Yucaipa Little Theatre is well-known for tackling big shows with professionalism and talent, and their upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim’s acclaimed musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is no exception. Opening night is Thursday, October 8, and is expected to sell out.

The show will run three weekends, starting Thursday, October 8 until October 25. Evening performances are at 7:30 pm on October 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24. Matinee shows are at 3:30 pm on October 11, 18 and 25. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior, students, and children. Family tickets are $25, and groups of eight or more may purchase tickets for $6 each. For more reservations or more information, call 909-790-1884 or contact Christi Prescott, director, by calling 909-795-3750. Yucaipa Little Theatre is located at 12135 California Street in Yucaipa.

The cast totals over 20 talented actors and actresses from the Yucaipa/Calimesa area. “They’ve been hard at work for two months and the show has come together better than I could have imagined,” said Christi Prescott, the show’s director. “I’m really proud of the cast and crew and know that the audience will be impressed with their performance.”

In this stage presentation, Sweeney Todd is reinvented as a tragic character driven by revenge rather than greed and whose real name is Benjamin Barker.

Barker was a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with an infant daughter Johanna. The lecherous Judge Turpin, played by Tom Neman, wanted Lucy for himself and had Barker arrested on false charges and sent to Australia. The play begins 15 years later, when the barber has returned to London, darkly transformed by his experiences: “That man is dead. It’s Todd now. Sweeney Todd.” The lead role is played by award-winning actor Daren Prescott.

Mrs. Lovett, played by Mia Mercado, 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 Johanna, played by Natalie Tavarez, as his ward.
Todd is filled with rage toward the judge and swears revenge upon the entire world, resolving to kill as many people as he can. Mrs. Lovett suggests they turn his victims’ remains into pies. Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop becomes incredibly successful.

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