The cast of Sweeney

Patty Lohr, whose grandmother lives in Lawrence, plays the role of a beggar woman.

Patty Lohr loves the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

She didn’t really like last year’s movie by the same name starring Johnny Depp.

“I think that it’s helpful because I think it gets the show out there,” Lohr says. “But the movie was very gruesome. I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie because of that fact. In our version, there’s not a lot of gore at all – actually, there’s none.”

Lohr plays the beggar woman in the traveling production of “Sweeney Todd” that comes to the Lied Center Wednesday night. She is a frequent visitor to Lawrence – her grandmother, Roxanne O’Brien, lives here.

But on this trip, the 23-year-old actress will be one of 10 cast members who act, sing and play instruments – yes, they are their own orchestra – to tell the story of the murderous barber.

“Sweeney Todd” is based on a 19th century legend of a London barber driven to a life of crime after a judge has taken his wife and child from him. The man conspires with Mrs. Lovett – an enterprising pie maker – in a cutthroat partnership to slice through London’s upper crust.

The 1979 musical, with music by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, is based on a 1973 play by Christopher Bond. That play was based on an 1846 story, “String of Pearls: A Romance” attributed to Thomas Prest.

This version is far from a typical musical. Each of the 10 cast members serves as the orchestra when they’re not singing or acting.

For Lohr, a Kansas City, Mo., native and recent graduate of Beldwin-Wallace College in suburban Cleveland, that was a challenge. She played clarinet in high school – and considered majoring in instrumental performance in college – but hadn’t touched the instrument in four years.

“I was awful,” she says. “I was terrible.”

But after a lesson from a private teacher and a weekend-long “band camp,” she was on her way to performing in public again.

“It took them eight months to cast the show,” Lohr says. “It’s hard enough to find the characters, but when you add in the instruments, it’s just craziness.”

Though the stage version may not get the visceral reaction the movie does, Lohr says it still keeps the audience on edge.

“I would like to call it a psychological thriller, which is almost a movie term,” she says. “It’s more creepy than scary. It makes your skin crawl a little.”

The current tour goes through the end of April. Lohr says she’d love to continue with the show in the future if it’s extended.

“We have gotten a wonderful reaction,” she says. “I’ve never experienced a show that was so well received. People seem to be responding well.”

Even without Johnny Depp?

“Even without Johnny Depp.”