Mark Delavan will play the title role, with Tonna Miller as Johanna, Keith Jameson as Tobias, Andrew Drost as Pirelli, Keith Phares as Anthony Hope and Timothy Nolen as Judge Turpin. Casting for Mrs. Lovett has not been announced.

Performances play the State Theater at Lincoln Center March 5-28, in rep with other operas on the spring slate. George Manahan conducts.

Prince, of course, staged the original 1979 Broadway staging to much acclaim and helmed the New York City revival in the last decade (the returning show is part of the troupe's repertoire, hand in hand with Sondheim's A Little Night Music, and modern and classic operas).

Programming in the 2003-04 City Opera season also includes Handel's Alcina, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Bizet's Carmen, Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, Puccini's Turandot, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra, Handel's Xerxes, Puccini's Tosca and Rossini's Ermione.

Overseen by general and artistic director Paul Kellogg, the New York City Opera season plays September-November 2003 and March-April 2004. For subscription information, call (212) 496-0600 or visit www.nycopera.com.