Video: Aaron Tveit Details SWEENEY TODD Barber Chair Mishap

What happens when the iconic barber chair in Sweeney Todd doesn't work? Aaron Tveit found out last week.

A couple performances into his run as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tveit said that a key moment with the chair did not work due to an onstage mishap.

"A lot of the scenery, specifically, it's not really technical or computer-ized, it's kind of of-the-time," Tveit started. "They told me a lot could go wrong with the chair. I thought, 'Oh, it'll be fine.'"

However, over the weekend, Tveit realized that things did not go according to plan when he saw Jamie Jackson, who plays Judge Turpin, crawling off the stage.

"Something happened with the chair and it was in like the pinnacle moment of the show and I'm finally about to extract my vengeance against the judge. Then, I did and then the chair kind of messed up. We have this gag where, after a body is taken care of, it slides down a chute and ends up coming out and the chair didn't work. I didn't really know what happened and then I just saw the judge crawling offstage."

Tveit is joined by two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster in the Tony-nominated revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Their limited 12-week engagement will conclude on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre.

For the first time since 1980, Broadway audiences can 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 the musical thriller.

Watch the clip here: