lear’s lack of common sense that leads to the deaths of many, as well as to the ultimate downfall and destruction of his family. His need for flattery and the desire to test his daughter’s love and loyalty shows Lear’s instability, but it also earns the sympathy of the audience. He is a complex—and very human—king.
Shakespeare scholar William Hazlitt described Lear’s unstable temperament: “The explosions of his passions are terrible as a volcano: they are storms turning up and disclosing to the bottom that rich sea, his mind, with all its vast riches,” Hazlitt said. “It is his mind which is laid bare.”
Shakespeare wrote the play sometime between 1603 and 1606, and it was first performed around 1608 in the First Quarto. In 1623, the First Folio of the play was published, with significant textual differences. The version of the play we are most familiar with today is a conflation of these two early versions.
The tragedy hit English stages for the next twenty years, until Oliver Cromwell closed down all theatres in Britain. Resuming its stage presence when King Charles II took the throne, it was rewritten to have a happy ending in the late 1600s. You read that right, Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy was no longer a tragedy. This version of King Lear was performed for nearly 100 years, until around 1788 during the Regency period. This was during the reign of King George III, who took the throne in 1760.
King George III and King Lear seemed to have alarmingly similar parallels. Although the character was based on Leir of Britain from medieval times, Shakespeare’s Lear and King George were both aging British kings suffering bouts of madness. King George died both blind and deaf in 1820. Known for being the “mad king,” he suffered from a blood disorder called porphyria. However, in an article by BBC News, the symptoms showed that the king also most likely suffered from severe bipolar disorder.
As the play progresses, Lear descends into insanity, much like King George III did during his reign. In 1788, King George III had his first bout of madness, and in 1810, when he suffered again, the play was officially banned out of respect for the ruler.
Interestingly enough, the play may have been banned for other reasons as well. In 1815, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a fan of Shakespeare’s, wrote that the language in King Lear was too crude: “Shakespeare’s words are too indecent to be translated . . . his gentlefolk’s talk is full of coarse allusions such as nowadays you could hear only in the meanest taverns,” Coleridge said. A more family-friendly version was published by Thomas Bowdler, and this was the version most accessible to the public.
In 1823, actor Edmund Kean wanted to play the role of King Lear the way Shakespeare had written it, but it was heavily rejected by the audience. It wasn’t until 1838, when actor William MacCready took on the role, that the play was performed again in true tragedy-style, and close to Shakespeare’s original intentions.
King Lear has been through quite the journey. From being banned in Britain, the play has made an immense comeback, world-renowned as one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most popular tragedies. It is in its most true and tragic form that Vincent J. Cardinal will direct the play this summer.
Tickets for the 2022 season are now on sale at bard.org or 800-PLAYTIX.
Festival Schedules 2022 Classes
By Liz Armstrong
Shakespeare himself once said, “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven” (Henry VI Part Two). We agree, so what better way to gain knowledge than to take a class at the Utah Shakespeare Festival? The Festival is offering a variety of courses during its 2022 season, with something for everyone: aspiring actors, teachers, and lovers of Shakespeare, theatre, and learning-made-fun.
These interactive courses allow lovers of the arts to explore the world of theatre while gaining valuable skills. Education Director Michael Bahr noted that these classes are valuable because engaging education is happening all day, all of the time. Some of the classes also include Southern Utah University credits.
“Students learn through on-feet interactive activities during the day,” Bahr said. “Then see these lessons applied through plays during the evening productions and share their observations with company members in post-show discussions the next day.”
Classes include:
Playmakers Summer Camp (June 6–16) is for students 4–17 years old. Taught Mondays through Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m., this class is a two-week course that concludes with a Saturday performance. Focusing on Shakespearean scene work, music, and dance, it includes lessons on improvisation, collaboration, movement, voice and more. The course also includes a T-shirt and a ticket to a play.
Junior Actor Training (July 11–16 or 25–30) is for students 11–14 years old. Taught by Festival actors and teaching artists, students will experience training in voice, stage combat, improvisation, and scene work. Tuition includes dormitory accommodations, all meals, and tickets to seven plays at the Festival.
Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare Forum, and Shakespeare Seminar (June 20–October 8) is for students or playgoers of any age. These self-paced, individualized learning courses, allow patrons to receive Southern Utah University credits by attending two, four, or six plays, pre-show orientations, and post-show seminars. Students then also provide feedback through online forms.
