STAGE & SCREEN ICONS TO STAR IN SWEENEY TODD
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Exclusive to Sydney and Melbourne – 6 performances only in each city.
13 – 16 June: Darling Harbour Theatre, ICC Sydney
20 – 23 June: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne
“Sweeney Todd is one of the most exciting and innovative musicals in the genre’s history…” – Ben Brantley, The New York Times
The pre-eminent leading man of Australian musical theatre, Anthony Warlow, will be joined by one of Australia’s best-known stage and screen performers, the incomparable Gina Riley, when the pair join forces in this spectacular re-imagined concert version of the musical thriller SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Warlow – Australia’s original Phantom – is set to play the powerhouse ‘demon barber’ Sweeney Todd, while Gina Riley plays landlady and pie-shop owner Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1979 musical masterpiece. Together they bring high-wattage star power to this unique new concert production playing Sydney and Melbourne in June for six performances only per city.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s ground-breaking work, the production transports audiences into the atmospheric underbelly of 19th century London as the exiled barber Sweeney Todd enacts revenge on those who have wronged him.
The chance for the consummate Warlow to play the electrifying role is a dream come true.
“I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to submerge myself in Stephen Sondheim’s master score for SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” says Anthony Warlow. “This gift of a role, one I have coveted for so long, has finally arrived. I look forward to adding Mr. Todd to the illustrious canon of characters I have had the privilege of playing over the years.”
Anthony Warlow has lit up the musical theatre, opera and concert stage since his professional debut in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1980.
His stellar career has been rich and varied, including Enjolras in the Australian premiere production of Les Miserables; the title role of the Phantom in the record-breaking The Phantom of the Opera; Archie Craven in The Secret Garden; “Daddy” Warbucks in Annie, in Australia and for his 2013 Broadway debut; and his critically-lauded performance as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. In 2010, Warlow created the role of Dr Yurii Thiago in the Australian premiere of Doctor Zhivago.
In 2015, he starred in Man of La Mancha for the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington for which he won the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. Later that year, Warlow replaced Kelsey Grammar in the Broadway production of Finding Neverland, playing the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook.
The casting of Gina Riley in the tragi-comic role of pie-maker Mrs Lovett is sure to be one of the most deliciously-dazzling theatrical turns of the year.
Best known for the hit TV comedy series Kath & Kim, Riley is an accomplished writer, actor, singer, comedian and producer. She recently appeared in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband for Melbourne Theatre Company. Her musical theatre credits include Matron Mama Morton in Chicago; The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods; Merrily We Roll Along, Falsettos and the role of Janet in The New Rocky Horror Show.
Produced by TEG Life Like Company, known for its acclaimed productions of The Light in the Piazza, City of Angels and Passion, this brand new and innovative staging of Sweeney Todd will reunite a stellar creative team led by Director, Theresa Borg and Musical Director, Vanessa Scammell.
With soaring arias of vengeance and yearning, the darkly-comic SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street combines the vocal power and sweep of opera with the aching humanity and truth of theatre.
Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and in London’s West End in 1980. The musical thriller, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Hugh Wheeler, has seen numerous revivals worldwide by opera and theatre companies as well as Tim Burton’s 2007 film adaptation starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The story, inspired by a tale serialised in a Penny Dreadful in 1846-47, centres on the unjustly exiled barber who returns to London seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads to Mrs Lovett, the proprietor of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber shop. Desperate times lead Sweeney Todd to plot diabolical schemes against those who have wronged him.
The bold and imaginative new concert production by TEG Life Like Company combines stunning visual effects, exquisite lighting, grisly mystery, menace and the orchestra is at the centre of the razor-sharp action. Fundamentally, this 40th anniversary concert production affirms the musical’s status as a star-power vehicle for resourceful, commanding performers at the top of their game.
BOOKING DETAILS
Telstra Thanks® Presale
Tuesday 19 February, 9am (Telstra customers only)
www.telstra.com.au/thanks
General Public On Sale
Tuesday 26 February, 2pm
www.ticketek.com.au
SYDNEY
Where: Darling Harbour Theatre, ICC Sydney
Dates & Times: Thursday 13 June, 7.30pm; Friday 14 June, 7.30pm; Saturday 15 June, 2.00pm & 7.30pm; Sunday 16 June, 1.00pm & 5.30pm
Tickets: From $99 excluding booking fees
Bookings: Ticketek https://premier.ticketek.com.au/
MELBOURNE
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre, Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Dates & Times: Thursday 20 June, 7.30pm; Friday 21 June, 7.30pm; Saturday 22 June, 2.00pm & 7.30pm; Sunday 23 June, 1.00pm & 5.30pm
Tickets: From $99 excluding booking fees
Bookings: Ticketek https://premier.ticketek.com.au/
For further media enquiries only: Bruce Pollack, Pollack Publicity +61 418 331 527 or bruce@pollackconsulting.com
ABOUT TEG LIFE LIKE COMPANY
TEG Life Like Company comes from a creative partnership that has been built over the course of 20 years. The company continues to grow a unique, independent arts organisation that entertains millions of people each year all over the world, with their productions touring the USA, Middle East, UK, Asia and Europe. Following on from their successful production of Passion in 2014, their Green Room Award-winning production of City of Angels in 2015 and The Light in the Piazza in 2016 at Arts Centre Melbourne, TEG Life Like Company is dedicated to utilising the outstanding talent in Australia to develop and present compelling and rare theatre that will challenge and create discussion, ultimately engaging and moving the audience.
