“His voice was soft, his manner mild
He seldom laughed but he often smiled
He’d seen how civilized men behave
He never forgot and he never forgave
Not Sweeney
Not Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street …”

Photograph by Kate Olsen
Sweeny Todd returns to London to get his revenge after being exiled to Australia on false charges.

On Oct. 5, 565 people attended Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The performance was a production of the Networks Company.

After a minor incident when the fire alarms went off due to the fog from the production, the play started with the company singing “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.”

“I saw the revival show in 2006 on Broadway that this tour is based on that won six Tony Awards,” John Hassig, director of performing and visual arts programs and facilities, said. “This show was literally identical to that performance – except different actors.”

In the play, Benjamin Barker enjoys middle class life with his wife Lucy Barker and their infant daughter Johanna, until the villainous Judge Turpin exiles Barker to Australia on false charges in order to have Lucy all to himself. When Todd returns to London, Barker befriends Anthony, a young sailor, and changes his name to Sweeney Todd to delude his true identity.

Todd meets Mrs. Lovett, the owner of the bakery underneath the parlor where Todd used to do his work as a barber. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself after Turpin raped her, and then he kept ToddÕs daughter, Johanna, as his own.

To seek his revenge, Todd revisits his past job as a barber. He slits the throats of his wealthy customers and drops the bodies in his basement through the trapdoor under the barber chair. Mrs. Lovett helps dispose of the bodies by taking their flesh and baking them into her meat pies that she sells in the bakery.

The stage held a simple set for the production; it was a wooden floor on half the stage, a wall with a door placed upstage.

A solitairy black coffin was situated at the center of the set. During “The Ballad…,” the cast took the top off the coffin and unfolded the sheet that rested on top of actor Merritt David Janes, who played Sweeney Todd.

“It was as close as you can get to seeing a Broadway show without going to New York and paying $120 to see it. I thought it was incredible,” Hassig said.

Not only actors and singers, the performers also played all the instruments during the musical. Instruments played included the keyboards, clarinet, trumpet and accordion.

“They intertwined the story and the instruments, it was amazing,” Katie Dexter, freshman criminal justice major, said.

“It was very diverse; everyone did a little of everything,” Kalynn Raifsnider, sophomore psychology major, said. Raifsnider attended the play with friend, junior professional writing major, Suzi Morath.

“It was nothing I expected; such a small cast doing everything like that,” Morath said.

“Networks is one of the major Broadway touring companies,” Hassig said. The company is currently touring other Broadway hits like Annie, the Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Rent and Wizard of Oz.