By Walter Ryce

Despite its dark and macabre story, the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is an acclaimed and popular show. Tim Burton adapted it into a film in 2007 starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. 

Set in Victorian London, it’s about a man who is imprisoned by a corrupt judge, and years later returns to exact gruesome revenge for his destroyed life. 

The CSUMB student club, The Performing Otters, are daring to bring its dark delights to the World Theater stage for a run through the month of April. 

Emilia Davies-England is a fourth-year human services major with a concentration in social work and a minor in creative writing. She’s also the president of The Performing Otters. 

In addition to putting on productions each semester, TPO holds meetings in the Meeting House in Building 98, where students learn improv and workshops on makeup, playwriting, stage combat, and more. There are 20 active members, and students can join anytime by showing up at the group's Thursday meetings between 8 and 10 p.m.

“[Sweeney Todd] is the first musical TPO is putting on, and I am overjoyed at the accomplishment,” Davies-England says. “More hard work, money, time, and love have been put into this show than I’ve ever seen before. It is truly a labor of love, and we are so excited to share it with the community.”

She’s playing Mrs. Lovett, the female lead and accomplice to Sweeney Todd, a role she’s found challenging to grasp but has come to embrace as her favorite. 

“I have put a lot of work into the nuances of her songs, lines, reactions, and attitudes and will carry a piece of Mrs. Lovett with me forever now,” she says. “I love that she is motherly and kind-hearted, but simultaneously just as crazy as Sweeney Todd is.” 

In addition to her own role, she says the musical itself is difficult, but that it’s more rewarding for it. However, at a recent tech rehearsal leading up to the show, the dozen or so cast members seemed to be in a jubilant mood, bantering and bouncing on stage. 

Also on the stage was the show’s director, Katherine Colvin, wearing a TPO sweatshirt with the words “And We’re Back” on the back. She was working with them on their bows.

“Go to the center line and bow,” Colvin told them. “Take your full moment.” 

The free show runs 7 p.m. April 14; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 15; 8 p.m. April 21; and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 22 at the World Theater.

Davies-England already considers the show a success — the fact that they are even doing it. 

“One of my goals was to transition the club into performing more than just comedy,” she says, “so successfully putting on this very dramatic show warms my heart.”