Norm Lewis is stepping into Sweeney Todd’s barbershop.
The seasoned stage actor, who’s on Scandal, will star in the upcoming off-Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, producers announced Tuesday.
Lewis will assume the title role at the Barrow Street Threatre on April 11, alongside fellow new additions Carolee Carmello, Jamie Jackson and John-Michael Lyles. Matt Doyle, Alex Finke, Betsy Morgan and Brad Oscar will continue with the Tooting Arts Club production, directed by Bill Buckhurst.
Sweeney Todd — with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Hugh Wheeler from an adaptation by Christopher Bond — follows the bloodthirsty barber Sweeney Todd and resourceful pie shop proprietress Mrs. Lovett. It first premiered on Broadway in 1979 and won eight Tony Awards.
The production comes to New York City after sold-out runs in London, where the show debuted in Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop, the oldest continuously operating pie shop in the city, before transferring (by special arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh) to a West End venue on Shaftesbury Avenue.
British stage stars Jeremy Secomb, Siobhan McCarthy, Duncan Smith and Joseph Taylor will reprise their roles in the initial part of the run, which begins previews Feb. 14 at the Barrow Street Theatre ahead of its March 1 opening.
