Casting Call: 'Sweeney Todd'

Villagers Theatre will hold auditions this month for an upcoming production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

Auditions will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 and 12, with callbacks Nov. 13. Prepare 16 to 32 bars of music in the style of the show. Auditionees may be asked to sing scales or demonstrate their vocal range. Do not sing anything from the show.

The rare instance of a musical thriller, "Sweeney Todd" tells the pennydreadful tale of a barber unjustly exiled 19th-century barber who returns to London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravished his young wife.

His thirst for blood soon expands to include his customers, and the resourceful proprietress of the pie shop downstairs soon has the people of London lining up in droves with her mysterious new meat pie recipe.

Sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical nevertheless has a great sense of fun, mixing intense drama with howlingly funny moments of dark humor. Audiences will find themselves laughing hysterically one moment and gasping in surprise the next.

Roles are:
  

Adolfo Pirelli B2 - C5	A flamboyant Italian rival barber; a charlatan with a secret past.
Anthony Hope B2 - F4	A naive and youthful sailor returning to London. He helps Todd return to London and unexpectedly falls in love with Johanna.
Beggar Woman A3 - F5	A deranged and schizophrenic woman who harbors a dark, surprising secret.
Johanna B3 - A5	A spritely girl, full of innocence, constantly yearning for freedom. Todd's long-lost daughter and Turpin's ward.
Jonas Fogg N/A	The owner of Fogg's Asylum. He sells the hair of madmen to wigmakers.
Judge Turpin E2 - G4	A lecherous public official who portrays himself as a sanctimonious authoritarian. He takes advantage of his position in the city and is responsible for imprisoning Todd.
Mrs. Lovett G3 - E5	An entrepreneurial and amoral meat pie shop owner. She falls in love with Todd and turns his desire for revenge into a profitable business venture.
Sweeney Todd  F2 - G4	A wrongfully imprisoned barber seeking to right the wrongs committed against him. He is Johanna's father, singularly focussed on taking bloody revenge. Our story's tormented protagonist.
The Beadle D3 - D5	A pompous public official. He is deeply loyal to the corrupt Turpin.
Tobias Ragg B2 - A4	A poor youngster apprenticed to Pirelli. He finds a surrogate family in Todd and Lovett.
Ensemble	Townspeople, lunatics, customers, etc.

The show will be produced by Pam Luckenbaugh and Joe Buz, and directed by Khy Garner.

For more information please email joe@villagerstheatre.com or call (732) 259-4252.