Sweeney Todd at Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre

“A genuine thrill!” – Variety

Oklahoma City, Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies are on the menu this season! Razors will be sharpened, a deliciously devious score will be served up, a plot jam-packed with wit, twists and turns is on the cards, and the meat pies will be… fresh! 

This is without a doubt one of Broadway’s very best. It’s a gothic tale that thrills and picks bones; it’s a musical masterpiece delivered with vocal prowess and acting chops to die for; it’s a nuanced and grounded powerhouse production that serves up cut-throat anticipation, beauty, wit, charm, humour, a grit unlike anything you’ve ever seen; it’s a throat-splitting spectacle oozing with sweeping orchestrations; it’s the perfect balance between a horrifying plot and dark humour; and it’s an experience that will keep you on the edge of your barber seat for the rest of your life! 

This season revenge is a dish best served stuffed with delicious yet questionable meat, baked, and served with a dollop of thrill – and it’s coming to you, Oklahoma City!

That’s right – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is coming to the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre at the Civic Centre Music Hall! 

Sweeney Todd Tickets

Tickets are on sale now directly from the Civic Centre Music Hall’s box office, but due to the exceptional demand we’d recommend that you click on the Buy Tickets link now to ensure that you don’t miss out! This will redirect you to the world’s most reliable online marketplace TicketSqueeze.com, where you’ll be able to select your seats according to your taste and budget, process the transaction and download your buyer-guaranteed tickets to your phone quickly and efficiently! 

“The plot is riveting, the characters are vividly bold, the music and lyrics are incredibly witty, sinister, and moving. It is a compelling artistic playground, with the highest level of conflict fueling and enriching every single moment.” – Medium

SYNOPSIS

After being framed by the lecherous Judge Turpin with the goal to steal his wife and raise his daughter as his ward, Benjamin Barker returns to London after serving a lengthy jail sentence with one goal: revenge. 

Barker, now known as Sweeney Todd, revisits his old barber shop on top of Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop, and forms an alliance with her – believing that his wife poisoned herself after being assaulted by Judge Turpin. Sweeney Todd reopens his barber shop with the goal to get Judge Turpin in his chair to murder him, but his attempt fails. A livid Sweeney Todd descends into madness, and makes a pact with Mrs. Lovett – whose pie shop is failing due to the lack of meat – and vows to indiscriminately murders anyone who gets in his way, with the bodies then being used as pie-filling and sold to the unsuspecting Londoners visiting Mrs. Lovett’s shop. 

Mrs. Lovett’s pies became an almost overnight sensation in London, and after rescuing a boy from Sweeney Todd’s arch-rival Mr. Pirelli, the boy, Toby, becomes her assistant. Toby is growing suspicious about the pies and Sweeney Todd’s true intentions and actions. When Sweeney Todd finally manages to get Judge Turpin into his chair, a fatal mistake is made that forces the tale into an unexpected direction. 

Some questions loom: will Sweeney Todd finally get his revenge; who is the beggar woman that has been hanging around the pie shop; and who is the real villain in this story? 

“It shocks and awes!” – Mashable

CREATIVE TEAM

It doesn’t sit in anybody and everybody to bring Hugh Wheeler’s iconic book based on Christopher Bond’s 1970 play Sweeney Todd, and Stephen Sondheim’s incredible, yet notoriously complex score and witty lyrics to life. It takes a cut-throat kind of expertise and skill that slices through the flesh – and the world-renowned creative team behind this season’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has what it takes. 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is produced by the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in collaboration with Canterbury Voices. At the helm of it all, is director Michael Baron (Les Misérables, The Rocky Horror Show, Grease, Spring Awakening, Fiddler on the Roof) and Canterbury artistic director Dr. Julie Yu, supported by the incredible expertise of stage manager Shannon Richey, fight and intimacy coordinator Kris Kuss, chair fabricator Chase Marrs, chair technical designer Colin Shay, sound designer Jacob Henry, hair and makeup designer J M Weaver, lighting designer Helena Kuukka, costume designer Jeffrey Meek, properties designer Courtney Strong, scenic designer Kimberly Powers, choreographer Ashlyn Adams, music director Jan McDaniel, and Canterbury executive director Pam Mowry. 

