“Sweeney Todd” Now Playing at the NorShor Theatre
DULUTH, Minn. – “It’s kind of like going to a theme park like Disneyland and being brought into another world and that’s really where the audience is going to be brought,” said Jen Burleigh-Bentz, the production’s Mrs. Lovett.
Sweeney Todd tells the story of a nineteenth century barber on a quest to get bloody revenge on a judge who wronged him.
“People love to see other people be evil on a stage,” said director Melissa Hart. “Not in their real life but on a stage, that’s fun.”
The musical is considered a Stephen Sondheim masterpiece.
“The story is fantastic, the characters are well designed and well made but the music is, as you can hear in the background, amazing,” said Burleigh-Bentz.
The roles are challenging, but actors say performing in the show is on their bucket list.
“Sweeney Todd is considered kind of a cult figure in terms of a horror genre,” said Paul Coate, who plays Sweeney Todd in the production. “He’s a serial killer but there’s also a human being there in that character. There’s a reason he does what he does and so one of the things I love about this story is we get to explore the why.”
This is the Twin Cities based actor’s first time performing in the newly-renovated NorShor Theatre.
“It’s just a gem,” said Coate. “Not just in the city of Duluth but in the state of Minnesota and in this region to have a theatre as pretty as this.”
Jen Burleigh-Bentz was in the venues opening production, Mamma Mia. She’s excited to make her return to the Duluth stage.
“Our costuming is fantastic for the show,” she said. “They built us costumes from the ground up, which they did the same thing for Mamma Mia but I was wearing lycra in Mamma Mia and I don’t have to do that in this show which I’m very happy about.”
The Duluth Playhouse is performing Sweeney Todd March 28th-April 14th.
