Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Box 1897 83 Waterman Street Providence, RI 02912 401 -863-3283 Fax 401-863-7529 PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown University 83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02906 Contact: Paul Margrave, Marketing Coordinator (401) 863-2730 /
[email protected] / brown.edu/tickets Friday, August 22, 2014 Curt Columbus directs a daring production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Brown University Curt Columbus, Artistic Director of Trinity Rep, directs Sondheim's classic musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in the Leeds Theatre at Brown University this Fall. Columbus will re-invent this story of revenge and gruesome murder as a tale of morality and the folly of the 1%. Moving away from the campy melodrama of traditional productions, this show will feature a company of political agitators using street performance to tell their tale of Sweeney Todd’s bloody-minded greed and the horror that follows. Set in the grimy underbelly of London at the height of the industrial age, the show tells the story of Benjamin Barker (aka Sweeney Todd). After returning from a 15-year penal sentence for a crime he did not commit, Sweeny Todd takes his revenge by murdering victims in his barber's chair before sending their bodies to his partner-in-crime, Mrs. Nellie Lovett, to be turned into "the best pies in London." Director, Curt Columbus, said: "I'm very excited to have the opportunity to direct one of Sondheim's most popular and lasting musicals.