SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET • Fly North Theatricals

It seems only fitting that Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd be staged at a venue named after one of its songs: "Green Finch and Linnet Bird." But staging this sweeping musical in the snug Greenfinch Theatre space is a hefty undertaking, and Fly North Theatricals handles the challenge with mostly successful results.

The grisly tale of Sweeney Todd has been around since the Victorian era. The character was first introduced in an 1846 penny dreadful called “The String of Pearls”. Penny dreadfuls were immensely popular serialized stories that focused on the sensational. The story concerned a murderous barber and his partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett, who baked his victims into her meat pies. British playwright Christopher Bond adapted this story in the early 1970s, giving Todd a backstory and a motive for his dark deeds, having been wrongly sentenced to life so the degenerate Judge Turpin could have Todd’s wife for his own. Stephen Sondheim saw musical theatre promise in the play, and he, along with book writer Hugh Wheeler, transformed Sweeney Todd into an expansive, harmonically intricate, discordant, psychologically complex musical thriller. That version premiered in 1979, and won eight Tony Awards.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF • Fly North Theatricals

After learning that there was going to be a production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Greenfinch Theater & Dive I thought, “Fiddler? In an 80-seat black box theatre?” Fly North Theatricals answered with a thunderous, “absolutely!”, offering a nimble, high-octane staging of this much-loved musical theatre classic. Set in the turn-of-the-century shtetl of Anatevka, Fiddler is teeming with equal measures of the joys and sorrows revolving around Tevye, a humble milkman, his wife Golde, and their five daughters, all living in the ominous shadow of Czarist Russia.

In arguably one of the best opening numbers ever written, “Tradition” doesn’t waste any time introducing the characters, their way of life and the show’s central themes. Anatevka starts off as a nearly bare stage, but quickly comes to life with the everyday activities of its residents as set pieces are brought onstage and frameworks of the shtetl’s buildings are rolled into place. The members of this community endure through their traditions, but change always looms just around the corner. When societal shifts happening in the world outside of Anatevka creep their way into town, the ground beneath Tevye’s feet starts to crumble. How far is he willing to adapt and bend long-held conventions for the sake of his daughters - three of whom have dared to find their own love interests without the help of the local matchmaker?

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: THE MUSICAL • Fly North Theatricals

The Hoovers are a hapless, paper-plate-and-KFC kind of family, all walking under a cloud of their own woes. The only exceptions might be Grandpa, (Ken Haller), recently banned from the area's retirement homes for drug use and lewdness, and youngest daughter Olive (Zoe Klevorn), who dreams of becoming the first Miss America from New Mexico. When a contestant from a local kid’s beauty pageant is disqualified, Olive has a shot to get a step closer to her goal by taking on the Little Miss Sunshine competition in California. And of course, a lot can happen on a road trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California.

Fly North Theatrical’s production is presented “pay-what-you-want” as part of their Theater for All Initiative (TFAI) - aiming to make seeing and learning the performing arts in St. Louis more financially accessible. This is something FNT’s Artistic Director Colin Healy and Managing Director Bradley Rohlf are passionate about, and the performances of the FNT students working alongside professional actors serve as a clear testament to the program. (You can read more about that here.)