Courtesy of David Allen The 10-person "Sweeney Todd" cast plays their own instruments in director John Doyles' groundbreaking revival of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." David Hess, center, has the title role and Judy Kaye plays Mrs. Lovett in the murderous musical.

@1-Caption Credit:Courtesy of David Allen Lauren Molina and Benjamin Magnuson both have had their cello bows break during performances of "Sweeney Todd." On the night her bow broke, Molina says, "(Ben) noticed what happened. He gave me his bow, took mine, got a replacement for himself, and, later, we switched back."

If you think actors dropping their lines is bad, just imagine them dropping a cello bow.

That — and worse — has happened more than a few times to Lauren Molina, Benjamin Eakeley and others appearing in the latest incarnation of Stephen Sondheim's still-frightening 1979 musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." In John Doyle's radical restaging, there is no orchestra. Instead, the actors must carry instruments and provide their own accompaniment.

Doyle first applied this minimalistic, actors-as-musicians approach to "Sweeney Todd" in England, then unveiled it on Broadway in 2005 with a cast that included Michael Cerveris as the revenge-seeking barber Sweeney and Patti LuPone as meat-pie maker Mrs. Lovett, the woman who tries desperately to love him. Cerveris and LuPone both won Tony Awards and the show itself earned a Tony for best revival.

Now on a national tour, "Sweeney" is taking customers beginning Tuesday at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre. It tells the story of a once-happy man — now quite mad — who is out for revenge against the judge who falsely imprisoned him and destroyed his family.

Doyle's restaging was praised by The New York Times' Ben Brantley, who wrote, "Surely no previous production of Sweeney Todd' has had such a high quotient of truly unsettling horror or such a low quotient of conventional stage spectacle."

Molina, who portrays Todd's tragic daughter, Johanna, knew Doyle truly was tapping into the macabre when, during one of her five auditions, he had her sing while crouching underneath a table and imagining that she had undergone horrific things.

"I was crying and screaming," she said. "And that was when I thought I might really be finding the part."

Molina grew up playing the cello, though for the most part her instrument gathered dust during her college years while she studied voice and acting. But when she read the casting call notice for "Sweeney Todd," which required someone with strong cello skills, she sensed the part was right for her.

After much rehearsal, Molina said, the instrument became an extension of Johanna's body. But that doesn't mean there aren't mishaps.

"I've had my bow break once during a performance," she said. "Ben Magnuson, who plays Anthony, and who also plays the cello, noticed what happened. He gave me his bow, took mine, got a replacement for himself, and, later, we switched back. I've had cello strings slip way out of tune, so I have to tune and play at the same time, on the fly. But I've played the role for so long, whatever happens on stage is me being Johanna having an issue with her instrument. It's not Lauren on stage."

Eakeley, who portrays the despicable Beadle Bamford, plays several instruments in the show, including piano. At the keyboard he handles much of the responsibility for the performers' musical pacing, which, because there is no conductor, can get off track.

"There are certain noises that can be uttered from the piano that no one in the audience can hear — ways to get each other's attention — to say to someone, Listen, buddy, you're on the wrong path. We've got to get this moving along.'

"But John Doyle has built a certain level of chaos into this piece, which is intentional, and that gives us a cushion to take all of these interesting experiences and work with them," Eakeley said.

The result is an aural and visual tapestry that forges a new path in theater.

"Before we came to New York, people said that there was no way this could work," Eakeley recalled. "It truly is an improbable concept. But it works every single night. This is something that we're not likely to see again for a long time."

— E-mail freelance columnist Jeff Favre at jjfavre@yahoo.com.