Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street continues at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until 15 August 2026. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Birmingham Rep production shines like the blades of the man himself.
Tag Archives | Sweeney Todd
Full cast for Birmingham Rep’s Sweeney Todd
The full cast has been confirmed for the eagerly anticipated Birmingham Rep production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s multi-award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Meow Meow to play Mrs Lovett in Birmingham Rep’s Sweeney Todd
Award-winning Australian-born artist Meow Meow will play Mrs Lovett opposite West End and Broadway star Ramin Karimloo in the eagerly anticipated Birmingham Rep production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s multi-award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Musical Theatre Review contributors pick their top shows of 2022
A selection of Musical Theatre Review critics were asked to choose their ‘show of the year’ although, as you can see, some struggled to pick just one.
Remembering Angela Lansbury (1925-2022): An actress for all seasons
The British actress Angela Lansbury was known globally as the amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher, but there was a lot more to the famous television star, as Michael Darvell recalls… Angela Lansbury had an 80-year long career in which she captured and captivated her audiences whether they were seeing her live on the dramatic stage, enjoying […]
‘It is rare that one person can touch multiple generations’: Tributes pour in for Dame Angela Lansbury
Just a few months after the Tony Awards celebrated the glittering career of stage and screen legend Dame Angela Lansbury with a Lifetime Achievement Award the theatre world is mourning her loss. The passing of theatre’s undisputed Grand Dame was announced in a statement issued by the Lansbury family which read: “The children of Dame […]
Five Questions With: Jeremy Secomb
JEREMY SECOMB is playing the villainous Curtis Jackson in the UK and Ireland tour of Sister Act The Musical, following the show’s hit run at London’s Eventim Apollo. He appears alongside Sandra Marvin as Deloris Van Cartier, Lesley Joseph as Mother Superior, Clive Rowe as Eddie Souther and Lizzie Bea as Sister Mary Robert. Jeremy’s […]
Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford to star in Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd
Stage, screen and recording artist Josh Groban will play the Demon Barber, Sweeney Todd opposite Tony Award-winner Annaleigh Ashford as the resourceful Mrs Lovett in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s multi-award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd since 1980. Produced by Jeffrey Seller and directed by Hamilton’s Tony Award-winning director Thomas Kail, […]
Angela Lansbury to receive lifetime achievement award at the Tony Awards
Stage and screen legend Angela Lansbury will receive the 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 75th Annual Tony Awards this month. Recognising a glittering career that spans 75 years, the London-born 96-year-old actress will be presented with her prestigious award during Broadway’s biggest night of the year at the […]
Remembering Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021), The Ultimate Musical Man of Broadway
Stephen Sondheim rewrote the history of the Broadway musical in a career lasting over 60 years. Michael Darvell looks back, show by show, at the genius that was Stephen Sondheim. It is an unquestionable fact that Stephen Sondheim was responsible for taking the rather moribund genre of the Broadway musical and breathing new life into […]
‘There are giants in the sky’: The theatre community pays tribute to Stephen Sondheim
It feels pretty impossible to find the words to sum up the kind of influence composer Stephen Sondheim had on the world of musical theatre. There was of course the way he turned the genre on its head and made changes to form and content that had never been contemplated before. Then there was the […]
‘We are all blessed to have been alive at the same time as this theatre legend’: Stephen Sondheim dies at the age of 91
The Stephen Sondheim Society’s Chairman and Musical Theatre Review contributor Craig Glenday writes: Dim the lights… Stephen Sondheim was the most innovative, most influential and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. His contribution to musical theatre – and to theatre in general – is impossible to quantify, such was the variety, sophistication […]
Book Review: Victorians On Broadway – Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
VICTORIANS ON BROADWAY – Sharon Aronofsky Weltman (University of Virginia Press – ISBN: 978-0-8139-4432-6) Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Broadway productions of musicals such as The King and I, Oliver!, Sweeney Todd and Jekyll and Hyde became huge theatrical hits. Remarkably, all were based on one-hundred-year-old British novels or memoirs. What […]
Five Questions With: Nadim Naaman
Following the extraordinary events that have taken place at home and across the world in the last three months, we decided it was about time we revived our Five Questions With… series. The aim is to invite theatre people to have their say, starting off with the question, ‘How the hell are you?’ Our first […]
A Crossword of Sondheimian Rhyme
Stephen Sondheim is probably theatre’s greatest living lyricist. This is a compliment he may or may not be sick of reading, especially after last month’s deluge of well-deserved 90th birthday encomiums. Either way, as a (somewhat less-acclaimed) musical theatre maker myself I know there is something every proud lyricist could never tire of: people noticing […]
Sondheim at 90: A YouTube career retrospective
