Sweeney Todd in High School

My high school theater department is preparing to put up Sweeney Todd in January of the coming year. I would like to know what anyone thinks on this matter. Is it beyond the realm of high school theater? Tell me what you think.

If you have singers who can handle Pirelli, the Beadle, Johanna, and the Beggar Woman, not to mention actors who can take on Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, and an ensemble with a pretty incredible singing range, then good luck to you.

I think there are a number of factors that make "Sweeney Todd" so hard to do in High Schools. First and foremost being the difficulty of the music. "Sweeney" is closer to an opera than anything else and NEEDS trained singers. Other factors are the subject matter and staging.

In my opinion, if you have the talent and proper direction in the school, it can be done.

And if you're going to do it, make sure in the advertising what the feel of the show is/what it's about. 5 year olds should not be seeing it.

That isn't true mohonfdu, I'm sure there are high schools out there with more talent than NYU and the right direction is a major player. I suspect poor direction was the downfall of NYU's production since those are very talented young people who may go on professionally.

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We just did Les Mis last year and got absolutely rave reviews from every critic that came to see it...this year, Sweeney goes up in March. I'm pretty confident that it will get just as good a response. My friends went to see the NYU production, and they didn't find too much a problem with it, but in any case, it all depends on who you have, and who's willing to put in the dedication and work to make annyy show work.