On Nov. 9, Hays High School had its opening night for this year’s musical, “Sweeney Todd.”
The musical has been in the works for two months, and their performances took place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. each night and on Sunday Nov. 12 at 2 p.m.
“Sweeney Todd” is a dark comedy musical based on a magazine article from 1846. The musical itself was written by Stephen Sondheim and first performed on Broadway in 1979. It is also currently being performed on Broadway.
“The musical was not intended for high schoolers, but we managed to make it into something very powerful with a very talented cast and crew,” junior Caleb King, who played Toby, said.
A story about a barber’s vengeance for the wrongs done to him, the musical has many murders. The barber, Benjamin Barker, is trying to put his life back together under the name Sweeney Todd, but he goes home to realize his wife is dead and Judge Turpin took his daughter. Mrs. Lovett, who works the pie shop below Todd’s barber shop, spends the musical trying to get Todd to love her, so she goes to many lengths, including baking people into pies, to make him want her. It is a musical of love, laughter and, of course, murder.
“This year’s musical has been extremely challenging, but we overcame all the obstacles to put together very solid performances,” King said.
25ctholstrup@usd489.com
