Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 1 HITCHIN THESPIANS present The Demon Barber of Fleet Street March 2009 The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 2 For all your mailing and postroom needs Best wishes to Hitchin Thespians • 3p-80p + discounts on each item of post on their forthcoming production of • Franking machines / electronic scales ‘SWEENEY TODD’ • Solicitors DX monitoring systems TO ACCESS ROYAL DISCOUNTS • Folder Inserters CONTACT MIKE BARKER ON: • Scanning and archive solutions / FP EXECUTIVE AGENCY LTD document management 130 High Street Barkway Herts SG8 8EG • DeTeWe phone systems Tel: 01763 849360 Fax: 01763 848900 • Letter openers Mobile: 07740 617918 • Least cost routing Email: [email protected] Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 3 HITCHIN THESPIANS present Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM Book by A Musical HUGH WHEELER Thriller From an adaptation by CHRISTOPHER BOND Originally directed by HAROLD PRINCE Originally produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in association with Dean & Judy Manos 5th - 7th, 10th - 14th March 2009 The Demon Barber The Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin This amateur production is presented by arrangement with JOSEF of Fleet Street WEINBERGER LTD. on behalf of MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL of NEW YORK The Hitchin Thespians - About us... In 1902 Miss Pepper, MUSICAL THEATRE Each year we present two fully staged musicals at The returning to Hitchin after Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage. We thrive on challenge and have presented a visit to the south some shows that many other societies are wary of. In addition there are coast, told her friend, occasionally smaller scale productions of musicals which are performed at Mrs Walter Carling, of a our purpose built rehearsal suite, Woodside Hall, or at the Town Hall, Hitchin. performance she had Groups of members are also welcome to get together and perform concerts seen there. Hitchin, she and shows with a smaller cast. said, must have an operatic society. Mrs Carling agreed, and arranged a local performance, by ladies only, of Coleridge Taylor's "The Gitanos". On February CONCERTS AND CHORAL WORKS In addition to our musical theatre activities 21st 1903, a decision was taken, to form the Hitchin Amateur Light Opera we have a thriving choir. The variety of music performed by this group is Company, with the Reverend G.B. Gainsford, as president. In its early years, the staggering, as one member put it - "from Bach to Bernstein!"There are Society devoted itself largely to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. In March typically three concerts each year, often performed at Woodside Hall, but 1905, the name was changed, for the sake of brevity, to Hitchin Thespians. sometimes in surroundings that might suit the performance better such Though the Society suspended its activities during World War 1, the popularity as the lovely parish church of St. Mary's in Hitchin. of its shows grew rapidly in post-war years. In May 1933, "The Desert Song" was played to almost 10,000 people in a week at the Hermitage Cinema! In WORKSHOPS AND SPONSORSHIPS We are proud to fulfil our educational 1958 the Thespians purchased the freehold of the Old Guild Rooms in aims and ambitions through workshops and sponsorships. In recent years we Paynes Park, in which they had rehearsed for a number of years, for £750. have sponsored members to attend voice and performance training at the In 1977 the Society presented "Robert and Elizabeth" in Stevenage's Little Benslow Music School in Hitchin and have also arranged for members new Gordon Craig Theatre, where it still continues to stage its major to participate in masterclasses with professional singers and voice coaches. productions. Its policy has been to present, whenever possible, the first One of our Musical directors has also led a fascinating series of lectures amateur performance of newly released shows, of near-professional standard. on wide-ranging aspects of music. Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 4 From the Chairman... Welcome to this evening’s performance of Sweeney Todd. This has been an exciting and challenging venture for us with a different venue and more creative freedom in the designing of sets etc. It is a thrilling piece of theatre and the music of Stephen Sondheim showing off its usual brilliance and complexity. The change of venue to the Queen Mother Theatre should make the experience more intimate and really bring it to life. The recent film version has brought it to a wider audience and I hope that you will be suitably gripped by this performance. We are delighted to welcome back Jim Snell as our stage director for this show and Mike Payne as musical director. Rehearsals have