John Doyle, who staged the London run, directs the new staging of the Stephen Sondheim musical which began previews Oct. 3 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre toward a Nov. 3 opening night.
Details and release date for the recording are forthcoming. Playbill.com has learned the recording will be produced by Tommy Krasker, who has overseen six Sondheim cast albums for Nonesuch Records and his own label, PS Classics. Krasker also previously produced the Sweeney Todd recording for the New York Philharmonic in 2000.
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 on a stage assembled of wooden planks, 10 actor-musicians recreate the characters and events of Victorian-era Fleet Street.
The Sondheim score (with the book by Hugh Wheeler from a Christopher Bond adaptation) is performed (in full view of the audience) by the acting company, who play instruments ranging from tuba, trumpet and clarinet to cello, accordion and bass.
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." 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).
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 for the new Broadway staging.
Tickets for Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O'Neill, 230 West 48 Street, are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or via the link below. For more information, visit www.sweeneytoddonbroadway.com.
