Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tickets on sale 8 May
Book NowAbout the show
Directed by Constantine Costi
Music Direction by Andrew Worboys
Choreography by Shannon Burns
A Musical Thriller
“Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave?”
Here is one of American musical theatre’s greatest achievements, produced in theatres and opera houses around the world – a theatrically bold work full of soaring beauty, pitch-black comedy and stunning terror.
Sweeney Todd, a victim of a gross injustice that robbed him of his wife and child, takes revenge by slitting the throats of the customers who visit his barbershop. As the piled-up bodies start causing suspicion, he hits upon a novel idea – he passes his 'patrons' to Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop... meat pie, anyone?
Part melodrama, part Grand Guignol blood-fest,this work also tells a very human tale of revenge and lust, of yearning and love.
Constantine Costi is Co-Artistic Director of Red Line Productions and has directed for Pinchgut Opera and Victorian Opera. He recently directed Handa Opera’s La Traviata on Sydney Harbour for Opera Australia. In 2021, The Australian named him one of the country’s ‘21 hottest creative artists’. He is a graduate of NIDA Master of Fine Arts (Directing).
Andrew Worboys was recently music director of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along at the Hayes, and the new Australian musical The Lovers at Bell Shakespeare. He has also been music director of Little Shop of Horrors, Assassins, Rent, American Psycho, The Dismissal, A Chorus Line and many others.
Shannon Burns was most recently the movement director for Victorian Opera's 2023 production of Melbourne, Cheremiski. She choregraphed Carmen on Cockatoo Island, Handa Opera's La Traviata on Sydney Harbour, Opera For the People in and the New Years Eve Gala.
Content Warning:
Sweeney Todd contains scenes including death, murder, physical violence, blood, depiction of cannibalism, drug use, e-cigarettes, sexual content, haze, loud music, and flickering (but not strobing) lighting effects.
About the director
Constantine is a Sydney-based writer, opera and theatre director. His work includes directing the revival of LaTraviata in Sydney and Melbourne for Opera Australia, and the Red Line Productions-Kurt Weill double-bill Mahagonny Songspiel and The Seven Deadly Sins.
Previous projects include directing the film A Delicate Fire (Pinchgut Opera), La Traviata on Sydney Harbour (OA), co-directing Werther (OA), the award-winning production of Bittersweet Obsessions, Händel’s Messiah, and co-directing Karakorum (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra)
Constantine also directed Puccini’s Suor Angelica for Opera Projects Sydney; Puccini’s Il Tabarro at Alfie’s Sydney; and The Space Between The Fuel and The Fire for NIDA. In 2023, Constantine is directing the premiere of Melbourne, Cheremushki for Victorian Opera.
About the musical director
Andrew grew up in Orange, a town in the central west of New South Wales Australia, surrounded by pub rock and musical theatre.
Andrew has musically directed productions of Sweet Charity, Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You, Little Shop of Horrors, High Fidelity, Rent, Assassins, Young Frankenstein, American Psycho and Merrily We Roll Along (Hayes Theatre Co). He has also musically directed The Dismissal (Squabbalogic), Betty Blokkbuster Reimagined (Red Line Productions), A Chorus Line (DTC), Mr Burns – A Post Electric Play (NIDA), and The Lovers (Bell Shakespeare). Andrew has also been a regular musical director and performer for The Wharf Revue.
Andrew has toured with Christine Anu, Jenny Morris, Melanie Safka, Florence and The Machine, Jimmy Somerville and John Cameron Mitchell.
Andrew co-produced the original Australian cast recording of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, and Jimmy Somerville’s album Suddenly Last Summer.
Andrew has received the Hayes Gordon Memorial Award for Important Contribution to Theatre, and a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Musical Direction for his work on American Psycho.
About the choreographer
Most recently, Shannon was movement director for Victorian Opera’s production of Melbourne, Cheremushki (2023). Her work for Opera Australia includes choreographing Carmen on Cockatoo Island (2022), Handa Opera’s La Traviata on Sydney Harbour (2021), Opera for the People (2021) and the New Year’s Eve Gala (2020). More choreographic credits include Pinchgut Opera’s A Delicate Fire (2020), Platée (2021), Orontea (2022) and The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel (Red Line Productions).
Shannon was on the choreographic team for the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony (2020) and had featured choreography in the Netball World Cup Opening Ceremony (2016). She was resident movement director for the return season of Once (Darlinghurst Theatre Company, 2021) and has created work for Grayboy the Agency, Kermond Creative Entertainment, Lovegrove Entertainment, David Jones, iCloud and more.
