'Stranger Things' star Gaten Matarazzo talks landing dream role in Broadway's 'Sweeney Todd'

Gaten Matarazzo is turning Broadway upside down.

The actor, who plays Dustin in Netflix's sci-fi hit "Stranger Things," appeared last year in "Dear Evan Hansen" and "Parade" at New York City Center. Now, he's back on the boards in "Sweeney Todd," a tremendous new revival of Stephen Sondheim's 1979 slasher musical. Matarazzo co-stars as Tobias, a put-upon orphan in 19th-century London who's taken in by Mrs. Lovett (Annaleigh Ashford), a screwball baker and accomplice to homicidal barber Sweeney Todd (Josh Groban).

Ever since preview performances in late February, Matarazzo says, audiences have been evenly split between Sondheim fanatics and first-time theatergoers.

"I've met a lot of people who came to see this and were pretty shocked. They really had no clue what they were getting into," Matarazzo says. The production is dripping with fake blood, but at least so far, "I don't think I've taken any home with me. I should probably check my dirty laundry."

Tobias in 'Sweeney Todd' is one of his 'bucket-list roles'

Matarazzo, 20, is a lifelong theater kid. The New Jersey native made his Broadway debut at 8 years old in 2011's "Priscilla Queen of the Desert," before playing pint-sized revolutionary Gavroche in 2014's "Les Misérables" revival. He grew up watching Tim Burton's "Sweeney" movie starring Johnny Depp, and after seeing several productions of the musical, fell in love with Tobias as a character.

"This role has always been one of those bucket-list roles for me," Matarazzo says. "I've seen 12-year-old kids play Toby and people in their 30s play Toby. There's so many interesting ways to approach it depending on your age, and that's what's so wonderful about it. I'd love to play him again when I'm significantly older."

When we first meet Tobias, he's working for foppish con man Adolfo Pirelli (Nicholas Christopher), who quickly falls prey to Sweeney's lethal razor. Tobias then becomes an assistant to Lovett, who unbeknownst to him initially, is making meat pies from Sweeney's victims.

"He's been in service to people his whole life, even to those who have treated him well like Mrs. Lovett," Matarazzo says. With Tobias, "there's a real desperation. There's a necessity for attachment but also a complete yearning for the truth."

Casting the role, "we wanted Tobias to be constantly seeking love, and Gaten instinctively understood how to express this in the smallest gesture," director Thomas Kail says. "He is relentless in his desire to find a safe place to be – and to make the world safe for Lovett."

Tobias' intense devotion to Lovett is poignantly expressed in Act 2 ballad "Not While I'm Around," in which he voices his suspicions about Sweeney and promises to protect her.

"He literally is saying he would kill for her, and that's not to be taken lightly," Matarazzo says. "It creates a lot of history for Toby. There's a lot of experience that he hasn't talked about, and when he says he has ways to get things done, I think he truly means it."

Gaten Matarazzo shares his hopes for Dustin in final season of 'Stranger Things'

Matarazzo believes his four seasons and seven years of "Stranger Things" have only made him a more confident stage actor.

"Because of my work on screen, I think I'm way more mindful of who I'm trying to be and what I'm trying to learn. I listen a lot more than I did," he explains. "But also, there's a lot more overlap now with screen and theater. When you're training when you're younger, it's all about playing to the back of the house. But nowadays, people want to feel like they're looking in on something rather than being performed to. You have an opportunity to be more natural in your movement and in your voice."

Ashford praises her young castmate, calling him "grounded" and "beyond his years as an artist."

"He could so easily be swept up in the trappings of fame (and) success," she says. "But instead, he is so committed to the craft and being a member of the company."

Matarazzo says he hasn't yet gotten word on when production begins for the fifth and final season of "Stranger Things." "A lot of people have projects they're working on at the moment. But I know they're kicking into high gear with writing and I can't wait to finally get back into it. I don't know when, but it'll be fun for sure."

As the series wraps up, he says he'd like to see Dustin get "a bit of an ego check. He knows how smart he is, and at least from Season 4, he's learned how valuable he can be not just to his friend group, but to the collective effort of stopping this (supernatural) threat. I'd like to see him be knocked down a few pegs."

In the meantime, he's still found a slice of Hawkins, Indiana, here in New York. His "Stranger Things" co-stars Sadie Sink and Cara Buono have both come to see him in "Sweeney." And on his way to work, he frequently walks by the "Stranger Sings" parody musical playing Off-Broadway, although he has not yet seen it for himself.

Then there's "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," a stage play spinoff expected to open in London's West End later this year. The show will serve as a prequel to the TV series, set roughly 25 years before the events of Season 1. Given his already impressive theater résumé, could Matarazzo play a new character in the project?

"That might be too meta," he says with a laugh. "I really hope it's like this giant fan-fic come to life. That's going to be really cool. I hope I can make a trip out overseas to go see it."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gaten Matarazzo on 'Sweeney Todd' Broadway, 'Stranger Things' Season 5