Ian Bowkett writes: It is deeply unfortunate that on the 90th birthday of legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim we are in the midst of a period without access to live musical theatre. However, that does make this the perfect time to scour YouTube for our favourite renditions of his songs to take us away to happier […]
A tribute to Harold Prince – King of Broadway
The American theatre director and producer Harold Prince, celebrated for some of the most successful musical productions on Broadway and in the West End, recently died at the age of 91. For over 60 years he produced or directed many of the most original musicals in theatre history. Michael Darvell looks back at the life […]
Broadway marks the passing of the legendary Hal Prince
The lights on Broadway were dimmed last night in memory of Harold Prince, the multi award-winning director and producer who died at the age of 91 yesterday (31 July 2019) A true Broadway legend, Harold Prince wove his magic on the Great White Way for decades, working with many of the greats and winning 21 […]
Kacey Ainsworth joins Everyman’s Sweeney Todd
Former EastEnder Kacey Ainsworth will play the resourceful Mrs Lovett opposite Liam Tobin’s Demon Barber in the Liverpool Everyman’s re-imagined production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s multi-award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd in April. The actress who first found fame as Little Mo in the BBC soap and is currently appearing in her fourth series […]
Sally Ann Triplett to play Mrs Lovett opposite Thom Sesma in Off-Broadway Sweeney Todd
British actress Sally Ann Triplett will step in to play Mrs Lovett alongside Thom Sesma’s Demon Barber in the hit immersive Off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. The new partners in grisly crime will take over from Hugh Panaro and Carolee Carmello in the acclaimed version of the hit show at the Barrow Street […]
Sweeney Todd – Derby Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Sweeney Todd continues at Derby Theatre until 22 October before transferring to Colchester’s Mercury Theatre where it will run from 26 October until 12 November. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s not so many seasons since the former Derby Playhouse staged Sweeney Todd – and easily merited a five star rating. […]
Derby and Colchester’s Sweeney Todd to open in late September
Derby Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester’s new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is currently in rehearsal ahead of its opening later this month. The musical will play Derby Theatre from 30 September until 22 October before transferring to Colchester’s Mercury Theatre where it will run from 26 October until 12 November. Starring Hugh Maynard (Miss […]
Interview – Sweeney Todd writer Christopher Bond on his latest show, Romford Rose
CHRISTOPHER BOND is probably best known to theatregoers as the playwright of the 1970 version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street that pumped new blood into George Dibdin Pitt’s bloody melodrama (“It needed a heart transplant, not a facelift,” says Bond) and inspired Stephen Sondheim to create his musical magnum opus six […]
Michael Ball to host 40th anniversary Olivier Awards
The Olivier Awards with MasterCard have today announced that Michael Ball will host this year’s awards ceremony. The awards, which this year celebrate their 40th anniversary, will be presented at a star-studded ceremony on Sunday 3 April at the Royal Opera House. Michael Ball, the celebrated musical theatre star, is a two-time Olivier Award-winner whose career in […]
Alan Rickman Remembered – an actor of great range on stage, in films and TV
Alan Rickman (21 February, 1946-14 January 2016) was an actor known for his villainous but sometimes comic roles. Here we look at his remarkable, eclectic career on stage, film and television. Although Alan Rickman was mainly known as both a dramatic and comedic actor, he was not without a good singing voice and actually sang on […]
New Wolsey Ipswich birthday season includes The Last Five Years and Sweeney Todd
Ipswich’s New Wolsey Theatre will be celebrating its 15th birthday next year with a spring season that includes a revival of the production that marked its reopening in 2001, Sweeney Todd. The Sondheim classic is one of a series of major productions featured in a packed anniversary season that will begin on 25 February 2016 with The […]
Sweeney Todd – WNO – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton and Touring
Sweeney Todd continues at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton until 17 October and on tour until 29 November. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Welsh National Opera’s first-ever musical, the bloody tale of revenge that many regard as Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, is part of their Madness trilogy that’s currently on tour with Bellini’s I Puritani and […]
WNO takes reimagined production of Sweeney Todd on short UK tour
The Welsh National Opera’s inventive re-working of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd begins a short UK tour at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre this week. The production, which breaks with the traditional Victorian era setting to place the Demon Barber’s grisly antics at the heart of Thatcherite Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s, […]
Lovett + Todd – King’s Head Theatre
Lovett + Todd continues at the King’s Head Theatre, London until 1 August. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ It’s an audacious theatre company that tackles a brand new musical inspired by Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. But it’s the kind of audacity that we’ve come to expect from Another Soup, creators of […]
Sweeney Todd – does size matter?
