Hendrix Players to perform Sweeney Todd

Hendrix College students Tarek Esaw of Conway, left, and Jon Dale Nichols of Vilonia get ready to rehearse Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a musical based on the book by Hugh Wheeler. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Cabe Theatre on campus. Esaw is the son of Tamylyn Walls of Conway, and Nichols is the son of Jon and Sharon Nichols of Vilonia.
Hendrix College students Tarek Esaw of Conway, left, and Jon Dale Nichols of Vilonia get ready to rehearse Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a musical based on the book by Hugh Wheeler. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Cabe Theatre on campus. Esaw is the son of Tamylyn Walls of Conway, and Nichols is the son of Jon and Sharon Nichols of Vilonia.

CONWAY — Hendrix College will present a musical that is perfect for this time of year, but that’s purely by accident, the director said.

The Hendrix Players will present Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Ann Muse, professor of theater. The play involves some pretty macabre themes — murder, for one.

“It is gruesome, and it’s funny, which is kind of scary,” Muse said, laughing.

The musical will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Cabe Theatre. The production, sponsored by the Hendrix College Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended by calling (501) 450-1343. Muse said she would categorize the production as rated PG-14.

It’s the first time the musical has been presented at Hendrix, she said.

“It’s just such a wonderful play — the music is incredible — [Stephen] Sondheim. It’s the first time I’ve worked with his pieces; I’m in love.”

The timing just after Halloween is incidental, she said.

“We always choose our plays as a department. The students have been wanting to do a musical, and faculty have been looking over musicals that would be appropriate for us that the community and students were interested in. We said, ‘Hey, why not do something that’s really, really hard?’”

What makes it hard? Muse answered in a word: “Sondheim.”

“His music is conversational; it doesn’t have your typical structure of a musical or music. Certainly everything about it serves the story line, serves the narrative,” she said.

The plot is one of revenge. Sweeney Todd, played by Jonah White of Mountain Home, is a London barber who has been sent to prison by the evil Judge Turpin, who wants Todd’s wife. The judge violates Todd’s wife and takes their daughter, Johanna, played by Kaitlyn Wyre of Conway. She is grown after Todd gets out of prison.

Todd becomes a barber again in a building with Mrs. Lovette, who has a pie shop.

“They, for one reason or another, end up having to kill someone, and she gets the idea of using that person as filler for the meat pies,” Muse said. “Then business is booming. She goes from the worst pies in London to ‘God, that’s good.’

“Still, Sweeney wants to get revenge, and ultimately, he does,” Muse said.

Other Faulkner County cast members include Hendrix sophomore Tarek Esaw, who was cast as Tobias “Toby” Ragg, the young apprentice of Sweeney Todd’s. Esaw is also a crew member for costume and makeup. The crew also includes Ryan Wyre of Conway, stage manager; Jon Dale Nichols of Vilonia, programmer and mic tech; and Kennedy Reynolds of Conway, part of the house and publicity crew.

Esaw, 19, said he got bitten by the acting bug a little late, during his junior and senior years at Conway High School. He’s been in one other Hendrix production, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

“I really like the musical Sweeney Todd, in general,” Esaw said, adding that when he heard Hendrix was going to perform it, he decided to audition. But then he talked himself out of it.

“I said, ‘Actually, you’re not much of a singer.’ Then I went to see Ann Muse, and she convinced me to go ahead and audition, and it worked out pretty well, I guess,” Esaw said.

“He has a wonderful role,” Muse said. “it is a supporting role. He has some really lovely songs.”

The character he plays is “a simple child. He’s not very smart or clever, but he’s … determined,” Esaw said, searching for the word. “It’s hard to describe him. I like characters like Toby — the more innocent characters, determined, go-getters.”

Esaw said he has three songs that are “bigger numbers,” including “Now While I’m Around,” which he described as “Toby’s big ballad.”

Muse said the songs are “really, just beautiful. They’re fun and funny.”

She hummed “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You,” and she said, “‘Pretty Women’ is just a gorgeous piece.”

Muse said the music is in good hands with music director Mark Binns of Little Rock.

“He works at The Rep [in Little Rock] and all over the country more than frequently, and he also works with the

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre,” she said. “He is really a dream to work with.”

Muse said the professional band hired for the performances “is amazing” as well.

Some of the musicians are members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Instruments are the violin, cello, double bass, percussion and keyboard.

“It’ll be surprising, I think, for some people, the context of the songs they’ve loved for so long. The way the music fits with characterizations is really wonderful. The music itself causes you to feel a certain way, … and at the same time, Sweeney Todd is cutting someone’s throat,” she said.

For those who have seen the movie with Johnny Depp, the musical is not as graphic.

For example, the blood is made of fabric in the Hendrix performance.

“Theater is a very different venue than the film,” Muse said.

However, the musical does have adult themes, she said. Muse said she encourages anyone with questions or concerns about the performance to call her at (501) 450-1369.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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