Performance Photos: SWEENEY TODD, by Austin Opera

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(Performance photos via Austin Opera)

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd . . . the dark and brooding, yet sharply comic, story of love, revenge, and meat pies. In his multiple-Tony-Award-winning musical, the late and much-beloved Stephen Sondheim created what Washington Post classical music critic, Anne Midgette, calls “the great American opera of the late 20th century.” At the broken heart of the story is the wrongly exiled barber, Sweeney Todd, as he returns to London to seek revenge on the lecherous Judge Turpin who ruined his life and destroyed his family. When Todd reunites with the ever-resourceful and ever-unscrupulous Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a local pie shop, his razor-sharp need for vengeance soon supplies Mrs. Lovett with as much meat as she needs for her new and highly popular range of delicious meat pies. But Sweeney’s desperate hunger for revenge cannot be satiated by a meat pie, however tasty.

Wielding his ruby-dripping razors as Sweeney Todd is bass Kevin Burdette, who audiences will remember climbing the slopes of Everest in January 2020. Grinding up the worst type of mystery meat is Grammy-winning soprano Mela Dailey as Mrs. Lovett, making her long-awaited return to Austin Opera since The Manchurian Candidate in 2016. Baritone Mark Diamond (Lauren + Mark Digital Concert Event) makes his live production debut as Anthony. Making her Long Center Season debut is Raven McMillon as Johanna. Raven last appeared in Austin Opera’s The Impresario, December 2020.

Wielding a searing baton, rather than a blood-soaked razor, is Sarah and Ernest Butler Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Timothy Myers as Doug Scholz-Carlson directs this blood-chilling and darkly hilarious production which spirals through the gaudy filth of 19th century London. As Sondheim’s distinctive music blends beautiful melody and harsh discordance, the electrifying action drives its disturbing tale from the veiled brutality of upper-class houses through the violent underbelly of the city’s working-class streets and docks, and ultimately, to its inexorably tragic conclusion in Mrs. Lovett’s bakehouse. As Sweeney himself says, “There’s a hole in the world that’s a great black pit, the vermin of the world inhabit it, and it goes by the name of London.”

Run time two hours and thirty minutes.

Review by Lynn Beaver for Austin Broadway World, January 30, 2023

Review by Bob Abelman for the Austin Chronicle, January 31, 2023

Review by Courtney Thomas for Sightlines magazine, January 31, 2023

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Steet – January 28-February 5

Join us this winter for Sondheim’s musical thriller, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street….a dark and brooding story of love and revenge, and of course meat pies. Considered Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, this multiple Tony Award-winning thrilling melodic work is brought to life by a cast of operatic stars this month. In the title role is bass, Kevin Burdette who audiences will remember climbing the slopes of Everest in 2020. Making her long-awaited return to Austin Opera is Grammy-winning soprano Mela Dailey as Mrs. Lovett. Baritone Mark Diamond, the other half of the dynamic Lauren + Mark Digital Concert Event duo, makes his live performance debut with Austin Opera as Anthony. And Raven McMillon makes her Long Center Season and role debuts as Johanna. You will not want to miss your chance to experience these incredible voices bring this drama to life!