Sondheim's great music drama Sweeney Todd has not been performed nearly enough in Scotland. While the composer and librettist always denied that this was an opera, it has to be said that in recent years it has been performed largely by opera companies. But here we have the students of the Conservatoire, specifically the Final Year BA Musical Theatre course participating in a very complex and demanding enterprise.
Nowadays, of course, the Conservatoire has to present potential audience members with a list of the dreadful events of which they should be aware, and, if necessary steel themselves. Alright, everyone, the show does involve cannibalism. The last of this long list is 'animal death'. This stymied us for a while, but the only example we could come up with is Mrs Lovett's wonderful line criticising her rivals' products - 'popping pussies into pies'. Buyer beware!
It isn't long since the Conservatoire's last staging. It has also been done by Scottish Rep theatres. Perth gave its Scottish premiere with Donald Maxwell. More recently, in 2010, Dundee Rep did it when the company's director was James Brining, an expert hand with musical theatre. He later moved to Leeds, but is now back in Scotland, based at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. Let's hope that he will be able to resume his work on musicals. His interpretation of the early Kander & Ebb show Flora, the Red Menace at Dundee was especially memorable
New Athenaeum Theatre | Glasgow
2 Dec, 19.00 3 Dec, 19.00 4 Dec, 19.00 5 Dec, 19.00
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