Salem Community Theater presents ‘Sweeney Todd’ BLOODY good show

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

SALEM

Sweeney Todd” sure does lure in actors. The macabre musical by Stephen Sondheim is a magnet for top talent and Salem Community Theater’s production, which opens Friday, is the latest example.

Michael Dempsey, who is directing, said actors came from throughout Northeast Ohio to audition for roles. With such a strong pool to pick from, Dempsey was able to assemble what he calls an exceptionally strong cast.

“Sweeney Todd” tells the story of a man who escapes from wrongful imprisonment and returns to Victorian-era England to get even. He teams up with a woman in a scheme that not only disposes of the corpses they produce, but also provides free ingredients for her meat-pie shop.

It is exceptionally bloody, yet tinged with dark humor that delights audiences.

But exactly what makes the musical a holy grail for so many actors?

Dempsey explained.

“The roles are epic,” he said. “Large, archetypal roles. There is an unjustly exiled man. His wife is dead, and his daughter is the ward of the man who intends to marry her, a judge who is beyond corrupt. The revenge element is very compelling. He’s a broken and twisted man, but you get behind him as an antihero because we can empathize with the type of tragedy he endured.

“Then there is Mrs. Lovett, the proprietress of a meat pie shop. She makes practical use of him. The new recipe for her meat pies becomes a hit.

But the dark plot and characters are just one element that makes “Sweeney Todd” so ghoulishly great.

The other is the music.

“The lyrics are so funny, dark and so smart,” said Dempsey. “[To an actor], the opportunity to do the show is golden. There are epic and angry scenes that capture the entire dimension of human emotion.”

Mastering the music is challenging, said Dempsey. “It’s Sondheim’s masterpiece,” he said. “The music is beautiful, chilling, complex and almost operatic. We had a nine-week rehearsal period with three and a half weeks just on the music. And it has paid off.”

Although he has been enamored of the show for decades, Dempsey said the Salem production will be his first time doing “Sweeney Todd” as an actor or a director.

“I loved it my whole life, but the stars never aligned,” he said. “But I have seen an untold number of productions of it. I came to this show knowing it backward and forward.”

It’s common for theaters to put their own spin on the musical, but Salem’s version sticks to the original intent: to thrill and shock those in the seats.

In other words, there will be blood. Lots of it.

Dempsey and his crew have concocted gallons of the bright red stuff, which will spurt out in copious amounts with each throat slitting.

“It’s one of the reasons people come to it, and what makes it a fine Halloween piece,” he said.

Another key element is the set.

The barber chair where Sweeney Todd dispatches his victims sits atop a two-story structure that recreates the meat-pie shop. The bodies slide down a chute to the bake house.

The chair apparatus was rented from Great Lakes Theater Company.

“Sweeney Todd” will be performed six times over two- consecutive weekends.

The cast is led by Bernadette Hisey of Cleveland as Mrs. Lovett and Salem veteran Christopher Hager as Sweeney Todd.

The rest of the cast includes Eric Kibler, Donny Wolford, Matthew Schomer, Niki Slaven, Roz Blystone, Tara Holl, Jacob Henry, Bret Cowden, Jessica Whelan, Niki Cuthbertson, Dave Wack, Justin Steele, Michael Newman, Emma Janofa, Maggie Cull, Kari Lankford, Ed Phillips, Nick Berger, Amber Mondak and Johnna Blystone.