 photos
by Paul Kolnik
Blood pours in bucketfuls as Benjamin Barker returns to London for
vengeance in the new unique revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney
Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which opens on Broadway
Nov. 3.
John Doyle,
who staged the original London run, directs the musical which began
on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Oct. 3.
In a new conceptual
take on the vengeful barber, the tale of Sweeney Todd is retold
in the confines of an asylum where a distraught Tobias Ragg is locked
up. Using only nine chairs, a ladder, and a coffin on two wooden
horses upon a stage assembled of long wooden planks, ten actor-musicians
recreate the characters and events on Fleet Street.
The Sondheim
score (with the book by Hugh Wheeler from a Christopher Bond adaptation)
is performed in full view by the ensemble on instruments ranging
from tuba, trumpet and clarinet to cello, accordion and bass in
addition to their acting and singing duties.
Tony Award winner
Michael Cerveris (Assassins) stars in the title role opposite Tony
Award winner Patti LuPone (Evita) as the lovable meatpie-maker Mrs.
Lovett — her first Broadway musical role in 17 years.
Cerveris and
LuPone are joined by John Arbo (musician on Good Vibrations) as
Jonas Fogg, Donna Lynne Champlin (Hollywood Arms, James Joyce's
The Dead) as Pirelli, Manoel Felciano (Shockheaded Peter, Brooklyn)
as Tobias Ragg, Alexander Gemignani (Assassins) as The Beadle, Mark
Jacoby ( Man of La Mancha, Show Boat) as Judge Turpin and Broadway
newcomers Diana DiMarzio (as Beggar Woman), Benjamin Magnuson (as
Anthony Hope) and Lauren Molina (as Johanna).
The instrument
assignment is as follows: The Beadle - keyboard/trumpet, Beggar
Woman - clarinet, Anthony - cello/ keyboard, Johanna - cello/penny
whistle, Jonas Fogg - bass, Tobias - violin/clarinet/keyboard, Pirelli
- accordion/keyboard/flute, Judge Turpin - trumpet/orchestra bells/
percussion, Mrs. Lovett- tuba/orchestra bells/ percussion and Sweeney
Todd - guitar/orchestra bells/percussion.
A Best Actress
(Musical) Tony Award winner for her turn in Evita, LuPone was last
seen in a musical on Broadway (ironically as Reno Sweeney) in the
1988 revival of Anything Goes — for which she was Tony-nominated.
The actress has remained in the New York spotlight with appearances
in the New York Philharmonic's Candide concert, the City Center
Encores! run of Cole Porter's Can-Can, as well as non-musical turn
for Broadway’s Noises Off, The Old Neighborhood, Master Class
and her concerts Patti LuPone on Broadway and Matters of the Heart.
Cerveris won
a Tony Award for his turn as Booth in the 2004 revival of Stephen
Sondheim's Assassins. The actor has appeared Off-Broadway in Wintertime
and Fifth of July and also earned a Tony Award nomination for his
Broadway debut as the title role in The Who's Tommy. Other stage
credits include Passion, Titanic and the title role in Hedwig and
the Angry Inch.
Tom Viertel,
Steven Baruch, Marc Routh and Richard Frankel present Sweeney Todd
with the Ambassador Theatre Group (which co-produced the run with
The Watermill Theatre at the West End's New Ambassador Theatre),
Adam Kenwright & Tulchin/Bartner/Bagert Productions for the
new Broadway staging.
Director Doyle
provides his own scenic and costume design with a creative team
that also features Richard G. Jones (lighting), Dan Moses Schreier
(sound), Paul Huntley (hair and wig). David Loud serves as resident
music supervisor, John Miller is music coordinator. Musical supervision
and orchestrations are by Sarah Travis.
Nonesuch —
the company that has previously released Sondheim's Saturday Night,
The Frogs/Evening Primrose, Into The Woods and Bounce — will
put forth the new cast recording for the production. Details and
dates are forthcoming.
The songlist
includes "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," "No Place
Like London," "The Barber and His Wife," "The
Worst Pies in London," "Poor Thing," "My Friends,"
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird," "Ah, Miss," "Johanna,"
"Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir," "The Contest,"
"Wait," "Kiss Me," "Ladies in Their Sensitivities,"
"Quartet," "Pretty Women," "Epiphany,"
"A Little Priest," "God, That’s Good!,"
"Johanna," "By the Sea," "Not While I’m
Around," "Parlor Songs," "City on Fire!,"
"Final Sequence" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd."
Sweeney Todd
made its Broadway debut Feb. 6, 1979 starring Len Cariou and Angela
Lansbury — both earned Tony Awards for their turns. Harold
Prince directed the 1979 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. ((Take
a look inside the original Playbill with the Playbill Archives feature.)
) In 1989, an intimate, smaller-cast revival of Sweeney Todd was
produced on Broadway and Tony Award nominated for Best Revival.
Susan H. Schulman directed stars Bob Gunton (as Sweeney) and Beth
Fowler (as Mrs. Lovett). The work was also recently seen in Washington,
D.C. as part of the Kennedy Center's Sondheim celebration with stars
Brian Stokes Mitchell and Christine Baranski.
Tickets for Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O'Neill, 230 West 49 St.
are on sale by calling (212) 239-6200 or via the link below. For
more information, visit www.sweeneytoddonbroadway.com.
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