Josh Groban Sidelined From SWEENEY TODD Due To Covid

Tony-nominated Sweeney Todd star Josh Groban has tested positive for Covid-19.

The superstar singer will step out of the production for the duration of his illness with understudy Nicholas Christopher going on in the title role during his absence. 

Josh released the news in a video on Instagram. Watch Josh's full statement below. 

 Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Hugh Wheeler, from an adaptation by Christopher Bond, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street began performances on February 26, and opened on March 26, at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036).

Producer Jeffrey Seller is leading the revival. Produced by Alex Lacamoire and co-produced by Thomas Kail, the cast recording will feature Jonathan Tunick's expansive original 26-player orchestration from the original production.

Joining Groban as Sweeney Todd and Ashford as Mrs. Lovett are Jordan Fisher (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen) as Anthony, Gaten Matarazzo ("Stranger Things") as Tobias, Tony Award winner and Laurence Olivier Award nominee Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I) as Beggar Woman, Maria Bilbao (On Your Feet!) as Johanna, Jamie Jackson (The Last Ship) as Judge Turpin, John Rapson (Les Misérables) as Beadle Bamford, Nicholas Christopher (Hamilton) as Pirelli / Standby for Sweeney Todd, and Jeanna de Waal (Diana, The Musical) as Standby for Mrs. Lovett and Beggar Woman.

The cast also includes Galyana Castillo (Waitress), Jonathan Christopher (Hamilton), Dwayne Cooper (Motown), Kyrie Courter (Ragtime), Taeler Cyrus (Wicked), Timothy Hughes (Hadestown), Paul-Jordan Jansen (Beauty and the Beast), Alicia Kaori (The King and I), Michael Kuhn (Le nozze di Figaro), Raymond J. Lee (Groundhog Day), Megan Ort (Cats), Patricia Phillips (The Phantom of the Opera), Mia Pinero (West Side Story), Samantha Pollino (Hamilton), Lexi Rabadi (Beauty and the Beast), Nathan Salstone (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Kristie Dale Sanders (Oklahoma!), Stephen Tewksbury (The Phantom of the Opera), Daniel Torres (The Music Man), Felix Torrez-Ponce (Newsies), DeLaney Westfall (Kinky Boots) and Hennessy Winkler (Oklahoma!).

For the first time since 1980, Broadway audiences will experience Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award®-winning score as it was performed in the original production-with Jonathan Tunick's original 26-player orchestration on an epic scale. Tony Award-winning director Thomas Kail (Hamilton) helms the return of this musical thriller starring Tony and Grammy® nominee Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) as Sweeney Todd, and Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George, Kinky Boots) as Mrs. Lovett.

The original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd was the winner of eight 1980 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Direction for Hal Prince. Its London premiere won the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Musical.

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's landmark musical, from an adaptation by Christopher Bond, tells the tale of a resourceful pie shop owner and a vengeful barber out for blood. After he's sent away by a corrupt judge, Sweeney returns to London years later seeking his long-lost family, and forms an unlikely partnership with Mrs. Lovett, who serves up pies underneath his former shop. Together, they wreak havoc on Fleet Street and serve up the hottest - and most unsettling - pies in London.