Judy Kaye and David Hess to Star in Sweeney Todd Tour

Judy Kaye and David Hess will star in the national tour of John Doyle’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd.

The show will have a pre-tour engagement at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, August 30-September 30. The tour will begin in Boston in October, before traveling on to such cities as Toronto, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Houston. Full casting and tour schedule will be announced at a later date.

Kaye will play Mrs. Lovett, just as she did in Doyle’s Broadway production of the show in the summer of 2006, temporarily replacing Patti LuPone. She also played the role in a separate production at the Paper Mill Playhouse. Kaye won the Tony Award for The Phantom of the Opera and received nominations for Souvenir and Mamma Mia! Her other Broadway credits include Ragtime and On the Twentieth Century.

Hess will play the title role, for which he was the standby in the recent Broadway revival. He was also a standby for the revival of Annie Get Your Gun starring Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat. His Off-Broadway credits include Dessa Rose, Prodigal, and Love in a Thirsty Land.

The show’s creative team includes Tony Award winner Sarah Travis (orchestrations), Richard Jones (lighting), and Dan Moses Schreier (sound). Doyle, who also designed the production, won the 2006 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his direction.