In the battle of the large and small scale productions of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd (currently playing in London), which one produces the ultimate, dramatic knockout punch? The star-studded US transfer at the ENO or Tooting Arts Club’s intensely intimate staging in a pop-up pie shop in Shaftesbury Avenue? Craig Glenday investigates… Londoners are currently being treated […]
Jonathan Church and Alan Finch to leave Chichester Festival Theatre at end of September 2016
Artistic director Jonathan Church and executive director Alan Finch announced today that they are to step down from their respective roles at Chichester Festival Theatre at the end of September 2016, following Festival 2016. Both Church and Finch joined Chichester Festival Theatre in 2005, overseeing the organisation’s 50th anniversary in 2012 and the recent £22 million […]
Sweeney Todd at the ENO – production images released
Here’s a first look at images of Lonny Price’s staging of Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller, the first production in a major new long term partnership between English National Opera (ENO) and the GradeLinnit Company. Pictures are by Tristram Kenton. Joining Terfel and Thompson who will lead the cast as Sweeney Todd and […]
Sweeney Todd – Harrington’s Pie & Mash Shop, Shaftesbury Avenue
Sweeney Todd continues at Harrington’s Pie & Mash Shop, Shaftesbury Avenue, London until 30 May. Star rating: 5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It’s cramped, it’s hot and it’s airless, but this new production of Sweeney Todd might just be the best version you’ll ever experience. And ‘experience’ is definitely the word, as this teeny-tiny Todd has its actors […]
Sweeney Todd – Reims Opera House, France
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was performed at Reims Opera House, France. Star rating: 3 stars ★ ★ ★ What the collective noun for a shedload of Sweeneys is, one can’t be certain – could it be a multitude of Sweeneys (as in ‘Multitude of Amys’ from another Sondheim masterpiece, Company), a Symphony of […]
Sweeney Todd at London Coliseum – full cast revealed
Due to unprecedented public demand, an extra performance has been scheduled on Sunday 5 April at 3pm for Lonny Price’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller at the London Coliseum. Tickets for the 5 April performance, including 300 seats at £10 each, will go on sale today (3 March […]
Miss Saigon sweeps the board at WhatsOnStage Awards
Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Miss Saigon won a record-breaking nine WhatsOnStage Awards at a star-studded ceremony last night at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre. The 15th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, voted for by the theatre-going public, were hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Steve Furst (the latter is currently appearing in Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi […]
Tooting Arts Club Sweeney Todd staged in pop-up pie shop on Shaftesbury Avenue
By special arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh, Tooting Arts Club’s acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd is to move to a new home on Shaftesbury Avenue this spring whilst Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop undergoes refurbishment. The pop-up pie shop success story started last October when Tooting Arts offered up lovelorn Mrs Lovett’s infamous pies in a grisly, site-specific […]
Our Time – KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar Sing Sondheim – Crazy Coqs
Our Time: KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar Sing Sondheim at the Crazy Coqs, London continues until 14 February. Star rating: 4 stars **** Put two of New York’s finest, most enduring cabaret performers in the best room in town, give them 20 of Stephen Sondheim’s cleverest songs to interpret, many with a new, gender-bending twist, and the result, as you might […]
Musical Theatre 2015 Preview – all you need to know
You can’t get more comprehensive than this, here’s a preview of all the 2015 musical theatre openings we know about so far in the West End, on the London Fringe and across the UK. JANUARY: Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Playhouse, London The UK premiere of David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane’s […]
Musical Theatre 2014 – a reflection – what was your favourite?
