Cerveris to Play Demon Barber in B'way Sweeney; Jacoby, Magnuson & Molina Also Set

Broadway.com has learned that Michael Cerveris is expected to star opposite Patti LuPone in the upcoming Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd. The show, directed and designed by John Doyle, will also feature Mark Jacoby, Benjamin Magnuson and Lauren Molina.

Cerveris and LuPone starred together in concert presentations of the Sondheim musicals Sunday in the Park with George in which he played the title character and she played the supporting parts of Yvonne and Blair Daniels and Passion where he was Giorgio and she was Fosca. They are scheduled to appear together in the composer's Anyone Can Whistle at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois on August 26, 2005. They also both recently participated in the Children and Art concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre, which was held as a tribute to Sondheim on the eve of his 75th birthday.

Cerveris won a 2004 Tony Award for his portrayal of John Wilkes Booth in Sondheim's Assassins. He previously earned a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award for his portrayal of the title character, a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard, in The Who's Tommy. He also appeared on Broadway in Titanic. His off-Broadway credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Total Eclipse, Abingdon Square, Life is a Dream, Macbeth, The Games, Fifth of July and Wintertime.

Jacoby, who will play the Judge in Sweeney Todd, appeared in the 1992 concert Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall as did LuPone. He won a 1986 Theatre World Award for his performance in Sweet Charity and was nominated for a 1995 Tony Award for his work in Show Boat. He also appeared on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera, Grand Hotel, Ragtime and Man of La Mancha. His other theatrical credits include Enter the Guardsmen off-Broadway for which he received a Drama Desk nomination and a national tour of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Magnuson, a trained cellist, will receive a BFA in Musical Theater this spring from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. At the school, he has played Joe Josephson in Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, Frank Drecker in Working, the Chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Judge Pitkin in On The Town and Dr. Jafar Barensteiner in A New Brain. His other theatrical credits include mountings of The Fantasticks, My Fair Lady, Barnum, Peter Pan, Children of Eden and River of Freedom. He is set to play Anthony in Sweeney Todd.

Molina, who studied musical theatre at the University of Michigan, is taking on the role of Todd's daughter Johanna. Her New York stage credits include the York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti presentation of Henry, Sweet Henry and Meet Me in St. Louis at the 45th Street Theatre. Other theatrical credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Marvin's Room, Man of La Mancha, Once Upon a Mattress, Patience and Saving Anne in which she played the title character of Anne Frank.

Sweeney Todd tells the tale of the "demon barber of Fleet Street," fresh out of jail for a crime he did not commit, who cooks up a macabre revenge scheme with his dazzlingly demented accomplice, Mrs. Lovett.

This revival of the tuner is scheduled to begin previews on October 3 and open November 3 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, recently vacated by Good Vibrations.