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| Rick Tabor is Sweeney Todd and Caroline Collins is Mrs. Lovitt in the Theatre Department's production of ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.? |
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| Tabor stars as Sweeney Todd, an innocent man turned monster seeking revenge on those who wrongfully imprisoned him. |
For the first time in six years, the Cal Poly Pomona Theatre department will be staging a musical?but it won?t be the light and bright production that people often associate with musical theater. From Feb. 21 through March 2, Stephen Sondheim?s dark musical ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street? will be performed in the University Theater.
??Sweeney Todd? is a musical without the typical musical stigma,? says Josh Machamer, the production?s director. ?It is simply a great play that has music. That is the brilliance of Stephen Sondheim?the music is seamless. It is a valuable work to expose the students and community to because of the depth of the music.?
?Sweeney Todd,? which is based on books by Hugh Wheeler and Christopher Bond, tells the story of an innocent man turned monster seeking revenge on those who wrongfully imprisoned him. He becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, happy to oblige his customers with the closest (and last) shave they will ever know.
Stephen Gothold, who is musical director of the university?s production of ?Sweeney Todd,? has conducted more than 100 musical shows for over 25 years.
Rick Tabor, a theatre major, stars as Sweeney Todd.
“This is hands down the most challenging role yet,” he says. “I mean that in the most positive sense. It feels like an opera in the sense that there are more lines that are sung than spoken.”
Cal Poly Pomona?s production of ?Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street? will be performed at 8 p.m. on Feb. 21, 22, 27, 28 and March 1; at 10 a.m. on Feb. 25-26; and 2 p.m. on March 2. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for faculty, staff, students, seniors and groups. For ticket information, contact the Box Office at (909) 869-3800.