SFBATCO and 4th Walrus Productions to Stage SWEENEY TODD

In collaboration with 4th Walrus Productions, acollective of theater artists from Stanford University bringing new musical theater to millennials and larger Bay Area audiences, the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company, an organization focused on supporting youth in professional theatre, is producing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Opening night will take place July 16, 2015 at 8pm at the Exit Theatre on Eddy Street in San Francisco.

Musical Director Joel Chapman says, "Our Sweeney Todd is different. The set is minimal, the chorus and orchestra are small, and the audience will be immersed in the action. We have boiled down the show to its most pertinent elements, and this intimacy is what I am most excited about."

In the adaptation by Christopher Bond, this infamous tale is about anunjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking vengeance against a lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up, and the carnage has only just begun!

The Sweeney Todd crew features Rodney E. Jackson Jr. (Book of Mormon, Motown the Musical), who is also SFBATCO's Co-Chair and Art Director, who states, " "Theatre, arts, and creation are the reason why I'm not simply another statistic you see on the news"