Articles Tagged With: Sondheim

Sweeney Todd at Rogue Swan Theatre Company ???? James Craig

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Rogue Swan Theatre Company

Reviews September 27, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

The more he bleeds the more he lives…he never forgets and he never forgives…not Sweeney… not Sweeney Todd…and you do not wish to be on his hit list, I assure you. Rogue Swan Theatre Company, celebrating their ten-year anniversary, has gone all out— not just the spacious stage and auditorium of Havre de Grace’s STAR Centre— but they’re producing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on said STAR Centre’s mainstage and this beast of a Sondheim musical is waiting with glistening razor edge and an unusually unique Rogue Swan hallmark stamped across its existence.

Into The Woods at Woodbrook Players

Reviews May 7, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Right and wrong don’t matter in the woods… only feelings. And the feeling is that Woodbrook Players has some talented vocalists appearing in their current production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods. Directed by Ron Oaks with Musical Direction by Bryan Alston, this iconic fairytale-gone-wrong musical brings all of your favorite storybook characters together to unravel their stories amid the darkness of the woods. Sondheim is a bear at the best of times (not featured in this particular woodsy setting,

The North American tour of Company ???? Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Company at The Kennedy Center

Reviews March 16, 2024 Leonard Taube

Somebody hold me too close. Somebody hurt me too deep. Somebody sit in my chair and ruin my sleep and make me aware of being alive. Being alive. That’s the plea of protagonist Bobby in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company (book by George Furth) which is currently gracing the stage in the elegant Opera House at The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts in our nation’s capital. Originally produced in 1970 Company was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won six.

Merrily We Roll Along at Greenbelt Arts Center

Reviews January 16, 2024 Stephen Duda

When Director Roy Hammond got the rights for Merrily We Roll Along in 2019, little did he know a pandemic and some Broadway wizardry would interfere. But it’s up! And it’s amazing! This 1981 musical covers the trials and tribulations of three artistic friends … backwards … starting with their ultimate breakup and ending with the hopeful youths staring up on a roof in October 1957. Being Sondheim, you’ll be hard pressed to whistle a melody on the way home,

Nathan Russell (left) as Sweeney Todd and Kelly Stoneberger (right) as Mrs. Lovette at Small Town Stars Theatre Company. ????Mort Shuman

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Small Town Stars Theatre Company

Reviews October 20, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

No one can help. Nothing can hide you. Isn’t that Sweeney there beside you? Sweeney— Sweeney— there— there! There! THERE! And if you’re in the state of Maryland the demon barber of fleet street is literally everywhere right now. With no fewer than three theatres producing the bloody Sondheim classic, it’s no wonder that Small Town Stars Theatre Company wanted to throw their hat in the ring and invite you to attend their tale of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Sweeney Todd at The Havre de Grace Opera House. ???? Matthew Peterson

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at The Havre de Grace Opera House

Reviews October 17, 2023 Mike Zellhofer

“Spit it out, dear. Go on. On the floor. There’s worse things than that down there.” – Mrs. Lovett

And she’s right. In a world where borders are overlooked, people are minimalized, and one pill or another is all you need what ails you, the floor of humanity is riddled with disgust. The Havre de Grace Opera house has found a way to give us a three-hour respite from what lies outside their doors.

God! That’s Good! An Interview with Other Voices Theatre’s Sweeney, Lovette, and The Director of Sweeney Todd

Interviews October 2, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

*gasp* A theatre!

Wait! What’s your rush? What’s your hurry?

You’re in for such a treat— thought that they were closed—

Hang on a minute, go and sit! Sit you down! SIT!

They’re so excited, they haven’t seen an audience for months—

Did you come in for a show, folks?

Do forgive them, they’re putting Sondheim on the stage…

What was that?

Somewhere In A Tree: An Interview With Alexander Tom on Being the Musical Director of Pacific Overtures at Signature Theatre

Interviews March 1, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

A rarely produced Sondheim. Perhaps one of Signature Theatre’s signature marks as they frequently unearth some of the lesser recognized or at the very least, lesser attempted, Stephen Sondheim works. Pacific Overtures is no exception for this season. The irony of white men creating the musical narrative for Eastern culture is not lost on anyone, particularly not Musical Director Alexander Tom, who is a Chinese and Vietnamese American. In a phone interview with the show’s musical director,

The Company of Into The Woods.????Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade

Into The Woods at The Kennedy Center

Reviews February 27, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

Every moment is a moment when you’re in the woods. Be careful what you wish for, bring a slotted spoon to catch the potato, and nice is different than good. Direct from Broadway (including an opening weekend surprise of Andy Karl re-joining the company for the weekend), the darkened Sondheim Fairytale launches its National Tour debut from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Are you ready to go Into The Woods?

