Sweeney Todd was the first musical on the Loeb Mainstage in almost four years. It was also massively successful by Mainstage standards. As Harvard’s largest theater space - and one that charges for tickets, unlike the Loeb Ex - the Mainstage shows often have trouble filling the seats. Not Sweeney. The theater of [600] seats were packed every performance; the final performance actually sold out. How did this happen?

As one of the producers of the show, and someone who has gone through the process of putting up a show at Harvard multiple times, I thought I should share why I think Sweeney was a smash. I can’t offer any sort of objective review of how amazing the actual production was, but I can give you a peek behind the scenes on the production side of things in the mysterious world of Harvard theater, and my take on the reasons behind Sweeney’s success.

Where do Harvard shows come from?
Often when I tell people this, they ask, “So, what does a producer do, exactly?” The only way to accurately answer this question is to walk you through the basic process of producing a show at Harvard.

It always starts with an idea – inspiration, vision. With Sweeney, it started with Jason Lazarcheck (’08) and Jesse Weiner (’08), hopeful stage director and musical director of Sweeney Todd. When they approached me about producing their show, they were so adorably excited, and I love the show, so of course I said yes.

Next, we assembled a staff. This part is always a challenge. At Harvard, where all the theater is completely student-run, convincing people to commit to your staff can be a daunting process, as everyone already has a billion-and-one commitments.

At the bare minimum, every show that goes up at Harvard needs a stage director, producer, stage manager, technical director, set designer, lighting designer, and costume designer. Most shows have a larger staff. Sweeney’s included a music director, four producers, a sound designer, and assistants of all sorts. We luckily assembled a large, experienced, enthusiastic staff for Sweeney.

Then came the application and interview process. Each theater space at Harvard has limited slots, or dates on which student shows may go up. Jason and Jesse decided to apply for a slot on the Loeb Mainstage, Harvard’s largest and least available space (there are only three student-directed slots each year).

To prove we could handle the Mainstage, we needed a killer application. Applications, which are reviewed in the selection process by the student-run HRDC (Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club) are made up of statements from each member of the staff. For Sweeney, each staff member wrote a detailed statement about why they were excited about the show, what they would contribute, and how they envisioned it all happening. Our combined statements for Sweeney were 39 pages long!

Finally, we had our interview with the HRDC board. The entire staff had to wake up at the crack of dawn (our interview was at 8:00am) and haul ourselves over to the Loeb. The interview with the board is always a bit nerve-wracking. The board is made up of lovely people, but you never know what kinds of questions they’ll toss your way.

But directors get the toughest questions, and Jason and Jesse nailed every one. Asked to sum up the show in a sentence, Jesse said: “Watch out: if you piss off Sweeney Todd, he’ll cut you into pieces and bake you into a pie—and sing about it!” Brilliant! We actually had a really fun interview; lots of laughter on both sides of the table. A few days later, we found out that our application had been approved!

As the beginning of spring semester rolled around, it was time for Common Casting—a time of great excitement and great anxiety for all involved! For Sweeney, we luckily had a huge turnout from Harvard, Emerson, and Boston Conservatory students. The actors all were very excited about the show going up. After an intense week of auditions, our creative team cast the show, actors signed on, and we had a cast.

With a cast and staff now firmly in place, a space and dates set, rehearsals and production planning went into full swing. For the cast, directors, and stage manager, this means lots rehearsals. For everyone else on staff, this means emails, meetings, and deadlines. Being a producer is kind of like having an office job, without the office. And you’re not paid. And it’s way more fun, because everyone who works in your office is pretty cool.

The main role of every producer is to account for everything that needs to get done, and then make sure it actually gets done. However, responsibilities are divided up among the producers. My main task was to advertise Sweeney—fill those seats! It’s quite involved than: postering, Facebook event, table tents, newspaper coverage, event listings, spamming open lists—oh my! Nonetheless, getting people to show up for postering is still the toughest part (crack of dawn!).

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