I’m Skeptical About Josh Groban Starring in Sweeney Todd

This was originally published in the OnStage Blog Newsletter on 9/9/2022

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

It was announced this week that the Stephen Sondheim classic, Sweeney Todd, will be returning to Broadway for the fourth time.

Playing the title role will be international music star Josh Groban. Annaleigh Ashford will be playing Mrs. Lovett. Broadway isn’t something new for either of these performers. Groban famously starred in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 and Ashford has played many parts in many shows over the years before she found fame on television.

Needless to say, this casting was done to pack the house, and the house will be packed.

We’ve seen star lead productions succeed and fail over the past couple of years coming out of Covid. So will a big budget, likely high priced ticket, to see a show with these two storing it be worth the price?

For me, I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely impressed with the casting, for a couple of reasons, but the main reason is Josh Groban. I’m not sure he is right for the role.

In the very little acting that he has done, he typically plays lighter types of roles. To truly inhabit Sweeney Todd, an actor must go incredibly deep and incredibly dark. We just haven’t seen Groban reach those levels yet, and I haven’t seen anything even in his music career to suggest he can.

I mean, if you polled Josh Groban’s enormous fan base and asked them to describe Groban in one word, would you see anything in the resulting word cloud that resembles the dark and murderous character of Sweeney Todd?

There is no doubt that he has the vocal chops, but Beanie Feldstein and Funny Girl should be a clear indicator that nailing the casting in all areas from the beginning absolutely needs to happen.

The other reason I’m not impressed with the casting?

Well, do I need to say it?

In every Broadway iteration of the show, we have seen these two roles always played by white performers. It would’ve been refreshing to see the reins given to a diverse lead cast, especially in 2022.

But, we know Broadway cares about a packed house first, and diversity 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th depending on the producer).

So I will be very interested to see what happens with this production. I’m a huge fan of the musical and I want to see it succeed, but I’m not 100% convinced I want it to succeed like this.