WAOS presents Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM Book by HUGH WHEELER Rhoda McGaw Theatre Woking Tuesday to Saturday 10th to 14th November 2015 Programme £2.50 Affiliated to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association Presented by arrangement with JOSEF WEINBERGER LIMITED on behalf of MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL of New York A Message From the Chairman Good afternoon / evening to you, one and all! So…here we are again at the lovely Rhoda McGaw. It has already been six months since our ground breaking production of Bernard J Taylor’s musical adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in May. And in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street what an absolute treat of theatre we have in store for you now! Widely regarded as Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, Sweeney Todd has been part of standard repertoire for both professionals and amateurs since its premiere in 1979, interestingly being produced at various times throughout those 36 years both as a Broadway / West End style musical and as an opera. In fact, this year alone has seen productions both by the English National Opera – with Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel as Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd – and, currently, by the Welsh National Opera, featuring Janis Kelly and David Arnsperger in the roles originally created on stage by Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. So…a genuine ‘cross-over’ piece of theatre. Elsewhere in this programme you will see our Director James Fortune’s notes in which, amongst other observations, he makes reference to Sondheim’s approach when first starting work on the piece in the 1970s. As Chairman it is with great pleasure that I extend my thanks to James and to our Musical Director Ian Peters, our rehearsal accompanists Adam Blosse, Bob Good and Jonathan Rhodes-Smith, the hard working members of my Management Committee, the strikingly talented cast and chorus – with possibly one exception, but I’ll do my best! – our tireless and good humoured crew led by Jennifer Bye, our wonderfully imaginative set designer Mike Bartlett, and all associated volunteers, for the countless hours they have all put in to present to you this spellbinding Sondheim take on the famous legend (or is it?!) that first saw light of day in a Victorian ‘penny dreadful’ (cheap popular serial literature produced during the 19th century) called The String of Pearls: A Romance, published in 1846 and ’47. The story became a staple of Victorian melodrama and London urban legend and has been retold many times since…culminating in Sondheim and Wheeler’s Tony award-winning musical / opera. Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real-life person are strongly disputed by scholars, although some admit that historical prototypes possibly did exist…either way, it is an enormously powerful story of an ordinary man driven to murderous insanity by vicious injustice and an all-consuming hunger for vengeance. And what with Sondheim’s notoriously complex, demanding and dramatically illustrative score, it has been a hugely challenging but ultimately highly rewarding project for all of us. I would like to thank all of our sponsors, advertisers and benefactors who have assisted with such generous support for this show: without them, it would simply not be economically viable to stage a production such as this. We have two productions planned in this theatre in the first ½ of next year: in February (23rd to 27th) we will be performing an English translation of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute); then in May (3rd to 7th), the hilarious musical farce by Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, Bob Martin and Don McKellar, The Drowsy Chaperone. We hope to see you again at both. Finally, I’d like to thank you, our supportive public, and the Life Members and Patrons of Woking Amateur Operatic Society. Now sit back, and “attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!”…if you dare! Lee Power, Chairman, Woking Amateur Operatic Society, October 2015 A Bit About WAOS Woking Amateur Operatic Society (WAOS) is the premier non-professional musical theatre company in this part of Surrey and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street marks the 82nd production since its formation more than 40 years ago. Most of these have been staged here at the 200+ seating Rhoda McGaw Theatre in the middle of Woking. The original WAOS ran in the 1920s and ’30s but folded for want of a venue. Its reincarnation was in 1972 and the building of the Rhoda McGaw in the mid-’70s (and its subsequent refurbishment a decade or so later) has provided the society with a regular home for its shows every spring and autumn. The variety of shows has been remarkable: from 19th century Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera (The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, The Gondoliers, The Yeomen Of the Guard, etc.), through classic 20th century musical theatre (Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, Kiss Me, Kate!, Guys & Dolls, My Fair Lady and Fiddler On the Roof to name but a few), to more recent musicals such as Into the Woods, Little Shop of Horrors, Moll Flanders, The Hired Man, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Wuthering Heights. The company is a mix of seasoned performers – some with professional experience – first-timers who have come along to audition and ‘have a go’…and those in between! There is also a solid core of members who take care of the all-important backstage duties, from lighting and sound to costumes and stage management. Additionally, we build all our own sets, so if you fancy the chance to flex your creative muscles on a bit of carpentry or painting and decorating then we’d love to hear from you. If you’re interested in joining us in any capacity please contact our Membership Secretary, Sue Gaastra, at [email protected] or telephone her on 01483 763243. NODA The National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) was founded in 1899 and has a membership of around 2,500 amateur theatre groups and 3,000 individual enthusiasts throughout the UK who are engaged in staging musicals, opera, plays, concerts and pantomime in a wide variety of performing venues. NODA aims to give a shared voice to the amateur theatre sector; to help amateur societies and individuals achieve the highest standards of best practice and performance; to provide leadership and advice to enable amateur theatre to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. If you would like to find out more about NODA and its range of services, telephone 08451 301368. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street From the Director… I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the opening night of a new Stephen Sondheim musical in New York on Thursday, March 1st, 1979, at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre) on Broadway. It was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We all thought we were about to see another Oliver! – a rollicking, “knees up, Mother Brown!”, sing-song of a show, set in Victorian London – but when that factory whistle screamed and those brooding opening notes echoed across the footlights, borrowed unashamedly from "Dies Irae, the Day of Wrath" from the Catholic Mass for the Dead, we knew we were in for something entirely different… Sondheim first saw Christopher Bond’s 1970 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in London in 1973 and immediately recognized its operatic potential: “I remember thinking on my way home that it would make an opera, and I spoke to John Dexter, one of the directors of the Metropolitan Opera, who at that time was directing in the West End in London. In the course of our conversation I asked him if he thought that Sweeney Todd might make an opera, and he said absolutely and that encouraged me to look into the rights for it. That’s how it all started.” (Stephen Sondheim, 1980) “I started it, trying to write everything myself because it was really all going to be sung…it was going to be virtually an opera. I did the first 20 minutes and I realized I was only on page 5 of Bond’s script. So at that rate, the show would possibly have been 9 hours long!” (Stephen Sondheim – from Craig Zadan, 1990) At this point Hugh Wheeler was called in to help with the libretto. Being British, he must have been an invaluable intermediary in matters of cultural reference and tone. After six years of work, it was ready. Sweeney Todd is widely regarded as Sondheim's masterpiece, and in my opinion justifiably so. It is a thrilling, visceral and deeply disturbing piece based on the old English legend. Indeed, Sondheim has called it his “love letter to London”. Since that scary opening night 36½ years ago, the piece has been produced many times and in many different ways. I have, of course, always wanted to direct it, and when WAOS commissioned me for it, I wanted my production to be as close to Sondheim's original idea as possible. Contrary to the anonymous steel factory setting Hal Prince used on Broadway and, later, in the West End, Sondheim always imagined it set in the classic Victorian London of ‘pea-souper’ fogs, gaslight and filthy, foetid streets. Indeed, from a present day perspective, London was an horrendous place in 1846. Filthy, rancid and unsanitary; a sickening stench everywhere; no public toilets; little medical knowledge, and gruesome and thoroughly unhygienic medical practice. Life was cheap and squalid in the foul hovels and back alleys around Fleet Street. Out of this cesspit rose a gnarled hand clutching a bloodied cut-throat razor… WAOS is an extraordinary production company with fascinating resources.