County Players closes out its 50^th anniversary season with the musical thriller, Sweeney Todd, opening on Friday, May 2 at 8:00 PM. The rare instance of a musical thriller, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's chilling, suspenseful, heart-pounding masterpiece of murderous barber-ism and culinary crime tells the infamous tale of the unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. His thirst for blood soon expands to include his unfortunate customers, and the resourceful proprietress of the pie shop downstairs soon has the people of London lining up in droves with her mysterious new meat pie recipe!
Sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising, Sweeney Todd nevertheless has a great sense of fun, mixing intense drama with howlingly funny moments of dark humor: audiences find themselves laughing hysterically one moment and gasping in surprise the next. The play is directed by Anna Marie Martino, with musical direction by Joel Flowers and choreography by Cory Ann Fasano. Director Martino is thrilled to be working with such a talented cast, orchestra and production staff.

At the show's core is a challenging score of epic proportion with two tasty tour de force roles in Sweeney (Christopher Schaljo) and his comic female accomplice Mrs. Lovett (Cat Guthrie). Other leading roles are played by Jarek Zabczynski, Carolyn Klocker, Joshuah Patriarco, Joni Falvey, Jeff Battersby, Johnny Delvecchio, George Conrad and Kevin McNaughton. The ensemble includes Jonah Acosta, Mary Beth Boylan, Dianne Carney, Mary Dallari, Cheryl Delvecchio, Kirsten Delvecchio, Gary Dodge, Joanne Fenton, Michele George, Joel Goss, Trisha Hampel, Tim Latenser, Brian Lustig, Janet Nurre, Will O'Brien, Joseph Paggi, Tracey Toufali, Kayla Van Calcar, and Jeff Wilson.

Subsequent performances will be May 3, 9, 10, 16, and 17 at 8:00 p.m. and May 11 and 17 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults; $17 for seniors and children under 12 years of age. Call the Box Office at 845-298-1491 for reservations. Visa, MasterCard, and Discover are accepted. County Players Falls Theatre is located at 2681 W. Main, Wappingers Falls.

NOTE: SWEENEY TODD CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL