'Sweeney Todd' To Close Sept. 3

The Broadway revival of "Sweeney Todd," which stars Michael Cerveris as the bloody barber of Fleet Street and Patti LuPone as his gleeful accomplice, will close Sept. 3 after a run of 349 performances.

"Without question, this production has been one of the richest and most satisfying endeavors of our professional careers," Tom Viertel, one of the show's producers, said Sunday.

The musical, which has a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, opened last November at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre to favorable reviews. It paid back its $3.5 million production costs in less than five months. A national tour is planned to start at the end of next summer.

In this production, directed and designed by John Doyle, the actors double as the show's musicians, playing Sondheim's score.

The same concept with be used for Doyle's upcoming $4 million revival of Sondheim's "Company." The musical, which has a book by George Furth, is expected to arrive on Broadway in November, most likely at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Doyle's production of "Company" was done last spring at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park and starred Raul Esparza as perennial bachelor Bobby, a man always looking for a relationship.