The Sullivan Theater is young, but it has already gained traction and created a great name for itself by creating beloved theater for the Baton Rouge community. Last year, the company had major hits with its productions of “Oklahoma!” and “Noises Off.”
To ignite a new year of riveting and vibrant productions, the Sullivan Theater is starting with one of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest works: “Sweeney Todd.” Set in Victorian England during a time of great struggle is a story inspired by the pages of penny dreadfuls.
Penny dreadfuls were salacious and often violent serialized stories that were printed and vigorously consumed by the public. One of those stories was “The String of Pearls” that told the story of a barber named Sweeney Todd. The story of a murderous man and what he and his companion did with his victims’ remains has enthralled the public since the 19th century.
Hundreds of years later in a small south Louisiana theater, there will be a group of artists recreating a vision of those London streets filled with hauntings, death and pies full of a mystery not many can solve.
Gabby Cario is a performer and recent NYU graduate, and she plays the role of Mrs. Lovett. The preparation process for Cario began a while ago. She started learning Lovett’s songs back in university, so when she was cast, there was only the matter of fully stepping into the world of the character.
”She’s so complex and even her first few songs, you learn so much about her and what she is and who she is and how she functions in this society,” Cario said.
Working on a show like “Sweeney Todd” is a dream come true for many performers, but it also can be one of the greatest challenges. Stephen Sondheim is known as one of the greatest musical composers and writers of all time because of the caliber of his work. With something as textured and complex as a Sondheim musical, the process of creating the world of the show can be challenging.
Cario described the process of finding Mrs. Lovett as a character and perfecting all of the vocal and physical parts of the role.
“I’ve done a lot of character work with her trying to find out what her motivations are, what gets her up and gets her going and things like that,” Cairo said. “And then also on the vocal, singing side … I’ve done a lot of work preparing my voice to basically run a marathon.”
Actors Angela Lansbury and Helena Bonham Carter both gave iconic performances as Mrs. Lovett on stage and on screen, respectively, and Annaleigh Ashford is the most recent person to play Lovett on Broadway.
Cario said she has taken inspiration from the previous Mrs. Lovetts, but she has carved out her own version for this production. Sondheim’s work is particular, and Cario has spent so much time with it that she allows how the music is written to help her shape Lovett as a character.
“I’m just excited to keep finding new things. I don’t want to ever fall into the same thing every night,” she said. “This character has a lot to discover and that’s what makes me really excited about performing and acting in general, but especially with Mrs. Lovett.”
The appeal of “Sweeney Todd” is not only the dark nature of the story, but the lack of objectively moral characters. And if anyone in the story could be considered evil or the true antagonist, it would be Judge Turpin.
Played by Devin Rodgers, Judge Turpin is the object of Sweeney Todd’s ire and the reason for many of the events in the musical. Rodgers talked about the process of working on this show especially, as this is their first Sondheim show.
“The way he writes music is a little insane,” Rodgers said.
The Importance of Being Earnest was Rodgers’ last show, and they said the fast pace of that play helped them prepare for working with Sondheim.
Judge Turpin isn’t the role anyone jumps at playing because of the character’s manipulative and predatory behavior, yet Rodgers chose it for the challenge. They have never played a truly unlikeable character before, so they wanted to try their hand at playing a character that is virtually impossible to like.
“It’s a fun show, and we get to be murderous,” they said.
Rodgers has played villains before. The summer before last, they were Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast,” but they pointed out Gaston is still liked by the town in the play. Turpin is a challenge because he doesn’t have the same charm.
“I don’t think Turpin thinks he’s the hero,” Rodgers said. “I think he just thinks he’s inevitable.”
If there is one sentiment shared among the cast of “Sweeney Todd,” it’s the knowledge that the text is a lot of work. Rodgers said they were most excited for the public to see all the work the ensemble put in for the show.
The other idea present for Devin Rodgers as they have been working on the show is class disparity.
“Seeing that message, there’s this overlord that is kind of controlling what everybody can and can’t do, and he feels like he has no worries in the world because nothing affects him,” said Rodgers.
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” opens at the Sullivan Theater Feb. 20 and will run until March 8th. Tickets and more information about the Sullivan are available through its website.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lsureveille.com ’
