Sweeney Todd at the Dortmund Opera House, Germany
Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece will premiere on 12 October
After 15 years, barber Benjamin Barker returns to his old home in London. He thinks his wife is dead, his daughter is now in the care of his arch-enemy Judge Turpin, who was responsible for Barker's decades-long banishment. Under the name Sweeney Todd, the barber commits a brutal campaign of revenge by slit the throats of all his customers with a razor blade. He is assisted by the baker Mrs. Lovett, who processes the human remains into a new meat pie ingredient, which soon helps her business to a rapid upswing. But the lust for murder that Todd gets more and more involved in has fatal consequences ...
Stephen Sondheim characterized his musical Sweeney Todd as a "black operetta", which oscillates virtuosically between deep black humour, eerie ensemble interludes and soulful ballads in a through-composed style. Sondheim drew on music from horror film classics such as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and interwoven the well-known Gregorian Dies Irae melody, among other things. The result is a masterpiece that has won several Tony Awards and is one of the most successful musicals of the 20th century.
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street • A Musical Thriller Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM • Book by HUGH WHEELER Based on the play of the same name by CHRISTOPHER BOND • Director of the original production on Broadway: HAROLD PRINCE • Orchestration by JONATHAN TUNICK German version by Wilfried Steiner and Roman Hinze • Original Broadway production by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in collaboration with Dean and Judy Manos
Sweeney Todd Ks. Morgan Moody
Mrs. Lovett Bettina Mönch
Anthony Hope Jonas Hein
Johanna Barker Harriet Jones
Tobias Ragg Julius Störmer
Richter Turpin Andreas Laurenz Maier
Büttel Bamford Florian Sigmund
Bettlerin Nina Janke
Adolfo Pirelli / Mr. Fogg Fritz Steinbacher
Ensemble Anna Teodora Donosa-Danila, Elena Franke, Albert Gaßmann, Jonathan Guth, Anna Hirzberger, Lino Kalich, Max Lochmüller, Timm Moritz Marquardt, Constanza Pérez de Lara Bonatti, Katalin Rohse, Alina Simon
Dortmund Theatre
Opera Choir Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra
Musical direction Koji Ishizaka, Andrea Alessandrini, Karsten Scholz
Staging Gil Mehmert
Stage Design Jens Kilian
Costumes Falk Bauer
Choreographic Collaboration Yara Hassan
Lighting Design Michael Grundner
Lighting Florian Franzen
Sound Design Joerg Grünsfelder
Choral Master Fabio Mancini
Dramaturgy Nikita Dubov
Director of Studies Thomas Hannig
Production Manager Fabian Schäfer
Assistant Director Clara Schamp
Assistant Stage Designer Janina Hudde
Costume Assistant René Neumann
Stage Manager Ulas Nagler, Alexander Becker
