Donovan on His Todd in West End Again???

Some confusion over the upcoming tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd which, as previously reported, will launch later this month with Jason Donovan in the title role (See News, 27 Dec 2005). The official press release, received in the Whatsonstage.com office this week, now tells us that this is in fact the “European premiere of the new smash hit Broadway production”. Our memory may be short-lived, but was this not the same actor-musician production, directed and designed by John Doyle, that was first seen at Newbury’s Watermill Theatre in February 2004 and then toured, transferred to the West End (running first at Trafalgar Studios and then at the New Ambassadors, where it finished its extended season in February 2005) and won two of last year’s Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards (for Best Musical Revival and Best Ensemble Performance before opening on Broadway this past November? After seeking clarification, a show spokesperson told Whatsonstage.com that some changes had been made for the Broadway run - when Michael Cerveris and Patti Lupone played, respectively, the titular “demon barber of Fleet Street” and his partner in crime Mrs Lovett (to be played by Harriet Thorpe here) – and thus the new UK tour qualified as a European premiere. So despite the fact that it’s the same concept, set, director/designer and full creative team - not to mention the fact that it’s the same title image and that brochures for the regional venues receiving the show refer to it as the recent West End production with photos from the previous London run – it’s all different. Or different enough. Or something. In any case, the press release also tells us that, following the UK tour, Sweeney Todd will play a(nother) season in the West End. So do please go and judge for yourselves.

Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.com

Related Content