Judy Kaye Assumes Tuba of Sweeney Todd's Mrs. Lovett on Broadway, June 20-25 | Playbill

Related Articles
News Judy Kaye Assumes Tuba of Sweeney Todd's Mrs. Lovett on Broadway, June 20-25 Tony Award winner Judy Kaye dons the apron of Mrs. Lovett in Broadway's new Sweeney Todd as fellow Tony winner Patti LuPone vacations for one week.

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/41a93ee6928607847170bd78d876531b-kayeaslovett1_1150821136.jpg
Judy Kaye is Mrs. Lovett. Photo by Bruce Gilkas

Kaye will play the maker of "The Worst Pies in London" for eight performances June 20-25, during LuPone's vacation, opposite Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris in the title role.

Kaye — who earned a Tony Award nomination this past season for her turn in Souvenir — won her Tony for The Phantom of the Opera. Other credits include Mamma Mia, Ragtime and On The Twentieth Century.

John Doyle directed the new Broadway staging of the Stephen Sondheim musical which began previews Oct. 3 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and opened Nov. 3. Director Doyle as well as orchestrator Sarah Travis took home 2006 Tony Awards for their work.

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. Kaye joins Cerveris and original cast members 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).

Produced by Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and the Ambassador Theatre Group, Adam Kenwright & Tulchin/Bartner/Bagert, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street recouped its initial $3.5 million investment in 19 weeks. The cast recording is available through Nonesuch Records.

Tickets for Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O'Neill, 230 West 49 Street, are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or via the link below. For more information, visit www.sweeneytoddonbroadway.com.

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!