Opera Montana brings Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd to the Ellen Theatre stage in January. This beloved musical opens on January 30, 2025, and offers eight performances over two weekends, closing with a Sunday matinee on February 9.

The story of Sweeney Todd is set on Fleet Street in London in the 19th century. A poor barber on Fleet Street takes revenge upon a corrupt judge who framed him, raped his beautiful wife, and sentenced him to Australia, a penal colony, for fifteen years. Upon his return to England, the barber, driven crazy by now, takes on the name Sweeney Todd and sets up his barber shop again next to a pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett. They work together to exact Sweeney Todd’s revenge through a murderous escapade.

Sweeney Todd is based on a fictitious character, as is Mrs. Lovett, his lover. However, it is likely that these two main characters in this play were based on real people who committed serial murder in 18th century England.

During the Victorian Era, popular pamphlets called “Penny Dreadfuls” were published weekly, filled with stories of ghoulish murder and gruesome violence. Readers rushed to buy the current issues of these serials to follow story lines. In 1846 George Pitt, an English actor and playwright, adapted one of these Penny Dreadful stories, “A String of Pearls,” creating the first version of Sweeney Todd, which was performed in 1847. Further adaptations of this popular play were produced and staged in British theatres throughout the 19th Century, and well into the 20th Century. In 1973, Christopher Bond, another British actor and playwright, wrote and staged his own version of this play.

Upon seeing Bond’s play, Stephen Sondheim saw an opportunity to create a revenge tragedy set to his music, and asked Bond about turning the script into a musical, which resulted in Henry Wheeler writing a book and Stephen Sondheim composing the music and lyrics, creating the Sweeney Todd we will see performed in Bozeman. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street became Stephen Sondheim’s tenth Broadway production in 1979, and won eight Tony Awards.

Michael Sakir, Artistic Director for Opera Montana, describes why Sondheim is a very popular draw here in Montana, and why the Opera chose to bring Sweeney Todd to Bozeman now: “Opera Montana’s 2023 production of Sondheim’s Into the Woods broke our winter musical ticket sale records. It was clear to us that there was a major appetite in Bozeman for high-quality, large-scale musical theatre and, in particular, the work of Stephen Sondheim. From its 1979 Broadway debut featuring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou, through Tim Burton’s 2007 film starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and up to the recent 2023 Broadway revival with Josh Groban, Sweeney Todd has enjoyed ongoing worldwide appeal. After over 45 years of such acclaim, Opera Montana believed it was finally time for Sweeney Todd to make its local professional premiere in Bozeman.”

Sondheim thought of the work as an obsession—a basic revenge tragedy. However, Harold Prince, director of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in its Broadway debut, saw the show more as a giant portrait of the Industrial Revolution, an examination of the general human condition of the time as it related to men like Todd. Sondheim felt that Prince’s metaphor represented a factory that produced soulless, defeated, hopeless “Sweeney Todds,” but at the same time realized that Prince’s vision allowed the play to become a large, full stage operatic-style production, rather than a small dark, revenge tragedy.

Sakir points out that Opera Montana is rehearsing this musical production for an additional week, simply due to the extra time required to rehearse with Sweeney’s infamous barber’s chair, and to get all the other special “bloody” effects right. Watch for the special barber’s chair when you come to see the show!

The tale of Sweeney Todd, a barber who murdered and then baked his victims into pies is one of the most macabre and sinister shows to be performed on stage. Stage aficionados have sometimes argued about whether it is an opera or a musical; it is a musical comedy, as over eighty percent of the production is sung, and nearly all of the show has underscoring dialogue. As Sakir says, “Sweeney Todd is a thrilling roller coaster ride of horror and humor. There is no better example of Sondheim’s mastery of songwriting and storytelling. He creates complex characters and portrays their pursuit of love or vengeance with such innovative lyrics and music.”

Opera Montana is bringing back many favorite performers from previous shows. Some of the names and faces you might recognize in Sweeney Todd include Evan Tyrone Martin and Daniella Dalli (The Baker and Baker’s Wife from Opera Montana’s 2023 Into the Woods), who will once again perform together, headlining as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Quinn Bernegger comes back for his fourth winter musical in a row with Opera Montana as a young sailor-turned-lover named Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd. Soprano Cristina Maria Castro returns to Bozeman as Johanna, following her recent performances in The Montana Mikado and The Falling and the Rising.

In addition to these familiar faces, a long list of local favorites bring their world-class talent to Sweeney Todd, including Annabella Joy as the Beggar Woman, Jeff Kitto as Adolfo Pirelli, David Warner as the Beadle, Bozeman High School senior Jonah Daniels as Tobias, and seventeen other singers and actors from the Bozeman area.

Opera Montana typically does six performances of their shows. However, due to the popularity of Sweeney Todd, they are offering eight performances this time. Performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights start at 7 pm, and Sunday matinees begin at 3 pm. All performances are at the Ellen Theatre. Tickets are available at www.operamontana.org/show/sweeny-todd.