Assassins at Signature Theatre

Reviews August 23, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Just a single little finger can change the world.

9— Dayton, Ohio August 4, 2019

22— El Paso, Texas August 3, 2019

3— Gilroy, California July 28, 2019

34 people dead from just a single little finger.

Something just broke.

It’s the strap-line for Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins now
open and running at Signature Theatre in Shirlington, Virginia. And they’re not
wrong.

Sweeney Todd at The Heritage Players

Reviews March 8, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Attend the tale of Sweeney
Todd. The opening line should be enough to entice anyone to visit this dark
and bloody Sondheim event at The Heritage Players. The second in their annual “musical
theatre concert” series, this year’s devious stage offering is none other than
the bloody demon barber of fleet street. Sweeney
Todd, Directed by John Gary Pullen with Musical Direction by David Zajic,
and Vocal Direction by Sharen Camille,

Sweeney Todd at Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre

Reviews August 20, 2018 Daniel Plante

“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd… his skin was pale and his eye was odd… he shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again. He trod a path that few have trod, did Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.”

The opening lines to the haunting and delightfully disturbing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street still have the power to chill and unsettle audiences,

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Silhouette Stages

Reviews March 16, 2018 Amy Haynes

While there’s nothing that’s formal and nothing that’s normal, there is something for everyone at Silhouette Stages—a true comedy tonight! Old situations! New complications! Nothing portentous or polite! There may be tragedy tomorrow but, thankfully, there is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum tonight! Smartly directed by Conni Ross, with superb Musical Direction by William Georg, and entertaining Choreography by Tina DeSimone and her assistant Maddie Bohrer,

The company of Into the Woods at Reisterstown Theatre Project

Review: Into the Woods at Reisterstown Theatre Project

Reviews April 11, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Are you certain what you wish is what you want? What you want is to have a moment in the woods. And that moment can be had at Reisterstown Theatre Project this April as they present Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, but remember that opportunity is not a lengthy visitor and you shall need to move quickly if you wish to go into the woods with RTP for all of the dark and twisted realities that come after “happily ever after.” Directed by Eric Besbris with Musical Direction by Matt Elky and Lynn Graham,

Review: Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Red Branch Theatre Company

Reviews April 10, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther 2 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention paah-leeeease? Are your bones all aquiver and tingling as well with the prospect of seeing some Sondheim done well? Yes, they are, I can tell! Well, ladies and gentleman, that sensational musical show, with a cast full of talent and musical force, is here in Columbia nat’rally of course, well it’s ready to go, and trust me I know. Ladies and gentleman, you can’t imagine the rapture and rage on the Red Branch Theatre Company Stage!

This is Just a Moment in the Woods: An Interview with Director Eric Besbris

Interviews April 8, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

This is just a moment in the woods! Again, please. Every theatre wants to take a stab at Sondheim, and the Reisterstown Theatre Project is no different. TheatreBloom takes that moment in the woods to sit down with Director Eric Besbris to uncover his vision behind the current RTP production of Into the Woods.

If you want to tell us who you are and what of your work people might recognize,

Review: Sunday in the Park with George at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews March 20, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

Order. Design. Tension. Symmetry. Composition. Balance. Light. Harmony. And look they made a hat, where there never was a hat. Producing the final production in a “Celebration of Sondheim” festival that spanned the course of nearly two seasons, The Milburn Stone Theatre brings to a close an era of one of musical theatre’s greatest minds by mounting Sunday in the Park with George. With Musical Direction by Dan McTiernan and Production Coordinator John Desmone at the canvas,

Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd: An Interview with Director Lee Lewis

Interviews October 8, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! He served a dark and a vengeful God! What happens there— well that’s the play! And he wouldn’t want us to give it away…not Sweeney…not Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street! But in an exclusive TheatreBloom interview Director Lee Lewis gives away all the details that the Demon Barber will allow about the upcoming production at Milburn Stone Theatre, reminding us all that this isn’t your mom and pop’s spooky Sondheim musical.

Sweeney Todd: A Prog Metal Introspective Interview with the Women Behind the Show

Interviews August 29, 2014 Amanda N. Gunther

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, who served a prog and a metal god! With the blessing of the mastermind himself, The Landless Theatre Company has taken Stephen Sondheim’s musical thriller to new heights with their prog metal rendition of the notoriously grim show. Reinventing the classic orchestrations with a self-proclaimed ‘nerd metal’ vibe, the company has created a hybrid performance that lives up to their slogan— “theatre for the theatre-challenged.” This production has caused quite the stir around the Washington DC Theatre scene— being the first of its kind as well as providing a strong voice for female directors in both the theatrical ring as well as the metal scene.