McCarthy, Harris Set for Barrington's SWEENEY TODD; Full Season Announced with Petkoff, Garrison & More

Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and Richard M. Parison, Jr., Producing Director, have announced major casting for the 2010 summer season at Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA.

The new Mainstage season will kick off June 17 with Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which runs through July 17. The remainder of the season includes Yasmina Reza's Art, July 22-Aug. 7; and Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular Aug. 12-29. On BSC's Stage 2, Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man runs May 26 - June 13, and the return engagement prior to Off-Broadway of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session (June 22 - July 3).

Major casting for these productions, according to a BSC spokesperson, follows:

The cast of Sweeney Todd will be headed by Jeff McCarthy (Urinetown, BSC's Follies and Mack and Mabel) as Sweeney Todd and Tony winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Roundabout's Present Laughter) as Mrs. Lovett, with Ed Dixon (Roundabout's Sunday in the Park With George, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables) as Judge Turpin, Timothy Shew (Wonderful Town, Les Misérables) as Beadle Bamford, Christianne Tisdale (Beauty and the Beast, BSC's South Pacific) as the Beggar Woman, Shonn Wiley (Mud Donahue and Son, 42nd Street) as Anthony, Sarah Stevens as Johanna (Diplomacy), and Zachary Clause (NYMF 2009 Hurricane)as Tobias. Julianne Boyd (BSC's A Streetcar Named Desire, Carousel, West Side Story) directs the musical thriller with Darren R. Cohen (BSC's Carousel, West Side Story) as musical director.

Art will star Brian Avers (Tom Stoppard's Rock ‘n' Roll, BSC's The Violet Hour and Black Comedy), Michael Countryman (Equivocation; BSC's Ciao!;The Inconstant Lovers) and David Garrison (Wicked, I Do! I Do!, TV's Married with Children), under the direction of Henry Wishcamper (Goodman Theatre's Animal Crackers; Keen Company's Pullman Car Hiawatha).

The Christmas-themed comedy Absurd Person Singular will star Emily Bergl (Becky Shaw, ABC's Men in Trees and CBS' The Good Wife), Christopher Innvar (110 in the Shade, BSC's A Streetcar Named Desire and Private Lives), Robert Petkoff (Ragtime), and Charlotte Parry (Equivocation), under the direction of Jesse Berger (The Duchess of Malfi, BSC's Sleuth). Two additional cast members will be announced at a later date.

On BSC's Stage 2 Christopher Innvar directs the New England premiere (May 26 - June 13) of Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man which stars Clarke Peters (The Iceman Cometh, Chicago, HBO's Treme and The Wire; Tony Nominee for Five Guys Named Moe Best Book of a Musical), LeRoy McClain (TFANA's Measure for Measure; LCT's Cymbeline) and Nick Westrate (The Boys in the Band, A Moon for the Misbegotten).