He's Sweeney Todd, in the classic Stephen Sondheim musical. It's a horror story about a barber seeking murderous revenge against the corrupt judge who sent him to prison on a trumped-up charge. Theater Latté Da opened its new production last weekend, and Classical MPR gives you get a private preview with three stars.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is ultimately a love story, about desperate people driven by love to do the most terrible, tragic things. As Sweeney Todd's murder victims accumulate, his friend, Mrs. Lovett, sees a solution in her meat pie shop. As Sondheim put it, "… the problem was how to make an outrageous story believable." Theater Latté Da creates a masterful mélange of tragedy, comedy, horror, and love story, as only Sondheim can devise.
Mark Benninghofen is a veteran stage actor, recently in the Guthrie's Juno and the Paycock, making his musical debut as Sweeney Todd. Sally Wingert plays Mrs. Lovett, returning to Theater Latté Da after roles in Masterclass and Cabaret. Tyler Michaels, whose performance in Cabaret took the Twin Cities by storm, stars as Tobias. With Music Director Denise Prosek at the piano, they sing highlights and talk with Director Peter Rothstein about this classic work, which finds a home in both the theater and the opera house.
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