'Sweeney Todd' sets Broadway closing date

Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster currently star in the dark, bloody musical revival, which began performances in February 2023 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The barber shop is closing. The revival of Sweeney Todd will close on May 5, when current stars Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster were previously announced to play their final performances.

This production of Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony-winning Best Musical from 1979, began performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in February 2023 with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in the lead roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. The show was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and performance awards for Groban, Ashford, and Ruthie Ann Miles. The show won for its lighting and sound design.

Groban and Ashford departed the show in January, and Tveit and Foster joined as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett in February. The current Sweeney Todd cast also includes Ruthie Ann Miles as the Beggar Woman, Joe Locke as Tobias Ragg, Daniel Yearwood as Anthony, Maria Bilbao as Johanna, Jamie Jackson as Judge Turpin, John Rapson as Beadle Bamford, Nicholas Christopher as Pirelli and the standby for Sweeney Todd, and Jeanna de Waal as the standby for Mrs. Lovett/Beggar Woman.

Sweeney Todd's title character is a barber who seeks revenge on a judge who wrongfully imprisoned him. With the help of pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, he cooks up a murderous plot that soon makes victims of half of London.

New York Theatre Guide's four-star review of the revival reads, "Stephen Sondheim’s sublime score sounds deliciously lush as played by the 26-piece orchestra, the singing is uniformly excellent, and Hugh Wheeler’s morbidly gripping story unfolds in crisp fashion."

At the time of closing, Sweeney Todd will have played 426 total performances.

Photo credit: Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster in Sweeney Todd on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)