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Thrills, Chills...and Spills Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd! The Clarence Brown Theatre and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will bring the Tony Award winning musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to life August 30, 2012 - September 16, 2012 on the Clarence Brown Theatre mainstage. Directed by Calvin MacLean with Musical Direction under the baton of Music Director Lucas Richman, the Stephen Sondheim musical tells the story of Benjamin Barker, a London barber wrongly transported to an overseas penal colony so a corrupt judge could seduce his young wife. Returning to London after 15 years, he changes his name to Sweeney Todd and joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, the proprietress of the meat-pie shop underneath his former barber emporium. As Sweeney prepares for the moment he can exact his revenge on the judge, Mrs. Lovett puts his murderous rehearsals to good culinary use. Soon, customers begin lining up in droves for Mrs. Lovett's new, wondrously tasty meat pies while the dregs of London line up for a close shave, compliments of Sweeney Todd! "The show is a triumph of musical inventiveness and expressiveness. The story is a melodrama -- a thriller for the stage -- that transforms a "potboiler" story into a scale that resembles grand opera as much as grand guignol. Thrillers are fun, but they also have a message, and if you are a fan of its plot conventions, like I am, Sweeney delivers wicked fun along with its dark warnings. Sondheim is as masterful a lyricist as he is a composer and his libretto is as funny as any "dark comedy." But what truly makes Sweeney Todd unique is its lush and brilliant score," said MacLean. Thirty eight musicians from the KSO will take the stage as part of this production. Knoxville native Dale Dickey will play the role of Mrs. Lovett. Beginning work on Knoxville stages at age 9 in "The Sound of Music" at Hunter Hills until her tenure as a University of Tennessee theatre student in the early 1980's, she performed in over 50 plays. Currently a regular in the HBO series "True Blood", she has also appeared this past season on CBS' "2 Broke Girls" and Fox TV's "Raising Hope." Last year, she won the role of Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards for her performance in "Winter's Bone." She also will appear in "Iron Man 3." The character of Sweeney Todd will be played by Jeff Austin, a veteran TV/film actor, filmmaker and acting coach. Best known for his movie roles in "Carnivale," "L.A. Confidential," "Armageddon" and "Rocky IV," his numerous TV appearances include "How I Met Your Mother," "King of Queens," "Bones," "NYPD Blue," "NCIS" and "The X Files," to name just a few. The remaining cast is comprised of professional actors, university graduate and undergraduate students in both Theatre and Music, and actors from the community. The cast includes: Cody Boling (The Beadle), Micah-Shane Brewer (Tobias Ragg), David Kortemeier (Judge Turpin), Natalee Louise McReynolds (Johanna), Boris Van Druff (Adolfo Pirelli), Alex Ward (Anthony Hope), and Katy Wolfe Zahn (Beggar Woman). The ensemble includes: Rachel Brown, Blair Campion, Kate Cimino, Breyon Ewing, Kathryn Hale, Samantha Huskey, Seth Maples, McKinley Merritt, Jayne Morgan, Chip Morris, Carrie Niceley, Tyler Padgett, Eric Sorrels, Robert Stephan, and Taylor Colton Stone, and Perry Ward. Designers for the production include: Miwi Ishi (Costume Design), Kevin Depinet (Scenic Design), Joe Payne (Sound Design), Kenton Yeager (Lighting Design). The production is sponsored, in part, by Schaad Companies; the University of Tennessee Knoxville; Jim and Natalie Haslam; Twin City Dealerships; ORNL Federal Credit Union; and Bandit Lites. Show dates and times are August 30-31, September 1, 4-7, 11-14 at 7:30 p.m. and September 2, 9 and 16 at 2:00 p.m. To purchase tickets for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, please call 865-291-3310 or 865-974-5161 or log on to knoxvillesymphony.com<http://www.knoxvillesymphony.com/event/68/sweeney-todd/> or clarencebrowntheatre.com<http://www.clarencebrowntheatre.com/2012-13Season/sweeney-todd.shtml> *The actor appears through the courtesy of Actor's Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. # # # Robin Conklin Marketing and Communications Director Clarence Brown Theatre 865-974-2497 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.clarencebrowntheatre.com<http://www.clarencebrowntheatre.com> 2012-2013 Season: [Description: 2012-2013 signatureposters] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= To view the CAMPCOMM archives or Join/Leave the list: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/campcomm.html