“Stephen Sondheim’s sublime score sounds deliciously lush, the singing is uniformly excellent, and Hugh Wheeler’s morbidly gripping story unfolds in crisp fashion.” – New York Theatre Guide

CAST

These are the people that will make you check your next meat pie carefully. They will make you feel slightly uncomfortable with your barber, and make you very weary of that blade slowly approaching your throat. 

They are the stellar cast that is bringing the world’s most thrilling musical to life – with exceptional stagecraft, skill, and prowess! Audiences can look forward to experiencing the talents of Scott Guthrie (Legally Blonde, South Pacific, Les Misérables, Forever Plaid & Plaid Tidings) as Sweeney Todd, Lindsie VanWinkle-Guthrie (Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, Flipside: The Patti Page Story, The Magdalene, A Dog Story) as Mrs. Lovett, Trace Burchart as Tobias Ragg, Dallas Lish as Anthony Hope, Rachael Parsons as Johanna, Eric McNaughton as Judge Turpin, Michael Kollmorgen as Beadle Bamford, Vishal Vaidya as Adolfo Pirelli, and Alexandria Blue as Beggar Woman, along with the Canterbury Voices Sweeney Choir. 

“The music is breathtaking with truly haunting melodies that send shivers down your spine and instantly bring up goose pimples.” – London Theatre

HISTORY & LEGACY

Sweeney Todd’s character has been around for a long time, first appearing in a Victorian penny dreadful named The String of Pearls in the late 1840s. This inspired Christopher Bond’s 1970 play Sweeney Todd, and in turn Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim’s thrilling, dark, and dazzling musical, after Stephen Sondheim attended a performance of Christopher Bond’s play. Sondheim mentioned that “it had a weight to it… because Bond wrote certain characters in blank verse. He also infused into it plot elements from the Jacobean tragedy and The Count of Monte Cristo.” Sondheim felt that adding music would turn this already magnificent tale into “a new animal” – and he was quite right. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street journeys between tension and humor, between great emotional weight and grimness, between visceralness and wittiness – and is a masterpiece to die for… and possibly end up on Mrs. Lovett’s menu. 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street had its Broadway premiere in 1979 at the Uris Theatre, where it ran for 557 performances, to much critical acclaim. The original West End production opened in July 1980 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, closing in November 1980 after 157 performances. Since then, there have been many revivals, and countless performances around the globe. 

To date, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has received 12 Tony Awards, 17 Drama Desk Awards, nine Laurence Olivier Awards, an Evening Standard Award, and a Drama League Award. 

“Sweeney soars musically like no other Sondheim show.” – Houston Press

THELMA GAYLORD PERFORMING ARTS THEATRE

When it comes to venues equipped and suitable to host large-scale productions on its stages, the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre at the Civic Centre Music Hall, situated on 201 North Walker Avenue, Oklahoma City, is one of the nation’s favorites. Here you’ll be able to catch nearly every off-Broadway production, fantastic dance performances, comedy shows, and music concerts all year long. 

The Civic Centre Music Hall with its stunning neoclassical and Art Deco features, classic straight lines, and stone walls opened in October 1937 with the performance of Rhapsodic Rhythms. The building, home to the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre, the Freede Little Theatre, CitySpace, the Meinders Hall of Mirrors, and the Joel Levine Rehearsal Hall, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 

When it comes to the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre itself, you’ll be met with both historical and modern grandeur. The huge proscenium arch stage opens to a stunning auditorium with 2,477 plush seats spread across an orchestra floor, a grand tier, a mezzanine, and a two-story balcony. The venue features some of the best sound and lighting systems in the industry, pin-drop acoustics, and fantastic sight-lines. Your visit is guaranteed to be comfortable, fun and easy, enhanced by the wonderful amenities on offer, including wheelchair seating, easily accessible restrooms, hearing support, multiple bars, a VIP lounge, and an airy, bright lobby. 

“A lush and crowd-pleasing taste of the perturbed obsession laced through Sondheim’s lyrics and Hugh Wheeler’s book.” – The Guardian