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Following months of speculation, the news is now official: pop star Josh Groban will take on the title role in a Sweeney Todd revival scheduled to begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on February 26. The production will officially open on March 26.
This isn’t Groban’s first rodeo on Broadway. In 2016, he starred in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, a role he earned critical acclaim and a Tony nomination for.
Leading the Sweeney Todd revival, though, is a big deal: when the original production opened on Broadway in 1979, it won eight Tony awards, including one for best musical. Since then, it has been revived twice and, in 2007, it was turned into a Tim Burton-directed film starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
“This show is full of such great scary fun,” said Groban in an interview with the New York Times. “There is obviously a plot here that is absurd and monstrous but then there is also an incredible back story to this character that makes the role even more terrifying, because for all intents and purposes this was a civilized, good man that was driven to this.”
The 41-year-old artist is clearly well-versed and passionate about the material: Groban named his dog Sweeney.
“I was not ever a song-and-dance man, so for me to have roles that were cerebral and were gritty and interesting—and baritone—these were roles I felt I could really sink my teeth into,” Groban said to the New York Times, referring to his instantly recognizable vocal tone. “We all have these roles that we think to ourselves, ‘If this were ever to happen, I would give it everything that I’ve got,’ and this is certainly one of those roles for me.”
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Featuring Stephen Sondheim’s Tony-award winning score just as it was performed originally in the 1980s, the Sweeney Todd revival will also star Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning September 19.