TV News

Sweeney Todd, Starring Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel, to Air on PBS

Current ”On the Town” star Jay Armstrong Johnson also appears in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical on ”Live From Lincoln Center” tonight.

Bryn Terfel as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, directed by Lonny Price, at Avery Fisher Hall.
Bryn Terfel as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, directed by Lonny Price, at Avery Fisher Hall.
(© David Gordon)

The New York Philharmonic's recent staged production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which ran from March 5-8 at Avery Fisher Hall, will be telecast nationally on the PBS series Live From Lincoln Center tonight, September 26, from 9pm-11:30pm EDT. The production is directed by Lonny Price.

Grammy-winning opera star Bryn Terfel and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson lead the production's cast as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. The cast features Philip Quast as Judge Turpin, Christian Borle as Pirelli, current On the Town star Jay Armstrong Johnson as Anthony Hope, Erin Mackey as Johanna, Jeff Blumenkrantz as The Beadle, Kyle Brenn as Tobias Ragg, and current Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill star Audra McDonald as the Beggar Woman.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd first opened on Broadway at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin) in 1979 under Harold Prince's direction. The show received eight Tony Awards and 11 Drama Desk Awards that year. It has since seen two Broadway revivals.

The Live From Lincoln Center series is hosted by Audra McDonald, and in recent seasons, it has broadcast many of the Philharmonic's theatrical productions, including Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel in 2013 and Lerner & Loewe's Camelot in 2008.