Ramin Karimloo is ready to have an epiphany.
The West End and Broadway favorite, most recently on Broadway in Pirates! The Penzance Musical, will take on the title role in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd this summer for Birmingham Rep. Watch a teaser for the U.K. production in the video above.
Karimloo will play the ill-fated Benjamin Barker, the barber out for revenge, July 4–August 9 in The House. Additional casting, by Abby Galvin, will be announced at a later date.
Joe Murphy will direct the U.K. production with designs by Elin Steele and musical supervision by Dr. John Rigby.
Tony nominee Karimloo's numerous theatrical credits include Anastasia, Les Misérables, Funny Girl, The Phantom of the Opera, The Addams Family, and more.
Based on the Christopher Bond play of the same name, Sweeney Todd centers on its titular barber who seeks revenge on a corrupt judge and turns to murder, with neighbor and accomplice Mrs. Lovett ultimately discovering they can dispose of the evidence by serving up the most unsettling meat pies to the people of London.
The original production of Sweeney Todd, which debuted on Broadway in 1979, won eight 1980 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, along with Best Actor and Actress nods for original stars Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. The work has gone on to be regarded by many as one of Sondheim's masterpieces, with its epic, operatic scale letting it be equally at home on the musical theatre stage as it is at the opera house. The musical was revived on Broadway in 1989 and 2005, and Off-Broadway in 2017. The most recent Broadway revival, in 2023, co-starred Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. A film adaptation, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, was released in 2007.
Click here for ticket information. Look back at the recent revival in the gallery below.
Annaleigh Ashford and Josh Groban in Sweeney Todd
Ruthie Ann Miles in Sweeney Todd
Gaten Matarazzo, Annaleigh Ashford, Alicia Kaori, DeLaney Westfall, and Kristie Dale Sanders in Sweeney Todd
Nicholas Christopher and cast in Sweeney Todd
Jamie Jackson and John Rapson in Sweeney Todd
Annaleigh Ashford in Sweeney Todd
Josh Groban in Sweeney Todd
Gaten Matarazzo, Annaleigh Ashford, Josh Groban, Nathan Salstone, and cast of Sweeney Todd
Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in Sweeney Todd
