SWEENEY TODD Strips Down Show Due To Set Malfunction

The Friday night audience of Sweeney Todd on Broadway attended a different sort of tale tonight, as an unspecified set malfunction prevented the massive production from proceeding as usual.

The issue prompted the company to perform tonight's show as semi-staged concert, according to director Thomas Kail who took the stage before curtain to explain the situation to the crowd.

According to the Tony and Emmy-award winning director, the decision to go on with the performance was made one hour before curtain, with a packed house waiting on the sidewalk.

See Kail's full speech here:

(Credit: @Broadway1011_)

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's landmark musical 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. Director Thomas Kail helms the return of this musical thriller starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford.