Attend the tale of SWEENEY TODD

"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd. His skin was pale and his eye was odd.

He shaved the faces of gentlemen Who never thereafter were heard of again."

When it comes to musicals, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is one strange animal.

It's part slasher movie, part urban legend and part forerunner of "Soylent Green," with enough vengeance and plotting to please a Greek tragedy.

No wonder morbidly minded film director Tim Burton was drawn to the story. His 2007 movie version of "Sweeney Todd," (starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter), which won two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award, was just one of the many versions of this tale.

The story of Sweeney Todd is more than 150 years old. He first appeared in "The String of Pearls," a penny dreadful series that ran from 1846-1847. In the original story, the barber would murder customers by having them fall through a trap door, then go into the basement and slit their throats.

Somewhere along the line, the order became reversed, with Todd first slitting his customer's throats, then dropping them into the basement.

COURTESY PHOTO The cast of Sweeney Todd. The musical is on stage at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall through Sunday, Feb. 1.

But the victims' ultimate fate remained the same: becoming the filling of Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.

In some versions, Todd is insane. In others, he's just pure evil.

In the 1973 play by Christopher Bond, he's driven by a thirst for revenge.

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler based their hugely successful 1979 musical on Bond's version, calling it "A Musical Thriller." (Hal Prince produced, and Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury played the leads.)

John Doyle's production opened on Broadway in 2005, a scaled-down version in which the actors are also the orchestra, playing instruments. It starred Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris and was nominated for numerous Tony Awards, including Best Revival. It received a Tony for Best Direction and Best Orchestration.

A national touring production of John Doyle's production will play at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall through Feb. 1.

"I think it's a story of revenge, of an average person being wronged and seeking out revenge, and what happens when you do that," says Adam Hunter, director of the touring production. "It's just a moral tale. You have to be careful what you do, and not let the revenge side take over.

"And it's clever, when, all of a sudden, it's taken to that second level of, well, what do we do with the bodies? Well, make them into meat pies! So it's sort of a success tale and a revenge tale all rolled into one.

"In the end, everyone gets what they deserve for the actions they took."

Mr. Hunter's worked with Mr. Doyle on numerous shows, so he's recreated this show in line with his mentor's vision.

"I was fortunate enough to work on the Broadway production (of 'Sweeney Todd'), so I have a lot of intimate knowledge of how it was all put together," Mr. Hunter says. "The first step in the process is finding the cast. We weren't looking to find the same type of performers, the same type of actors to fulfill the roles."

But because the roles call for actor/ musicians, they had to find people who played the same instruments.

"In other instances, when casting a Broadway show, people have a certain image of the original performer, and they expect to find someone who is that 'type,' that look and that style of actor. So I was freed from that," he says.

The actors he chose to play Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett (Merritt David Janes and Carrie Cimma) are very different from Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone.

"They look very different from the people who played the role on Broadway," he says. "They're younger and have a different quality about them.

"Across the board, everybody in this show, that you're going to see in Fort Myers, is a different physical type than the people who did it in New York.

"The story is just as strong as ever."

It's difficult to find actors who are also strong musicians, Mr. Hunter admits.

"There are three productions of this in the U.S. and many in the UK, and I'm always amazed in the end that we find someone," he says. "But we always do. They come out of the woodwork, and there's the tenacity of the casting director who keeps looking, keeps widening the net, to find the talent. We've never had to compromise any of the elements of the show in any of the productions. We keep going and going and looking and looking, and come up with great actors who are great additions."

Mr. Hunter raves about his two leads. What he likes about Mr. Janes is that you see a journey within his performance, he says.

"He's not always a villain. He really shows the journey and arc of what happens to that man. And it's accessible. There's a quality that Merritt has as a human, as a man, that allows people to access that character, in a great way, as just a regular guy. You feel for him, with his tragedy. And he's killing people, but you still want him to get what he wants in the end, even though he turns into a serial killer. I attribute that to the greatness of Merritt and his performance."

As for Carrie Cimma, who plays Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's partner in crime, "She's super. She's really funny. She connects to the humor really well," he says. " Merritt and Cimma just play off of each other really well, they listen to each other. I'm really happy to have her in the company. It's integral to get people so they're not alienated to our story, to get them to laugh.

"The humor is very important, as it is through all of Sondheim's work. He peppers the heavy moments, he's always undercutting them with humor. That's to get the people back in, I think. And she does that for us. She hits every one of those comic moments right on. So she's integral in keeping the audience with us."

The biggest difference between Hal Prince's production and John Doyle's is that with the latter, 10 actors tell the story and play all the music. The traditional production had an ensemble of over 30 people.

"And it happens on a single set; there aren't huge pieces of automated scenery," Mr. Hunter says. "The original production of 'Sweeney Todd' was enormous, in its physical production, its cast and its orchestra. John Doyle was able to get it down to its core necessities: what do you absolutely need to tell people the story of Sweeney Todd? And that's the beauty of it."

Mr. Hunter began working with Mr. Doyle when he brought his production of "Sweeney Todd" to the states, and has worked with him on all his theatrical productions since then.

"We have a very close working relationship," he says. "He's really fantastic to work with. It's great working with a director who has such a strong visual image of what he wants. There's a lot of indecision in the world, and also in the theater, and he has a clear idea of what he wants. It's inspiring, working with him.

"Working on 'Sweeney Todd' the first time was one of the times where you say, 'Oh, this is why I do theater, to do a piece of musical theater like this, in this way.' It makes everybody better at their job when it's made clear what the person in charge wants, and he really knows what he wants. It's not like he's demanding: do this, that. It's a complete collaborative process.

"But you're in strong, confident hands when he's in charge. I'm also grateful to him for his generosity in letting me take over the project. He has done his 'Sweeney Todd' and he is happy with it. And he trusts me to take it down the road."

Mr. Hunter feels the 2007 movie version will help audiences with name recognition.

"I think it can be told in so many different ways, and that Hal Prince's huge production and John Doyle's actor/ musician production, and the Tim Burton movie, just goes to show that it truly is a masterpiece, and you can tell it in so many different ways. And people will like it no matter how you tell it.

"That's why I like that the movie version is out there. It will introduce more people to the story, and then they may come and see our version of it. People might say: 'Oh, I know that story. I saw the movie. Let's go see how they did it.'

"It's exciting, and I'm amazingly proud to be involved in 'Sweeney Todd,' in the history of the musical. Because it truly is a masterpiece."

.. if you go

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" >> When: Through Feb. 1 >> Where: The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, 8099 College Parkway, Fort Myers >> Cost: $60, $45, $35, $25 >> Information: Call 481-4849 or go to www.bbmannpah.com.