Sweeney Todd: Tiny Desk Concert

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

#tinydesk #nprmusic #sweeneytodd