been hard work - but tremendous fun and I’m sure you will enjoy the results of the company’s labours in this performance. Hitchin Thespians like to maintain a varied programme and so this more traditional show is a contrast to the previous production of Calamity Jane and of course our next show Fiddler on the Roof in October which will be back at the Gordon Craig Theatre - which we welcome you to as well. I would like to thank you for supporting us in this production and if this is the first production of ours you have attended we hope it will be the first of many. Now its time to sit back, read the synopsis and be transported as the curtain rises on the dark, dank streets of the City of London - somewhere near Fleet Street. LUCY MILLER-WHITE The Committee 2008 / 2009 PRESIDENT: Derek Jenkins LIFE MEMBERS: CHAIRMAN: Lucy Miller-White Olive Ansell, Ann Crook, TREASURER: Mark Savage Brenda Cundell, Marion Hargraves, HONORARY GENERAL SECRETARY: Alex Evans Audrey Jenkins, Derek Jenkins, PRODUCTION MANAGER: Michelle Marple Denis Rowland, Gordon Wharton CHORAL MANAGER: Susan Osbourn BUSINESS MANAGER: Kate Webb HONORARY MEMBERS: WOODSIDE HALL MANAGER: Ann Crook Bert Broe, Mollie Gilbert, Edgar Gilbert, Roger Heath, SOCIAL & FUNDRAISING: Vivienne Tadman Alfons Krupp, Bernard Mallett, COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Sarah Bailes, Christine Fox, Jane Homer Jim Snell, Justin Thomas Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 5 TheProductionTeam Snell Mike JimPRODUCTION MUSICALPayne DIRECTOR DIRECTOR Jim has directed over forty shows for Hitchin Thespians This is Mike’s second show with the Thespians, having and is delighted to be undertaking ‘Sweeney Todd’ - previously worked on ‘Chess’ last year. He has worked a show he has long wanted to be involved with. extensively throughout Herts, Beds, Bucks and Essex on shows In the coming months he will undertake productions ranging from ‘Carmen’ to ‘’Mack & Mabel’, with many more of ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ at Broxbourne in between. Mike also directs and choreographs shows, as well and ‘My Fair Lady’ at Harlow. as having his own production company which tackles rarely He has won numerous NODA awards and is an performed smaller cast shows. As a performer, Mike has active voluntary fundraiser for ‘Breakthrough’ played several leading roles including Kings - ‘Siam’ and - the Breast Cancer research charity. ‘of the Fairies’, Pilate in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, The Snake in ‘Children of Eden’ (at the same time as MD!) and the one that sums up his character (some would say!) - MC in ‘Cabaret’. For all up-to-date news and information, don’t forget to log on to... www.hitchinthespians.org.uk If you are interested in joining the Society as either a member or a patron, then please contact:- Alex Evans - Hon. Secretary, 4 Cubitt Close, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 0EL Email: [email protected] Alternatively, if you would prefer you can join our ‘SHOW MAILING LIST’ Sweeney Programme TO PRINT 26/2/09 14:52 Page 6 Act One The Story... The show opens in 1846, with the citizens of London introducing the tale of the ‘Demon Barber of Fleet Street’. A young sailor, Anthony Hope, rides a ship into London - his Act Two shipmate is ‘Sweeney Todd’. As they prepare to part, Todd Mrs. Lovett's pie shop has now become a thriving business tells Anthony a tragic story about a young and naive barber, with its ‘new menu’. Anthony discovers the Judge has his beautiful wife, and the lustful judge who exiled him committed Johanna to Fogg's Asylum for the mentally to Botany Bay on a trumped up charge, so he could covet deranged and, with Todd's help, infiltrates the asylum, his wife, Lucy. A half-mad Beggar Woman who begs and posing as a wigmaker. Unknown to Anthony, Todd sends a solicits them approaches and she appears to recognise Todd, letter to the judge notifying him of Anthony's intent to but he runs her off. kidnap Johanna and her professed love for Turpin, hopeful of luring the judge to his shop. Meanwhile, in the pie shop, Todd visits a meat pie shop on Fleet Street, where he Toby begins to suspect that Todd is up to no good. encounters the shop's proprietress, Mrs. Nellie Lovett. When Todd asks about the upstairs apartment, she tells Mrs. Lovett encounters Beadle Bamford when he is him the sad tale of the previous tenant, a barber named commissioned by the neighbours to investigate the strange Benjamin Barker. She reveals that once Barker had been smell from the pie shop's chimney. She offers the Beadle sent to Australia, the Judge lured Lucy to his house and a free shave from Todd whilst he waits. In the basement, assaulted her. In agony, Todd confirms Mrs. Lovett's Toby discovers a fingernail in a pie when the bloody suspicions that he is, in fact, Benjamin Barker.