Auditions for the Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will be held at Yucaipa Little Theatre on July 27 and 28, 6 – 9 pm.

In Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 stage musical, Todd is reinvented as a tragic character driven by revenge rather than greed and whose real name is Benjamin Barker.

Benjamin Barker was a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with an infant daughter Johanna. The villainous and lecherous Judge Turpin wanted Lucy for himself and had Barker arrested on false charges and transported for life to Australia. The play begins 15 years later, when the barber has returned to London, completely transformed by his experiences: “That man is dead. It’s Todd now. Sweeney Todd.” Mrs. Lovett, a widow, owns the spectacularly unsuccessful meat pie shop below Todd’s old home. Mrs. Lovett recognizes her former neighbor and tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself after Turpin raped her, and that Turpin adopted baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd returns to London, Johanna has become a young woman and falls in love with a sailor, Anthony, with whom she plans to elope.

In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, after Sweeney kills Toby’s previous master, Adolfo Pirelli, a former assistant of Todd who tries to blackmail Todd by revealing his true identity (it was a capital crime for a “lifer” to return to England). After Turpin escapes his grasp, Todd swears revenge upon the entire world, resolving to kill as many people as he can; Mrs. Lovett then suggests they turn his victims’ remains into pies. Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop becomes incredibly successful.

In the musical’s climactic scene, Todd finally kills Judge Turpin, as well as a deranged and purportedly old beggar woman — who turns out to be none other than Lucy, Todd’s long-lost wife. When Mrs. Lovett confesses that she didn’t tell him Lucy was still alive because she loves him, he throws her into the roaring bake oven. As Todd grieves over his wife’s body, Toby, gone mad after discovering the secret of the meat pies and Sweeney’s murder of Mrs. Lovett (whom he loved like a mother), sneaks up behind him and slashes Todd’s throat with Todd’s own razor. Todd senses the impending attack, but having nothing to live for after killing his wife he accepts his fate even raising his head to expose his neck.  Todd dies with his wife’s body in his arms. Antony and Johanna—having accidentally witnessed the Judge’s murder—return with two policemen, only to find the bakehouse floor littered with dead bodies. The only living soul is Toby, now a raving lunatic.

Some of the songs that make the show so memorable include “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir,” “Worst Pies in London,” “My Friends,” and “Johanna.”

The show will run three weekends from October 8 to October 25, 2009.  Casting is for male and females, age 12 and up and most parts are for adults.  Please come to the audition prepared to sing an a cappella musical selection of your choice.  For more information, contact Christi Prescott, director, by calling 909-795-3750.  Yucaipa Little Theatre is located at 12135 California Street, Yucaipa, CA  92399.