From I Can’t Sing! and Urinetown in early 2014 to the recently opened Cats and City of Angels, here’s an overview of UK Musical Theatre 2014. Can you see your favourites? DECEMBER: City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse Josie Rourke’s wonderfully vibrant staging injects a whole new lease of life into a show that has never […]
Interview – Michael Ball chats about his new album and musical theatre challenges
MICHAEL BALL’s new solo album If Everyone Was Listening… is released on Monday 17 November. Lisa Martland has a story to tell… I have a confession to make, and don’t worry, it’s nothing scandalous about double Olivier Award-winner Michael Ball. It is more to do with what happened just a few days after I had the […]
Philip Quast joins Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel in cast of Sweeney Todd at ENO
Philip Quast will play Judge Turpin, joining the previously announced Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, in Lonny Price’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller at ENO’s London Coliseum (30 March to 12 April 2015). Further tickets have also been released for the first production in a major new long […]
Sweeney Todd – Harrington’s pie-and-mash shop, Tooting
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street continues at Harrington’s pie-and-mash shop in Tooting, London, until 29 November. What a remarkable evening – Stephen’s Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd in a pie shop in Tooting. Something to tell the grandchildren, a one-off never to be forgotten. Totally brilliant too. Not only a brilliant piece of PR by the Tooting […]
Twickenham Theatre to close only days after Sweeney Todd success
London’s newest fringe space, the Twickenham Theatre, is closing after staging its acclaimed revival of the Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler musical Sweeney Todd. The production played its final sold-out performance of an extended opening season just yesterday at the 100-seat theatre in west London. Today, executive director, West End producer Tony Green, has just two days […]
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Twickenham Theatre
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street continues at Twickenham Theatre, London until 4 October. First of all, a huge welcome to Twickenham Theatre, a new fringe venture ten miles from central London, easily accessible from Waterloo by train (only a minute’s walk from the station), and off to a spectacular, blood-curdling start with Stephen […]
Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel star in Sweeney Todd at ENO
Lonny Price will direct Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Musical Thriller, the first production in a major new long term partnership between English National Opera (ENO) and the GradeLinnit Company. The strictly limited run of 13 performances at ENO’s London Coliseum begins on 30 March 2015 with press night on 31 March and the final performance […]
Interview – David Bedella is Sweeney Todd at Twickenham Theatre
New theatres seem to be opening at a rate of knots. Recent times have seen the St James at Victoria, The Park in Finsbury Park and now the Twickenham Theatre which opened this week with Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Playing the title role is David Bedella, who’s no stranger to Sondheim, with past credits […]
Tooting Arts Club stages Sweeney Todd in London’s oldest pie shop
Tooting Arts Club is planning an intimate staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd in London’s oldest pie and mash shop from 21 October to 29 November (press night is 27 October). Audiences will be invited to congregate at Anton’s barber shop across the road before being shown through to Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop (originally opened […]
Sweeney Todd – new images of David Bedella and Sarah Ingram in Twickenham Theatre production
New images have been released of Olivier Award winner David Bedella as razor-wielding Sweeney Todd and Sarah Ingram as his pie-making partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, in an intimate new production of the Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with music […]
Sweeney Todd – Château d’Hardelot, France
Sweeney Todd was performed at the Château d’Hardelot (in the quiet village of Condette in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France). Following the Stephen Sondheim cycle at Paris’ Theatre du Châtelet that gave us a full-scale Sweeney Todd two years ago, complete with symphonic orchestra and a large cast, we have been treated to a chamber version set in a contemporary world. […]
