John Fagan vividly remembers when he first heard Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical “Sweeney Todd.”
Then a teenager and budding actor, Fagan was captivated by the Broadway show’s dynamic music and edgy storyline about a barber who seeks murderous revenge.
“I thought it was amazing,” Fagan said. “I purchased the double album and wore it out.”
Flash forward to today: Fagan, the longtime director of the Upstate Shakespeare Festival, is staging “Sweeney Todd” at the Mauldin Theatre Company, Nov. 7-24.
The Tony Award-winning musical follows an unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th-century London to seek vengeance against those who wronged him and attacked his young wife.
The show features propulsive music such as the opening number “Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd” but also some of Sondheim’s most tuneful ballads, such as “Johanna,” “Pretty Women” and “Not While I’m Around.”
Fagan admires Sondheim’s and book writer Hugh Wheeler’s craftsmanship in creating a story that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats.
“It’s an amazingly well-written piece of theater,” Fagan said. “You’re never sure what’s coming next.”
Iconic roles
The show spotlights at least two of Broadway’s most iconic roles: those of Sweeney (Griffin Lewis in this production) and Mrs. Lovett (Jackie Collison), the latter a proprietress of a failing pie shop.
“We really hit the jackpot on the casting,” said Kristofer Parker, artistic director of the Mauldin Theatre Company.
With 30 actors in the total ensemble, the show features the largest cast in the theater’s history, Parker said.
Parker has been scheduling a season of challenging musicals. “Sweeney Todd” arrives close on the heels of the theater’s well-received “A Chorus Line.”
“I thought it was important for the theater to do ‘Sweeney Todd,’” Parker said. “It was the first show I ever saw in Greenville (at Centre Stage). I remember being amazed.
“People are very excited because ‘Sweeney Todd’ hasn’t been done here in a long time,” he added.
Want to go?
What: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” by Stephen Sondheim
When: Nov. 7-24
Where: Mauldin Cultural Center, 101 E. Butler Road, Mauldin
Tickets: $15-$20
Info: mauldinculturalcenter.org
