Red Bank Theater Watch: Sweeney Todd, A Beautiful Mind and Garrison Keillor

It’s another packed week at the Count Basie, with Sweeney Todd heading into its second and final week, a free movie, and a little laugher, courtesy of humorist and storyteller Garrison Keillor.

There are few better ways to start a week than with something free, so stop by Count Basie on Tuesday, Nov. 15, for a free showing of A Beautiful Mind, featuring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

The movie is the biopic of John Nash, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Nash is a brilliant mathematician consumed with his research while simultaneously suffering from mental health issues. The film was directed by Ron Howard.

On Wednesday, Nov. 16, check out award winning writer Garrison Keillor, best known as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, the popular public radio show heard by over 3 million listeners each week.

Keillor has written for a variety of publications, including The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly and Salon.com. Keillor has also written a number of bestselling books for adults and children, including Lake Wobegon days, Love Me, and Homegrown Democrat.

Keillor’s live shows consist of witty and entertaining anecdotes about his life growing up in the Midwest, including tales about the people of Lake Wobegon, and stories of enjoying fatherhood late in life.

Friday, Nov. 18, begins the last set of performances of Sweeney Todd, which will run through Sunday, Nov. 20.

Sweeney Todd is presented by Phoenix Productions, a community theater company based in Red Bank, NJ. A nonprofit community theater formed in 1987, Phoenix Productions specializes in producing Broadway revivals at a modest cost so that families can attend and introduce children to the theater.

For performers, Phoenix allows actors from all over a chance to work in a full scale production at a renowned theater. They have produced more than 100 revivals of Broadway musicals over the past two decades.

Sweeney Todd, the musical thriller that may be Sondheim’s crowning achievement, is a suspenseful masterpiece based on a true story of an unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge for the death of his wife, Lucy, and the kidnapping of his daughter, Johanna. Sophisticated and uncompromising, Sweeney Todd is full of black humor, mixing intense drama with hysterical moments.

In the original version, Todd is a disgruntled barber who offs his victims by pulling a lever while they innocently sit in his barber’s chair. They then tumble down a revolving trapdoor into the basement of his barber shop, breaking their necks or skulls during the fall.

If that horrific death wasn’t enough, Todd assures their demise by slitting their throats with a barber’s straight razor. To dispose of the bodies, Todd joins forces with Mrs. Lovett, who turns the bodies into meat pies and selling them to the unsuspecting customers at her pie shop.

The Phoenix Productions revival features a cast of 40 performers led by David Weitzer as Sweeney Todd, a man driven mad by his desire for revenge, and Alison Gleason as Mrs. Lovett, the quirky owner of a meat pie shop just below Todd’s old barbershop.

The supporting cast includes, John Sechrist as Anthony, Jessica Lopez as Johanna, Kathleen Marhold as Lucy, Michael Chartier as Turpin, Andrew Michelson as Beadle, Chris Cortes as Toby, Kent Sweeney as Fogg, and Mario Castro as Pirelli. The cast, production staff, and orchestra will recreate an eerie London atmosphere and demonstrates what “cutting edge” theatre is really about.

Schedule

Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011: A Beautiful Mind, 7 p.m. FREE (please call to reserve tickets)

Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011: Garrison Keillor, 8 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 18, 2011: Sweeney Todd, 8 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011: Sweeney Todd, 8 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011: Sweeney Todd, 3 p.m.