E.C. Glass takes stage with ‘Sweeney Todd’

By Casey Gillis

Published: October 9, 2008

It hit Logan Troyer during a recent Sunday evening rehearsal.

“This is one freaky play,” says Troyer, who is starring in E.C. Glass High School’s latest production, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

if you’re going:
-WHAT: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
- WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18
-WHERE: E.C. Glass High School’s auditorium
- TICKETS: $10 for adults and $8 for students (not recommended for young children). Tickets can be purchased from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily in the Glass lobby box office starting Oct. 9 or one hour prior to each performance. Seating for the show is limited.
- INFO: (434) 522-3712, extension 3511, or http://www.glasstheatre.com

Stephen Sondheim’s operetta tells the tale of good-natured, middle-class barber Benjamin Barker who, after he’s falsely imprisoned and separated from his family by the villainous Judge Turpin, turns into the murderous Sweeney.

Troyer plays his partner-in-crime, Mrs. Lovett, who makes minced meat pies out of Sweeney’s victims and sells them to her pie shop’s unsuspecting customers.

“I’ve played crazy before, but not this crazy,” Troyer, a senior, says. “It’s been really neat to try to figure her out.”

Senior Will Ruehle, who plays Sweeney, has also enjoyed getting into his character’s head.

“It’s a whole new kind of head,” he says, laughing. “It’s hard to draw on experience. It’s set on the other (side) of the world, and it’s a completely different kind of person.

“There’s so much to find within (the script and songs).”

The recent film version, which starred Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd and was directed by Tim Burton, reveled in using as much blood as possible during the murder scenes, most of which take place in Sweeney’s barber shop.

Director Tom Harris is going for a more subtle approach at Glass, and most of the effects will be done with lights and a little fake blood.

Harris says he chose the show because it’s the complete opposite of “Beauty and the Beast,” which they’re doing later this season.

“I wanted to give the kids an opportunity that’s not like the other musical,” he says.

“Something heavier (and) challenging.”

He’s also instructed his students to embrace the play’s dark side, especially as Halloween nears.

“(I told them), ‘Let’s really think of this as more of a haunted show,’” Harris says.

“My vision has kind of been created around making it scary. (Audiences) are gonna be grossed out. They’re gonna be scared.”