The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has returned!
A revival of the late Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sweeney Todd,” which will star singer Josh Groban, was announced Tuesday and is set to slice its way onto Broadway in the spring, reports Broadway Journal.
The production will see 41-year-old Groban as the demon barber himself while his pie-baking accomplice Mrs. Lovett will be played by Annaleigh Ashford, 37. The production will be directed by “Hamilton” alum Thomas Kail.
“Sweeney Todd” tells the story of a revenge-seeking barber in Victorian London who goes on a dreadful murder spree and uses his business partner Mrs. Lovett to help dispose of his victims’ bodies.
The musical originally debuted on Broadway in 1979 with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury starring, and has been revived at Circle in the Square in 1989 and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2005. That last production, which featured Broadway icons Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone, garnered a Best Director Tony for John Doyle. (The show was also staged off-Broadway several times over the years, including one immersive experience in 2016.)
In 2007, the musical was adapted as a film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp.
The revival is the latest in a string of Sondheim musicals that have graced the Great White Way since the composer’s death in 2021.
Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” opened at the St. James Theatre in July for a limited engagement, while the Tony-winning revival of “Company,” starring LuPone, recently concluded its run.
It was announced last Wednesday that a revival of another Sondheim musical, “Merrily We Roll Along” starring “Harry Potter” alum Daniel Radcliffe and “Hamilton” star Jonathan Groff, will premiere in November.
Producers of “Sweeney Todd” have yet to give an exact date for when the show is expected to open.
