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.