Sweeney Todd Puts Down the Razor on Sept. 3

The acclaimed Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd will end its run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on September 3. At the time it closes, it will have played 35 previews and 349 performances.

Sweeney Todd, which features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, 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. Directed and designed by John Doyle, this production of Sweeney Todd opened at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury in February 2004, embarked on a UK tour and then hit the West End before coming to Broadway. The New York mounting of the show, which utilizes 10 actor/musicians who act out the show as well as play all the music for it, stars Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett, Michael Cerveris in the title role, Manoel Felciano as Tobias, Mark Jacoby as Judge Turpin, Donna Lynne Champlin as Pirelli, Alexander Gemignani as The Beadle, John Arbo as Jonas Fogg, Diana DiMarzio as Beggar Woman, Benjamin Magnuson as Anthony and Lauren Molina as Johanna.

Sweeney Todd, which quickly recouped its initial investment in New York, opened on Broadway on November 3 to much acclaim. In his Broadway.com Review of the production, Rob Kendt wrote: "As sharp and glistening as a straight-edge razor, director John Doyle's stripped-down concert/theater rendition of Sweeney Todd gives the kind of buzz you don't expect, and certainly almost never get, from a Broadway show. It is the distinct hum of musical and theatrical intelligence; it is the glow of sheer brilliance as an entertainment value in itself."

A U.S. tour of this production is scheduled to begin at the end of summer 2007.