Behind the Curtain with Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

Behind the Curtain with Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

In the middle a busy tech week, we caught up with Celeste Kamiya and Zane Haney who play Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd.  

Zane, this is your first production with YMTC and you’re playing the title role of Sweeney! How did you get involved with the company?

Z: I guess it started when I talked to my acting teacher about wanting to do a project over the summer to add to my resume for college.  I had played Curly in Oklahoma at Piedmont High.  I saw Sweeney Todd auditions on Bay Area Theater Bums and I decided to audition.  I liked the premise of the play.  Sweeney is a very challenging role that you can gain a lot of experience from.

Celeste you’re a YMTC veteran.  You've been in over seven shows!  What’s in been like to work up from the ensemble to a role like Mrs. Lovett?

C: Yeah, this is my first lead in a YMTC show, well actually, any show ever.  I’ve done a lot of shows where I was a smaller role or ensemble and I had other people to look up to. It’s humbling that I am in that position where maybe people are looking up to me. I wanted to do Sweeney Todd because of Sondheim, who is my hero.  The show is so complex and there is so much to explore.

Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd have a special partnership in the play.  What have you discovered about their relationship as you’ve been rehearsing?

C: When I look at everything Mrs. Lovett does -- everything she does is to get Sweeney, to keep him. 

Z: He thinks of her as a pest.

C: She does give him some ideas.  The pies.

Z: Yeah, the pies.  It’s a one-sided relationship.

 Celeste Kamiya and Zane Haney in rehearsal for "A Little Priest"

What’s one thing you’ve learned during this process that you didn’t know before?

C: There’s a certain responsibility that comes with being a leading role.  I’ve never experienced that sense of responsibility before.

 What’s your favorite song to perform?

Z: I really like performing Epiphany and getting to interact with the audience.

C: By The Sea. I get to go crazy and have fun.

 What’s your favorite lyric in the show?

C: If I cannot fly, let me sing (Greenfinch)

Z: If only angels could prevail we’d be the way we were (Johanna)

 Why should people come to see Sweeney Todd?

Z: I think it’s really important because, as they say in the end of the play, anyone could be Sweeney.  You think of him as this barbaric character that is totally fictional but given his circumstances and the journey that Sweeney takes throughout the musical, you see that he’s not really this demon barber.  He just had nothing left.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opens July 12 at The Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.  Tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets!