SAXTONS RIVER — The cast has been named and rehearsals are underway for the Main Street Arts production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street that will be staged at the Bellows Falls Opera House two weekends in March.
Director David Stern has announced the cast will be led by Michael Wright of Claremont, N.H., in the title role of the barbarous barber in the Tony-award-winning musical thriller set in Victorian England.
“Mike has an extensive theater background as both an actor and director,” Stern says. “He is certainly bringing the notable experience and depth he has developed to the role.”
Other members of the cast are Libby McCawley of Putney and Jessica Gelter of Brattleboro, sharing the role of Mrs. Lovett, and Aidan Flower of Brattleboro as Sweeney's daughter Johanna.
Liam Johnson of Brattleboro, last seen locally as the lead in MSA's Bat Boy production, will play the young Tobias Ragg, unwilling accomplice of Sweeney Todd.
Other cast members include Victor Brandt of Acworth, New Hampshire, as villainous Judge Turpin, Steve Griffiths of Westminster West as the fawning Beadle Bamford, and Jonathan Reid of Brattleboro as Anthony, Johanna's love interest.
Stern notes that the production team features collaborations with personnel from neighboring companies, and that there has been “incredible support from Kimball Union Academy and the Town of Rockingham.”
Kenneth Olsson is music director, Sandy Klein, creative director at New England Youth Theatre, is designing costumes, and Shoshana Bass, affiliated with both Sandglass Puppet Theatre and New England Center for Circus Arts, is choreographing the show.
Stern has brought Sweeney's razors to life, with the lethal instruments being danced by Bass and Elsie Fleming.