The cast is truly amazing! Enjoyed every minute of this performance!

Brilliant immersive and thrilling experience from start to finish. Chew on this timeless score and savor every bite! We loved the table seats right in the center of the action. And grab the best wings in NYC after at the Barrow Street Ale House (after the must eat pre dinner pies!)

Traveled to see Josh Groban live his dream of starring in Sweeney Todd. He delivered Big Time. His voice was never better. Annaleigh Ashford was spot on as Mrs. Lovett. The staging was brilliant. But what was equally remarkable was the physicality of the presentation. The cast was all-in all the time, each of them giving the best they could throughout the performance. Top drawer all the way. Congrats to Groban for showing up since age 17 to work toward his dream and making it happen. He's earned his stardom.

Groban is fantastic really leaning into his baritone and Ashford is a wonderful comic relief. Their timing is tight, the staging was great and the audience was charged for a great show. Nobody went home disappointed. Welcome to the next Broadway smash!

A few nights ago my wife and I had the absolute pleasure of seeing the "intimate" production of "Sweeney Todd" at the Barrow Street Theater. Having seen a few large-scale productions of this marvelous Sondheim classic, I was amazed as to how well it translated into a 130 seat mock pie shop; incredibly replicating the actual Harrington's Pie Shop in Tooting, England, where this production was conceived and born - later gestating on Shaftesbury Avenue in London thanks to Cameron Mackintosh. Sitting communally at long tables you are effortlessly transported to 19th century London where odd and bizarre happenings are going on in the realm of barbering and meat pie purveyance. And speaking of the latter, before the show a patron can purchase a meat or vegetable pie - neither "course or mealy," but delicious and savory - served up by former White House executive pastry chief, Bill Yosses. Once the show begins, the excellent cast of eight - superbly backed up by a three member orchestra - deliver an exhilarating and sometimes chilling tale of revenge and financial opportunity. Jeremy Secomb makes the most frightening Sweeney ever, especially when he is carrying out his evil deeds right in your face. His voice is strong and his facial expressions will haunt you long after you've left the theater. Siobhan McCarthy, as the widowed pie shop owner Mrs.Lovett, is both looney and adorable and handles the complicated Sondheim lyrics with ease. (Her misplaced adoration of Sweeney makes one wonder if the late and unmentioned Mr. Lovett passed away either from smothering or perhaps cat-scratch fever.) As Judge Turpin, Duncan Smith is somehow avuncular in his creepy interest in his ward, Johanna, and his "Pretty Women" duet with Secomb is a highlight. Veteran scene stealer Brad Oscar, is an effectively toady Beadle and makes the most of his two solo numbers. As the hopelessly romantic, but uncomplicated young lovers (Johanna and Anthony), Alex Finke and Matt Doyle both sing and look wonderful. Betsy Morgan does double duty as both the Beggar Woman and Todd's tonsorial competitor, sounding beautifully appropriate in both roles. And last, but certainly not least, Joseph Taylor, portrays a Toby that is in equal measure cunning and naive- part Artful Dodger, part Oliver - and he delivers a heart breaking "Not While I'm Around." All in all, see this show if you want to be both entertained and thrilled by a production that puts you in the center of the action, where not a lyric nor facial expression can be missed, ignored or forgotten.

Sweeney Todd is a favorite musical of mine, but THIS version is OUTSTANDING! The score was pared down to not more than 9 instruments at a time (some people switch instruments), and the music was truly exceptional. It lost nothing in the translation, and it might have even been more powerful b/c the music was much more subtle than in the original orchestration. More amazingly still, the cast IS the pit orchetsra! I was amazed that the cast was able to memorize the entire musical score - singing, acting AND playing, and the show was impeccable! And all this without a conductor, really! The entire show is set in one place (no real scene changes) and the cast is the crew too. They manuever the chairs and boxes around on stage while they are singing and playing which gives the impression of multiple sets. Lastly, Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris were wonderful together - their chemistry made the show! But everyone in it is wonderful too. A theater experience like no other