Josh Rogosin | December 22, 2023 My parents brought me to see a production of Sweeney Todd when I was 10; I had nightmares for weeks. That may have been the beginning of my obsession with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
"We're so grateful to sing Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece every single day," Josh Groban explains at the Tiny Desk. "He was so brilliant at juxtaposing the beautiful with the horrific." (It turns out that both Groban and I named our dogs "Sweeney Dog," something I learned when I introduced the cast.)
Expect a wave of emotions throughout this performance: empathy for Sweeney (Groban) and Mrs. Lovett (Annaleigh Ashford) with their songs of vengeance and longing, "My Friends," and "By the Sea"; desire with the quartet's vocal counterpoint performed in "Johanna (Act 2 Sequence)"; laughter with the duet's performance of "A Little Priest." Incredibly, this Tiny Desk version of the musical is no less impactful — the 26-piece orchestra currently playing the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre gets a nine-piece orchestration courtesy of Jonathan Tunick, Sondheim's longtime collaborator, led by conductor Alex Lacamoire. Absolutely mesmerizing.
SET LIST "My Friends" "By the Sea" "Johanna (Act 2 Sequence)" "A Little Priest"
COMPOSER Stephen Sondheim
ORCHESTRATIONS Jonathan Tunick
CAST Josh Groban ("Sweeney Todd") Annaleigh Ashford ("Mrs. Lovett") Daniel Yearwood ("Anthony Hope") Maria Bilbao ("Johanna") Joanna Carpenter ("Beggar Woman")
MUSICIANS Todd Palmer: clarinet Damian Primis: bassoon Sarah Boxmeyer: French horn John Chudoba: trumpet Kory Grossman: percussion Adam Rothenberg: piano, keyboard Anna Parks: violin Wayne Smith: cello Chiho Saegusa: bass Alex Lacamoire: conductor Randy Cohen: keyboard programmer David Lai: music supervisor
TINY DESK TEAM Producer/Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin Director/Editor: Kara Frame Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Keren Carrión Series Producer: Bobby Carter Audio Assistants: Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez, Neil Tevault Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer Photographer: Grace Widyatmadja Animation: Jackie Lay Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Lars Gotrich, Hazel Cills VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
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