Actor Training (July 18–23) is for students 15–18 years old. Taught by professional Festival actors and teaching artists, this course is focused on developing auditioning and acting skills in Shakespeare. The class also teaches text analysis and performance techniques. Tuition includes dormitory accommodations, all meals, and tickets to seven plays.
Arts Administration for the Theatre Classroom (June 27–July 1) is a professional development course aimed toward secondary education theatre teachers. Areas of study include general arts management, organizational leadership, financial management, marketing, development, and strategic planning. Teachers will be provided with an overview of arts administration and will learn how to incorporate the best practices into their classroom. Tickets to two plays are included in the tuition.
Theatre Methods for the Classroom (July 6–8 for secondary teachers and July 12–14 for elementary teachers) are professional development courses for teachers and administrators. Topics being taught will include instructional games, script adaptation, and tips on how to produce a play with limited time and resources. It explores methods of developing and implementing Shakespeare and theatre arts programs as a tool for varied curricula. Tuition includes classroom material, special sessions with Festival actors, and a ticket to one play.
Teaching Shakespeare (July 18–21) is for anyone interested in teaching about the Bard. The course will cover active and engaging classroom approaches to those who teach Shakespeare’s text and explore theatre techniques to aid in student engagement. Tuition includes tickets to four plays.
Tech for Teachers (July 25–27) offers the opportunity to acquire necessary tools to present plays from the technician’s point of view. Festival technicians will use hands-on learning experiences to teach designing, building, and running a production. Tuition includes a ticket to one play, as well as the opportunity to observe post-production changeovers.
“These interactive courses are very popular because of the intimate connections and instruction students are able to receive from working professionals,” Bahr said as he urged everyone to sign up soon and take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the Festival in an entirely different way.
Many of these classes have scholarships available. To inquire, email education@bard.org. For more information on the classes and to register, visit bard.org and click on “Camps and Classes” under the “Education” tab.
Two New Faces at the Festival
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce the hiring of two new professional artists and educators to join its administrative staff. Clare Campbell has joined the Festival as its new creative director, and Stewart Shelley will be joining the staff April 15 as the education programs manager.
Campbell has been working at the Festival as a part-time graphic designer for nearly five years, and the Festival is happy to have her move into this full-time position of creative director where she now oversees the graphic look of the Festival in all its printed and digital advertising, brochures, signage, etc.
She grew up a Navy family, living in many parts of the United States, spending the longest time in San Diego, California. She attended Southern Utah University and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree with a graphic design emphasis. While at SUU she served in student government and as Miss Native American SUU, working with the Native American Student Association. She loves being outdoors; following a myriad of sports, teams, and organizations; getting lost in museums; and spending time with family.
“I have worked on a wide sphere in the design world, including web-based module training, many freelance print/marketing/merchandise projects, marketing and managing tongue-in-cheek sales campaigns for goofy, viral companies, and then making a complete 180 leap into the world of theatre, sophistication, and fun!” Campbell said. “I am looking forward to many more years at the Festival in the role of creative director.”
As the new education programs manager, Shelley will work directly with Education Director Michael Bahr and provide operational support for all the Festival’s educational programming.
Shelley’s interest in theatre began in fifth grade when was cast as Kurt in his elementary school production of The Sound of Music. That experience during his formative years galvanized a lifetime in theatre and education. He earned a bachelors degree in theatre arts education from Brigham Young University, and a masters in education administration from Grand Canyon University. Stewart spent fourteen wonderful years as a high school theatre teacher, before making a big move with his family to the Caribbean, to teach at a private school on the island of St. Croix. Two category 5 hurricanes and a pandemic later Stewart and family moved to Netarts, Oregon to continue a career in theatre education.
“Being a part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival is a homecoming of sorts for me,” said Shelley. “As a young high school student I participated in the annual Shakespeare Competition every year, and then as a teacher I brought students to the Festival/competition each year. To now be on the other side helping provide learning opportunities and educational experiences is such a joy!”
Festival Plans Annual Make-a-Scene Event
By Liz Armstrong
Cedar City, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival has announced its annual Make-a-Scene celebratory event on March 31 at the West Valley Performing Arts Center in West Valley City, Utah. The one-night-only fundraising gala will feature a buffet dinner and a special performance of Every Brilliant Thing starring Festival favorite Michael Doherty and directed by Vincent J. Cardinal.
Doors open at 6 p.m., the buffet dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., and the performance starts at 8 p.m. As in years past, this year’s play will feature several surprise visits from political and business leaders and other Utah luminaries most audience members will recognize.
