Cloudcroft Light Opera Company presents Sweeney Todd Free in the Mountains

Cloudcroft Light Opera Company Free ProductionPhoto by2nd Life Media AlamogordoTownNews.org

The Cloudcroft Light Opera Company is presenting a free show May 24th, 25th and 26th, 31st and June 1st at the Cloudcroft Pavilion. The troupe is an all volunteer, non-profit, 501(c)3 acting group organized to provide family-oriented entertainment to locals and visitors to Cloudcroft, the Sacramento Mountains and the Tularosa Basin.

CLOC performs three different melodramas each summer in the Open-Air Pavilion located in Zenith Park. The approximately 18 shows focus larger on allowing attendees to take time away from their busy lives to have a laugh at their expense. The melodramas have themes based in history with a relationship to today's societal nuances thrown in. The shows are free, with 'a hat pass at intermission, and always carry a message for children of all ages. Each show tends to take on a life of its own with ad lib, slap stick or antics playing key roles in our success. Patrons are encouraged to throw popcorn and boo the villain, heckle the cast, cheer the hero or heroine and participate in the fun.

Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the Victorian penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls (1846–47). The original tale became a staple of Victorian melodrama and London urban legend. A barber from Fleet Street, Todd murders his customers with a straight razor and turns their bodies over to Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, who bakes their flesh into meat pies. The tale has been retold many times since in various media, most notably in the Tony award–winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The musical, based on Christopher Bond's 1973 play of the same name, significantly deepened Todd’s character. It depicts him as former prisoner Benjamin Barker, who becomes obsessed with murdering Turpin, the judge who unjustly convicted him and destroyed his family.

Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although possible legendary prototypes exist.

For those of you who are not familiar with Victorian Melodrama, let me quickly introduce you to this form of theatre; back in the days when the Theatre Licensing Act of 1737 only allowed spoken word performances in patent theatres (of which there were two in London, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Covent Garden), creatives had to be extra creative. Musical items could be presented in other theatres and thus the burlettas (comic plays with musical elements) and melodramas (dramatic plays with musical elements) have been born and thus the tradition continues in Cloudcroft with this free performance.

Overall, there are enjoyable comic elements which lighten the quintessentially gruesome story. The local group provides a stand-out performance as maid Cecily, will wow the audience both comically and vocally with a very punctuated finale; female empowerment and all according to the script. By the second act, the audience should be in fully engaged mood to hiss, boo, and prompt Sweeney Todd to acknowledge and react, which is all good fun and a part of the adventure unlike traditional theater. Some who witness this form of theater are unsure what to expect when they first sit down, but take it all in for what it is, then you will be thoroughly entertained by Sweeney Todd – The Victorian Melodrama conducted in the mountains by the Cloudcroft Light Opera Company.