Josh Groban lifts his razor high in Sweeney Todd revival first look
At last, his arm is complete again.
Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, is ready to swing his razor wide in a first look at the new revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical starring Josh Groban as Todd and Annaleigh Ashford as his madcap mistress of evil, Mrs. Lovett.
EW can exclusively debut the first photos of Groban and Ashford in character, menacingly wielding Sweeney's razor and Mrs. Lovett's rolling pin, which (spoiler alert!) she uses to make meat pies out of the men Sweeney kills in his barber's chair.
Franz Szony Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in 'Sweeney Todd'
Set against the backdrop of 19th-century London, the images are suffused with the ominous glow of hellfire (or at least Mrs. Lovett's oven).
First debuted on Broadway in 1979, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street features a book by Hugh Wheeler and music and lyrics by Sondheim. It tells the tale of penny dreadful character Sweeney Todd, a barber who returns to London after exile in Australia to exact revenge on the evil Judge Turpin, who raped his wife and kidnapped his daughter. Todd pairs up with Mrs. Lovett, a widow who devises a plot to turn Sweeney's victims into a profitable business venture.
The highly anticipated new production marks the first Broadway revival of the Sondheim masterwork since a stripped-down 2005 take, which starred Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris. This revival began a workshop only three days after Sondheim's death in 2021.
Franz Szony Annaleigh Ashford in 'Sweeney Todd'
The show is directed by Thomas Kail and produced by Jeffrey Seller, both of whom won Tonys for their work on Hamilton. The new Sweeney cast also includes Jordan Fisher as Anthony, Gaten Matarazzo as Tobias, Jamie Jackson as Judge Turpin, and Ruthie Ann Miles as the Beggarwoman.
Both Groban, 41, and Ashford, 37, are on the younger side for the roles, but they're no strangers to Broadway. Groban made his Broadway debut in 2016, leading the cast of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and scoring a Tony nod. Ashford has seven Broadway shows to her credit, and winning a Tony in 2015 for You Can't Take It With You. Groban is an immense fan of Sweeney Todd, having named his dog after the title character.
Franz Szony Josh Groban in 'Sweeney Todd'
The singer is fresh off a stint portraying the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, a role he told EW helped him prepare for the internal monstrosity of Sweeney. "The thing that makes the Beast's character interesting is almost a reverse of the same thing that makes Sweeney Todd and Benjamin Barker interesting," Groban said. "You're dealing with the duality of a monster and a man, and what creates that? What do we see in each character that we see in ourselves?"
He added, "With both characters, it's far more interesting to connect with the human being inside instead of the brute force, broad-strokes monster. Finding that humanity in the Beast role was great prep for trying to find Benjamin Barker — the family man, the businessman, the person who was wronged before he did all of that wronging."
Sweeney Todd begins previews Feb. 26 and will officially open March 26 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in New York City.
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