“This is always a fun event featuring wonderful Utah VIPs performing onstage alongside great Festival actors, all to benefit the Festival,” said Executive Producer Frank Mack. “This play is perfect because it is an audience participation show, so Michael will invite community leaders to participate with him, unrehearsed and spontaneously.”
The ticket price is $275 and is all inclusive; no additional fundraising will be part of the event. Table sponsorships are also available.
“Our Make-a-Scene event has become the most popular and successful fundraising event of the year for the Festival,” said Donn Jersey, development and communication director. “It is a festive evening of good food, good friends, and fun theatre.”
To reserve a spot, contact Donn Jersey at jersey@bard.org or 435-865-8002 or Emily Cacho at emily@bard.org or 435-586-7877.
“We are always thrilled to get to work with Michael Doherty, who is such a wonderfully spontaneous and creative actor and who is paired with an amazing director, Vincent Cardinal, for this event,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn.
Both Doherty and Cardinal will be familiar to Festival-goers. Doherty, who will play the Narrator, was at the Festival in 2021 as Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and The Joneses in The Comedy of Terrors. He appeared previously in *Charley’s Aunt, The Foreigner,*and the Festival’s production of Every Brilliant Thingin 2019.
Cardinal is returning to the Festival after directing The Foreigner in 2018, Every Brilliant Thing in 2019, and The Comedy of Errorsin 2021. He will also be directing King Lear this summer.
Every Brilliant Thingwas a phenomenal success in 2019, so much so that it was remounted as a touring production to Utah schools to support their suicide prevention efforts. It was performed over 160 times in more than 100 schools.
When the play went on tour, Governor Spencer J. Cox addressed its efforts in suicide prevention, calling it a “poignant, moving story with the potential to reach students who may be personally coping with depression or who are witnessing its impact within their family or social network.”
For more information about Every Brilliant Thing and the Make-a-Scene event, visit bard.org/make-a-scene.
Festival Presents "Give 'Em Hell, Harry!" in West Valley City
By Liz Armstrong
If you long for the days when politicians tackled big problems, worked together, and got things done, then you won’t want to miss Give ‘Em Hell, Harry! The Utah Shakespeare Festival will be presenting the one-man show March 29 to April 2 at the West Valley Performing Arts Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Tickets for both evening and matinee performances are now on sale. Visit www.wvcarts.org for details or to purchase.
The play will star Fred Grandy, who has experience in both theatre and politics. As an actor he is best known for his role as “Gopher” Smith on the hit television series, The Love Boat. As a politician he served four terms as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives, representing Iowa’s sixth district.
The play was written by Samuel Gallu and will be directed by Hunter Foster, who will also be directing Clue at the Festival this summer.
A biographical story about United States President Harry S. Truman, the play garnered its title from the 1948 election, when supporters shouted, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” during his speeches.
“When we saw the tape of Fred Grandy as Harry Truman, we knew right away we needed to present this play,” said Executive Producer Frank Mack. “Truman is a fascinating historical character, and in Fred’s hands he comes to life in hilarious and profound ways. I’m delighted to share this exciting production with our audience.”
The play chronicles Truman’s life, from childhood to the two terms he served as president. Sometimes ridiculed by his opponents as “the little man from Missouri,” Truman would leave the presidential office as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. As vice president, he assumed office when Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away only weeks into his fourth term and as World War II was nearing an end. This put Truman in the position to make the difficult decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.
The play captures Truman’s indomitable spirit and infectious humor—best depicted in his famous photo holding a newspaper aloft with the inaccurate headline “Dewey Defeats Truman” the morning after he won the election. It also reflects his particularly American leadership philosophy that still resonates today, including his description of the voting booth as “the most valuable piece of real estate in America.”
In 1975, the play premiere was hosted by Truman’s daughter at Ford’s Theatre. President Gerald Ford was in attendance, and the play then went on a six-city tour and has been re-staged many times since.
For more information on the play and to purchase tickets, visit wvcarts.org/harry.html.
About the Playwrights: "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd"
By Jess Boles-Lohmann
“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd,” intones a foreboding voice, and we are drawn into a dark world—the Tony Award-winning horror musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. You’ll notice that three writers are credited in the playbill:Christopher Bond, whose play the musical is based on, Hugh Wheeler, who wrote the book, and Stephen Sondheim, who composed the music and lyrics. The story of Sweeney Todd actually dates back to the nineteenth century, and each of these writers’ expertise helped craft something new and compelling. Let’s talk a bit about each of them and how they contributed to what you will experience while watching the play.
