‘Sweeney Todd’ Revival Heading To Broadway With Josh Groban, Annaleigh Ashford & ‘Hamilton’ Director Thomas Kail – Report

Greg Evans

A revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford could land on Broadway this Spring, with the team behind Hamilton – producer Jeffrey Seller and director Thomas Kail – attached, according to a published report.

The production – reported exclusively today by Philip Boroff’s Broadway Journal site – would be the latest in a string of Sondheim revivals staged since the Broadway icon’s death on Nov. 21, 2021. Revivals of Company and Into The Woods arrived on Broadway this season, and a new Off Broadway staging of Merrily We Roll Along starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez begins previews at New York Theatre Workshop on Nov. 21, with an official opening on Dec. 12.

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Groban, who starred in the 2016 Broadway production of the musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, would play the Sweeney Todd title character, with Ashford (Broadway’s 2017 revival of Sunday in the Park with George, the FX drama Impeachment: American Crime Story), as Mrs. Lovett.

According to Broadway Journal, an operating agreement distributed to investors indicates that producer Seller is attempting to raise $14.5 million for the revival.

Seller was not available for comment Tuesday. Deadline has also reached out to reps for Groban and Ashford.

Sweeney Todd – full title: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – features music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, based on an earlier play of the same name by Christopher Bond. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1979 in a production starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. It has been revived several times on and Off Broadway.

Groban recorded one of the musical’s most beloved songs, “Not While I’m Around,” in a medley with Into The Woods‘ “Children Will Listen,” on his 2015 album Stages. He also performed the medley during the virtual concert Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration in 2020.

Set in Victorian London, Sweeney Todd tells the penny dreadful tale of a murderous, revenge-seeking barber and his pie-baking accomplice Mrs. Lovett, who uses her culinary skills to dispose of bothersome corpses.

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