MILES STERNFELD
SWEENEY TODD
stephen sondheim + hugh wheeler // set in 1980's serial killer obsessed america // columbia university
direction miles sternfeld
music direction lena gabrielle
scenic design brendan gonzalez boston
costume design josh oberlander
lighting design shane hennessy
sound design julian evans
projection design etzu shaw
props design trey blevins
sfx/blood design steven tolin
hair/makeup design conor donnelly
associate direction denis lambert
produced tatum ludlam
cast: jonathan grunert (sweeney todd), julia meadows (mrs. lovett), diego millan (anthony), josslyn shaw (johanna), george sopko (judge turpin), jack kotanen (tobias), marie anello (beggar woman), peter sullivan (beadle bamford), pasqualino beltempo (adolfo pirelli); ensemble: ryan john, evan blackwell, allicia lawson, izaya perrier, hannah kulawiak, colin ring, anna kirkland, david william klak, adam white, tara halpern, sadie spivey; swings: brianna barnhart, will paddock
director's note
I’ve long regarded Sweeney Todd as one of my favorite musicals. I chose to divert from the big, melodramatic approach and take a more forensic, sober look at the story – an autopsy on American violence. What makes someone become a psychopathic serial killer and why is America culturally saturated with true crime? Our team set the production in a fictitious Middle American city, utilizing a melange of American dialects rather than British, during the height of the American serial killer sprees of the 1980s. As the crime scene of Sweeney Todd unfolded like a true crime documentary, reporters, investigators, and media outlets collected their findings to psychoanalyze the demon barber of Fleet Street. Conceptual research and inspiration included Night Stalker, Dahmer, Keep Sweet Pray & Obey, Saw, and Joker.
Date
INTERVIEW: Miles Sternfeld’s Revivals Conjure Bold Surprises
“When you put [Mrs. Lovett’s] story and her action in a naturalistic context, there is a lot more that comes out in terms of her need to survive, her financial situation, [how] over the course of the play she becomes enmeshed with Sweeney.”
show photography by grace copeland