Everyone's sweet on Sweeny

I was proufoundly amused today to get the brochure for the 2007-2008 season for American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.), which is the biggest, baddest theatre in downtown San Francisco. It seems that they are bringing the production of Sweeny Todd that I saw in London to San Francisco in August and September. It's been huge on Broadway, as it was impressive in London. So, A.C.T. does Sweeny Todd in August/September, Tim Burton's Sweeny Todd comes out in December, and Sweetie Tanya comes out in January. People will either be primed for this show or they'll be sick of it before it comes out.

As it is, it's already diverged so much from the inspiration that I'm half tempted to change the name. Tempted, but not that much. While the final play's connection to Sweeny Todd will be tenuous, I may well be able to toss enough parody elements into the mix to make it worthwhile. One thing is certain: this is a much darker and more serious work in its own right than I originally intended. This is perhaps not so surprising since the subject matter is not something that is easily treated both lightly and respectfully.

Another composer is tentatively on board and I've approached yet another. I hope to have confirmations available here soon. The script is moving along slowly but nicely. It will probably be the shortest script I've written, although I believe it will still run 90 minutes. This shouldn't surprise me too much, as it's all in how a play is written. "Nothing in the Dark" transcribed to less than six full pages, but ran for 25 minutes and didn't lag for a split second. It didn't even have musical numbers, and Tanya looks like it wil have up to fourteen!

In other news, I swung by the SF Playhouse, Stage 2 to look it over in preparation for "The Chinese Angle", the show I'm directing for Savage Eye Productions in the fall. It's another small house, but it has a decent sized stage, and we should be able to use the space well. I hope that I don't terrify the producer too much with my ideas for how to stage this show. But it's not my fault that they came to me with a script that was set entirely in a Chinatown nightclub in the 40's...