Sweeney cutting it fine
A-Team’s Todd to open a day late
Sweeney Todd ensemble. Photo © Daniel Thompson
By Thom Dibdin
The A-Team production of Sweeney Todd, scheduled for a week long run at the St Brides Centre in Dalry from Monday 17 Feb, has had its opening night postponed.
The production of the Stephen Sondheim musical is the first from the North Edinburgh musical youth theatre group which is funded by the Big Lottery Young Start programme.
Chair of A-Team Productions, Sean Quinn, told Æ: “unfortunately Monday nights show has been pulled due to multiple cast illness. The show will now go on from Tuesday onward.”
He added that all ticket holders had been contacted but that he had not yet been able to stop the eventbrite ticketing site from selling tickets for the cancelled performance.
Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, was a winner of multiple Tony and Olivier awards on its original 1979 an 1980 productions on Broadway and London. Based on the Christopher Bond play of the same name, it has book by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
It is a gleefully dark tale of revenge and retribution, telling of Todd who returns to 19th century London after 15 years transportation on trumped up charges. He turns barber and exacts his revenge, with his barbershop conveniently upstairs from piemaker, Mrs Lovett, facilitating a tasty way of disposing of the victims.
Sweeney Todd first appeared in Thomas Peckett Prest’s ‘Penny Dreadful’: The String of Pearls, and has had many subsequent novels and stories. A slightly curtailed version of the Sondheim musical was filmed in 2007 with Tim Burton directing Johnny Depp as Todd and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett.
Raw Talent
Sweeney Todd, demon barber. Photo © Daniel Thompson
A-Team productions was formed last summer by Quinn with Hayley Dunn with secured funding of £20,180 from Young Start and other funding and support from Scotmid, Awards for All and The Daisy Chain Trust.
According to Quinn: “Our aim was to take the raw talent of young people who may never get the opportunity to become involved in musical theatre and take them on a journey of self-discovery and positive self-expression.
“The cast have put their all into developing their talent to ensure we can put on a professional production for the public, their families and their peers.”
Quinn and Dunn were both involved in youth theatre as young people and hope to use their own experience to inspire others.
Dunn adds: “We both gained a lot of enjoyment and confidence from our involvement in youth theatre and wanted to give something back in a different, more inclusive way. We wanted to ensure that every member of the cast felt they had an equally important role to play.
“What sets us apart is that we work as a team – the A-Team – and every person involved in the production is as important as each other with a vital role to play in ensuring everything comes together.”
Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tue 18 – Sat 22 February 2014
Daily 7.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm.
St Brides Centre, 10 Orwell Terrace, EH11 2DZ
Details on A-Team website: www.a-teamproductions.org/
Tickets from Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk
ENDS
