Photo courtesy Michign Tech. Director Nich Radcliffe, far right, gives direction to the cast of Sweeney Todd Tuesday evening. The Tony Award winning musical will be performed at the Rozsa Center April 10-12. The cast is made up of MTU students and community members.

Next month, the Tony Award winning musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will haunt the stage of Michigan Technological University’s Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

The “dark, witty tale of love, murder and revenge” will be performed April 10-12. Curtin time is 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $20 for the general public, and free for Michigan Tech students.

Directed by Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor of Visual and Performing Arts Nich Radcliffe, this “tasty, thrilling, theatrical treat” features a talented and experienced cast of MTU students and community members. Soren Schmidt is cast in the title role of Sweeney Todd and Sarah Hayes plays Mrs. Lovett. Also featured are several Michigan Tech students, including Katherine Rauscher as Johanna and Sebastian Dash as Anthony.

“It is Sondheim’s darkest musical and perhaps the genre’s greatest horror masterpiece,” said Professor Joel Neves, musical director for Sweeney Todd and director of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra (KSO) which serves as the pit orchestra for the musical. “But what makes it so enduring and endearing is its’ vividly contrasted music, with a mixture of discordance versus tunefulness and violence versus levity. It is some of Sondheim’s most dramatic music.”

According to Neeves, rehearsals have been going well. “The Keweenaw Symphony orchestra learns the music separate from the cast, then after a couple months we all combine and synchronize the music together.” Neeves said. “It’s magic.”

The musical director also encouraged the audience to pay special attention to the “Sondheim sound” in the harmonies, melodies and style of the music. According to Neeves, the show’s songs have an “unmistakable sound!”

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has a 2 hour, 45 minute run time, with intermission. Audiences should be advised of instances of coarse language, sexual assault, murder, suggested nudity, smoking and other substances, and cannibalism in the show.

For tickets, visit events.mtu.edu, or call the Rozsa Box Office at 906-487-1906.

For a full schedule of the Rozsa Center’s upcoming events, visit mtu.edu/rozsa.