Broadway's new Sweeney Todd will wield a guitar while Mrs. Lovett
totes a tuba, Tobias strings a violin and Johanna handles the cello
and penny whistle in the upcoming revival of Sweeney Todd, The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street.
John Doyle,
who staged the London run, directs the new staging of the Stephen
Sondheim musical to begin previews Oct. 3 at the Eugene O'Neill
Theatre toward a Nov. 3 opening night.
The unique staging
casts actor-musicians to retell the story of the Demon Barber of
Fleet Street and company. A cast of ten (with no ensemble) perform
on various instruments ranging from flute, trumpet and clarinet
to cello, accordion and bass in addition to their acting and singing
duties.
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.
Tony Award winner
Michael Cerveris (Assassins) will star 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
— for the upcoming Broadway revival.
Cerveris and
LuPone will be joined in the ten-member ensemble 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).
Tom Viertel,
Steven Baruch, Marc Routh and Richard Frankel will present Sweeney
Todd with the Ambassador Theatre Group (which recently co-produced
a run with The Watermill Theatre at the West End's New Ambassador
Theatre), Adam Kenwright & Tulchin/Bartner Productions for the
production on Broadway.
Sweeney Todd
features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh
Wheeler, drawing from the play by Christopher Bond (itself based
on characters created by British journalist George Dibden-Pitt,
who adapted his 1830s penny dreadful tale into a popular stage melodrama).
The story follows a vengeful barber (Sweeney) in Victorian England
and his neighbor (Lovett) who owns a pie shop that becomes popular
due to a surplus of fresh meat.
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 productoin. Details and
dates are forthcoming.
Tickets for
the upcoming Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd are currently on sale
by calling (212) 239-6200 or click below. For more information,
visit www.sweeneytoddonbroadway.com.
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