The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community

Knight Life

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Tower Talk: What classes are you looking forward to next year?
Tower Talk: What classes are you looking forward to next year?
Finn Bankston, Staff Writer • April 18, 2024

President Isabella Essink and Treasurer Ella Stangl look over the agenda for an NHS meeting. The club meets biweekly to go over events and volunteer opportunities.
Young women involved in civic engagement and leadership face pressure to outperform
Lucy Langerveld, Staff Writer • April 16, 2024

2023 was dubbed by mainstream media as the “Year of The Girl”: the "Barbie" movie dominated movie theaters and powerhouse pop artists like...

Sophomore Z Freed conducts blood tests in science class.  Freed finds that doodling on herself or her papers for schools helps her to stay focused and understand the material better.
Teens use art to express their emotions and feelings
Faye Radley, Guest Writer • April 15, 2024

It was the middle a weekend afternoon and Torin Radley, a teenage artist, was excited about making a new "Dungeons and Dragons" character. Radley...

Actors Reflect on the Opening Night of “Sweeney Todd” at Loy Norrix High School

sweeney-final-poster-web

There is still talk about the stunt in the very last scene of opening night in this year’s musical, “Sweeney Todd” when the actors weren’t just bleeding fake blood.

The musical “Sweeney Todd” is set in the 1900s in England and tells a story about Benjamin Barker, also known as Sweeney Todd, who comes back to England after being transported 15 years ago. Todd teams up with a pie maker, Mrs. Lovett who together come up with a bloody way to the judge’s throat. Todd soon gains the trust of many locals as he skillfully kills them off one at a time.

Students Joe Santamaria, Grace Santamaria, Joriah Fleming, Nic Slocum, Lillian Slack, Vinicius Silvestre, Josh Johnson, Robbi Cook and Amyre Dennis are staring in this school year’s musical “Sweeney Todd” which opened February 15th, 2013.

Sweeney Todd, played by Joe Santamaria sniffles while he stares into the face of his dead wife. Grieving over a loved one is normal, but what about the blood pouring from his nose? Audience members were shocked when they saw the red dripping from Santamaria’s face.

“At first I was trying to convince myself it wasn’t happening, but once I saw my blood on the stage, trying not to bleed too much became my first priority.” said Santamaria.

These high school students did a phenomenal job at pulling off the complexity of the brilliantly written music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Mrs. Lovett played by Grace Santamaria, was one of the most complex characters in the show. Grace had to play the witty, lonely pie maker who had no problem baking people into pies but felt the need to mother a young boy named Tobias played by Joriah Fleming. Her character is humorous yet dark.

This is truly one unforgettable opening night for not only the actors, but the audience as well.

“I thought it was fake at first then more just kept coming, so I figured it was real,” said Cheryl Mattingly. Mattingly attend Friday night to support the students of Loy Norrix.

Amyre Dennis expressed her confusion while on stage with Joe having a tough time staying in character.

“I am supposed to be dead, but I could feel the things around and something wasn’t right,” said Dennis. “As soon as I got off stage, Joe runs up to me and tells me he had a real nose bleed and that was real blood on my costume,” continued Dennis.

If you have not yet seen “Sweeney Todd,” your opportunity isn’t gone, there are two more chances. February 22,23 at 7:30 pm.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Knight Life Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
The Voice of the Loy Norrix Community
Actors Reflect on the Opening Night of “Sweeney Todd” at Loy Norrix High School