Analeigh Ashford and Josh Groban to join Broadway in 2023 Sweeney Todd.
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
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Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Analeigh Ashford and Josh Groban to join Broadway in 2023 Sweeney Todd.
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 masterpiece, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I’m back on Broadway. Set in 19th-century London, this drama about a murderous barber who partners with a pie shop owner is gruesome, passionate, and ridiculously funny. And a gorgeous revival performance featuring Josh Groban and Analeigh Ashford, a 25-man cast and 26-man orchestra, was recently unveiled to rave reviews.
Since its premiere 44 years ago, sweeney todd returned to New York in various forms, including small-scale off-Broadway productions, operatic and concert versions, and Broadway revivals with the actors performing their own accompaniment. That’s where the Sweeney Family Fraternity exists, where they can share stories and exchange tips on how to play this notoriously difficult role.
Four of them visited NPR’s New York bureau for a wide-ranging conversation. Pop singer Josh Groban recently took on the role. Michael Cerveris, who fronted the 2005 revival, played guitar and Patti LuPone played tuba. Norm Lewis has played the role three times, most recently in an immersive Off-Broadway production set in a pie shop, and Len Curiou also played the original Sweeney.
Four Sweeney Todds in one NPR studio: Josh Groban (left), Len Kaliu, Michael Cerberis, and Norm Lewis.
Jeff Landen/NPR
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Jeff Landen/NPR
The three young Sweeneys were naturally interested in hearing Cariwoo talk about his first production. He was in Manitoba, Canada when original director Hal Prince sent him the script. “And he came home and read it and said, ‘They’re out of their minds. This is crazy,'” Kariu recalls with a laugh.
It’s crazy, because this show is about a barber slitting a customer’s throat. His accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, disposed of her body by baking it into meat pies. However, Kariu has worked with Stephen Sondheim before, little night music. “So I thought, ‘Yeah, if he wrote a really romantic song, this could be funny,'” he recalls, adding:
And Sondheim wrote TRUE romantic score. Kariu visited the composer’s house for a preview, where the two were so nervous that they shared a joint before Sondheim performed a few songs. Kariu said Sondheim told him how “Dies Irae”, the dead man of the Catholic Church Mass, was used in “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.” He then played an early song from the show, “The Barber and His Wife.”
“Then I started crying,” says Kariu. “I said, ‘What’s going on here?’ I said, ‘Steve, that’s an incredible melody.'” “I was on the floor laughing,” Sondheim recalls, when he played the hilarious song, “Better and better!” Cariou went crazy.
Norm Lewis and Carolie Carmelo’s 2017 Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd.
Joan Marcus
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Joan Marcus
Norm Lewis and Carolie Carmelo’s 2017 Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd.
Joan Marcus
All four Sweeneys spoke about key moments from the show. The song “My Friends” is a gentle ballad Sweeney sings for him. Razor. Here are the settings: A corrupt Judge Turpin was lusting after Sweeney’s wife, so he sent Sweeney back to Australia on a false conviction. But Sweeney escaped. Now back in London, thinking his wife is dead and his daughter Joanna is being held captive in the judge’s house, Sweeney decides to take revenge. And Mrs. Lovett gives him the perfect instrument. “And say, “Oh, by the way.” “I have your razor,” Kariu explains, “I saved it for you.”
“All these stories are starting to develop,” says Josh Groban. “It’s seeded with maniacs. But the music itself is one of the most lush and romantic I’ve ever heard. And ‘My Friends’ leans into that romanticism as Sweeney.” I think it’s the first opportunity. “
“Musically, it’s like opening the door to a side of Sweeney you haven’t seen yet,” explains Michael Cerveris. “You know, there’s a loving person in him, and the song has the kindness you see in relation to a cold piece of steel.”
Cerberis added: “I had the feeling that if he had come back and found Joanna and his wife and had been allowed to do so, he would have just left town. I didn’t think it was there, but I think you can see a potential version of him on ‘My Friends’.”
“Yes, I used to tell people all the time,” laughs Norm Lewis, “if only he had found Joanna and his wife. Curtain!”
But Ren Cariou isn’t sure. “He was going to eat pounds of meat,” explains Currieu, “that was his motivation. That brought him back from Australia to London…that was Turpin.”
As the song progresses, Sweeney focuses on Razor, while Mrs. Lovett focuses on Sweeney. “Lovett has a survivor element,” says Groban. “And they are both looking for a means to achieve what they need. I have.”
Cariwoo recalls the excitement of the first rehearsal room, where Mrs. Lovett was Angela Lansbury. “Everyone got up almost immediately,” says Kariu. “Something was going on. We knew it. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I knew something was going on here. We knew it could be the most exciting production we’ve ever been in.”
Well, of course sweeney todd It is located in the Pantheon of Musical Theater. “I have always said that Stephen Sondheim is the Shakespeare of musical theater,” explains Norm Lewis. “And for me, this role has always been the Hamlet of musical theater, because baritone singers always want to play it and interpret it in their own way.”
And all four of these actors admit that it’s exhausting playing murderous anti-social characters while dealing with stage blood, mechanical barber chairs, and singing intricate music. Josh Groban says he got his inspiration from Michael Cerberis. “Michael and I had a drink before we started previewing,” recalls Groban. “And I was lucky enough to sit with him and get some great advice and support…and he said, ‘Just wash it up in the sink,’ man. When you remove your makeup, please remove it all, right? “
The musical’s success in 1979 was by no means inevitable. Len Kaliu remembers that the original company never went through a technical rehearsal before the premiere. They didn’t know what to expect. “People really responded to it when it was over,” says Kariu. “And then I came backstage to the dressing room and Sondheim was standing outside the dressing room and said, ‘They got it. They got it.’ We had such a big hug.”