The primary source material for the musical comes from Christopher Bond, who wrote his version in 1974. Bond (born in 1945) is a British actor and playwright who wrote over thirty plays as well as serving as artistic director for several prominent theatres, and Sweeney Todd is his most famous contribution to theatre by far.
The character of Sweeney Todd first appears in penny dreadfuls, serialized pamphlets telling shocking horror stories for only a penny each. These massively popular stories gripped Victorian era England, and the Sweeney featured in them is an irredeemable, infernally wicked man who crept out of the darkness like a true monster. Bond, dissatisfied with this plain-old-evil Sweeney, took this long tradition and created something brand new: a story of righteous revenge with a sympathetic view of its main character.
Bond’s play borrows from the Jacobean revenge tragedy genre and gives Sweeney a haunting backstory and motive for his dark deeds. He isn’t a bogeyman; Bond’s play makes it clear that he is an abused and bereaved man driven to extremes by the crimes of people with power over him. Is it so far off from reality that an ordinary person could fall so far and commit atrocities? Bond primes his audience to sympathize with Sweeney to the point of asking, “What if this were me?” This is a powerful and uncomfortable comparison and a huge departure from the urban legend/monster story feel of earlier versions.
It’s difficult to separate the co-authors Sondheim and Wheeler when it comes to the story itself. Sondheim originally tried creating the libretto himself but found it didn’t come easily. That’s when Hal Prince suggested he contact Hugh Wheeler, a previous collaborator of Sondheim’s and Tony Award-winner for the book of their musical A Little Night Music. Wheeler (1912–1987) was a prolific writer, producing numerous mystery novels, short stories, screenplays, books of poetry, and more, in addition to his work in musical theatre. Beyond his collaborations with Sondheim, Wheeler wrote the libretto for Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and is noted by some sources as co-writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of Cabaret, among other musical theatre credits.
For Sweeney Todd, the pair built the structure of the play together and then separated for Wheeler to write the book and Sondheim the music and lyrics. The plot of Bond’s play is kept relatively intact by Sondheim and Wheeler, with most of the action occurring in the same narrative order.
One major change that the pair performed on the Bond script was the expansion of perhaps the musical’s most famous moment. In Bond’s play, Mrs. Lovett takes only a brief moment to mention what they might do to profit off of Sweeney’s first victim. “And with meat the price it is these days . . .” she says, and Sweeney picks up her meaning straight away: they will bake the bodies of his victims into her pies. Sweeney agrees and they fall into each other’s arms, “laughing helplessly.” Wheeler and Sondheim expand this brief interchange into a full-on, lively, and hilarious musical number, “A Little Priest,” giving us an extended look into their glee over their wicked plot. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett merrily plan, puns abound, and the pair triumphantly end the first act. This longer version forces us to dwell on the impending cannibalism for a long time before we are released to intermission. If we laugh along, it almost feels as if we are complicit. Are we allowed to have fun with this? Unspeakable things are happening onstage; what does it say about us if we laugh and clap for these two? I would argue that this structural change makes all the difference in the material hitting home for us in the audience.
Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) is far and away the most famous contributor to the musical, having composed the music and lyrics in 1979. He is arguably the most important theatrical artist of the late twentieth century, having created such timeless and beloved musicals as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Sunday in the Park with George,Into the Woods, and many more; in addition to these creations of his own, he contributed the lyrics to other timeless Broadway hits like West Side Story with Leonard Bernstein and Gypsy with Jule Styne.
Sweeney Todd was a massive departure from what was being offered on Broadway at the time, and something that sets this musical apart from others in his oeuvre is Sondheim’s use of underscoring, unusual for a musical. You’ll notice that orchestrations underlay almost all of the action. Typically, the music at the end of a song is used to cue the audience about when to react, most commonly with applause. Critically,continuous underscoring prevents us from clapping and celebrating the people onstage. We as the audience are tipped off our balance unconsciously by a relentless river of music that takes no break to praise itself. Like Poe’s tell-tale heart under the floorboards, the underscore keeps us on the edge of our seats. Are we supposed to laugh, reward the performers? No, we are not allowed to step outside of the grueling story even for a moment. The orchestrations call all our conventions of audience-ship into question. In this seemingly simple way, Sondheim actively transforms source material into something entirely new, something more akin to Hitchcock than Oklahoma.
