Three-time Tony nominee Carolee Carmello (Parade, Lestat, Scandalous), who starred in the 2017 Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd at Barrow Street Theatre, will reprise her work as Nellie Lovett in Opera Saratoga's summer staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony-winning musical.
Stephen Nachamie will direct and choreograph the production, set to run June 29–30 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Carmello will be joined by Craig Colclough as Sweeney Todd, Louis Tiemann as Anthony Hope, Angela Yam as Johanna Barker, Daniel Mobbs as Judge Turpin, Morgan Mastrangelo as Tobias Ragg, Arnold Livingston Geis as Beadle Bamford, Maria De Conzo as the Beggar Woman, and Brian Yeakley as Adolfo Pirelli.
Laura Bergquist will conduct. The creative team also includes costume designer Glen Avery Breed, lighting designer Benjamin Pilat, and wigs and makeup designer Sue Schaefer.
Considered one of the late Sondheim's masterpieces, Sweeney Todd premiered at Broadway's Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre February 6, 1979, with a cast led by Len Cariou (Sweeney) and Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Lovett), who both nabbed Tony Awards for their roles. Harold Prince directed the production, which was awarded the 1979 Tony for Best Musical. A 1989 revival at Circle in the Square Theatre featured Beauty and the Beast's Beth Fowler as Mrs. Lovett and former Evita star Bob Gunton as the man who returns to London to avenge the death of his wife.
A 2000 concert presentation of the musical, directed by Lonny Price and led by Tony winners George Hearn and Patti LuPone, further confirmed the strength of Sondheim's score, which boasts such tunes as "The Worst Pies in London," "Johanna," "Pretty Women," "A Little Priest," "By the Sea," and "Not While I'm Around." Another major production of the Sondheim-Wheeler work, which is based on a version of Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond, was the 2002 Kennedy Center mounting, which starred Tony winners Brian Stokes Mitchell and Christine Baranski.
Michael Cerveris and LuPone starred in a 2005 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, which was directed by Tony winner John Doyle. The 2007 film version starred Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, while the immersive Off-Broadway production at the Barrow Street opened in 2017 co-starring London actors Jeremy Secomb and Siobhán McCarthy. Norm Lewis and Carmello later stepped into that production.
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