“Sweeney Todd” will play its final Broadway performance on May 5. The revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical began previews on Feb, 26, 2023, and opened on March 26 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Upon closing, the Thomas Kail-directed production will have played 27 previews and 407 performances.
The closing will coincide with the end date of the tenure of the musical’s current stars, Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster, who play Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, respectively. Tveit and Foster succeeded original actors Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, who departed the production on Jan. 14.
Adapted from Christopher Bond’s 1970 play of the same name, “Sweeney Todd” features a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. Based on characters originally featured in the serialized Victorian-era story “The String of Pearls,” the musical follows murderous barber Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, the proprietor of a local meat-pie shop.
The production features choreography by Steven Hoggett and music supervision by Alex Lacamoire, with scenic design by Mimi Lien, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, hair/wig/make-up design by J. Jared Janas and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
In addition to Tveit and Foster, the current principal company features Ruthie Ann Miles in a Tony-nominated performance as the Beggar Woman, Joe Locke as Tobias Ragg, Maria Bilbao as Johanna, Nicholas Christopher as Pirelli and the standby for Sweeney, Jamie Jackson as Judge Turpin, John Rapson as the Beadle and Daniel Yearwood as Anthony Hope.
Rounding out the company are ensemble members Galyana Castillo, Jonathan Christopher, Dwayne Cooper, Kyrie Courtier, Mia Gerachis, Timothy Hughes, Paul-Jordan Jansen, Alicia Kaori, Michael Kuhn, Megan Ort, Patricia Phillips, Mia Pinero, Lexi Rabadi, Nathan Salstone, Kirstie Dale Sanders, Stephen Tewksbury, Daniel Torries, Felix Torrez-Ponce, DeLaney Westfall and Hennessy Winkler, as well as swings Keven Quillon, Claire Saunders and Tug Watson. Jeanna de Waal serves as the standby for Mrs. Lovett and Beggar Woman.
This production is the third revival of “Sweeney Todd,” which originally premiered on Broadway in 1979. The 2023 mounting received eight Tony nominations, winning for Katz’s lighting design and Steinberg’s sound design. For her performance, Ashford was awarded the 2023 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. A cast album was released digitally in September 2023 and a physical CD was released in December. A three-LP vinyl set will be released in March 2024.
“Sweeney Todd” is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller.