This cinematic feeling we get while watching Sweeney Todd is no accident. In his book Finishing the Hat, Sondheim cites Hitchcock and other suspense films from his childhood as primary inspiration for his transformation of Bond’s original play, calling the musical “a movie for the stage” (Sondheim 332). Looking at his work this way brings clarity to why we feel so off-kilter when, for example, the orchestra swells with aggressive and discordant music to famously transition us out from “No Place Like London” and into Mrs. Lovett’s bakeshop. In a movie theatre, we don’t break our willing suspension of disbelief very often, remaining rapt even as we grab another fistful of popcorn. There is no built-in rest to glance at our companion or congratulate the actors on screen. We aren’t given a moment to remember that this isn’t real, that the actors are going back to their dressing rooms to refresh, that no one is in any real peril. Sondheim does what no one had done before and injects this filmmaker’s tool into musical theatre, creating “a musical horror story, one which would not be sung-through but which would be held together by ceaseless underscoring that would keep an audience in suspense and maybe even scare the hell out of them” (Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat : Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes [New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011]*,*p 332).
He pulls off a masterwork of adaptation, lending further complexity to the history of this story. We couldn’t expect any less from the late, great Stephen Sondheim, who we sadly lost last year. May his memory be a blessing.
The Infamous Role of Sweeney Todd: A Glance Back
Johnny Depp as Sweeney in the movie version of Sweeney Todd
By Liz Armstrong
Originally a non-musical play by Hugh Wheeler in 1974, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Streethas been produced as a musical many times since. The list of actors who have taken on the gigantic role of the vengeful Sweeney is long, but here are a few that stand out for us:
1979—Len Cariou: The very first production of the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler version of Sweeney Todd opened in 1979 on Broadway at the Uris Theatre and was directed by Harold Prince. The production received eight Tony Awards, eleven Drama Desk Awards, and the Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. Also, Cariou won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Although he played Henry Reagan in the CBS-TV show *Blue Bloods,*he is still best known as being “the original” Sweeney Todd.
**1980—George Hearn:**Hearn replaced Cariou in the Broadway musical, and in 1980 he and Angela Lansbury (as Mrs. Lovett) headed the first touring production. He later reprised the role in a Showtime production, for which he won an Emmy Award. He also won two Tony Awards, in 1984 for his portrayal of Albin in La Cage aux Follies and in 1995 for his work as Max Von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard. He has also appeared in many movies and television series. Hearn was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.
**1989—Bob Gunton:**In the first Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, Gunton earned his second Tony Award nomination for his work as Sweeney. He may be best known for his role as the strict warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 film *The Shawshank Redemption.*Other films he has appeared in include Ghostbuster: Afterlife (2021), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Patch Adams (1998), and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Television appearances include Star Trek: The Next Generationand *Law and Order.*Gunton alsoearned a nomination for a Tony Award in the Broadway production of Evitain 1980.
2002—Brian Stokes Mitchell: This production of Sweeney Todd was the first show of a mammoth four-month long Sondheim Celebration at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with Christine Baranski as Mrs. Lovett. A review in the Washington Post said, “Together, Baranski and Mitchell are the very faces of comedy and tragedy, the eternal odd couple that Sondheim brilliantly unites in this show.” A popular actor, Mitchell has performed in numerous film and television shows, as well as musicals such as South Pacific, Man of La Mancha, Kiss Me Kate, and Ragtime.
**2005—Michael Cerveris:**Cast as Sweeney Todd in the second Broadway revival, this wasn’t Cerveris’s first Stephen Sondheim musical. He was also cast in *Assassins, Road Show,*and *Passion.*He won Tony Awards for his role as John Wilkes Booth in Assassins and as Bruce Bechdel in *Fun Home.*In the John Doyle directed revival production of Sweeney Todd, the character played lyric guitar, and Cerveris was nominated for a plethora of awards, including the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and more.
**2007 - Johnny Depp:**DirectorTim Burton turned Sweeney Todd into a feature film in 2007, starring Johnny Depp as Sweeney and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett.Depp had wowed audiences for years for his film portrayals of eccentric characters, but he was cast for the role of Sweeney before anyone had really heard him sing. Even Depp commented that “he had never sung in his life.” However, the gamble paid off, and he received an Oscar nomination and a Globe Award for his performance.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival’s iteration of this perennially popular musical will play June 21 through September 9 as the first musical ever performed on its outdoor stage. The role of Sweeney has not yet been cast, but watch our website to see which actor we will choose to add to this long list of Sweeney Todds over the decades.