![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-02.jpeg\")
Jason Alexander directs the La Mirada Theatre production of \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.\u201d (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\nAn elaborate, lavish new production opening Saturday, Jan. 31\u00a0at La Mirada Theatre begins with perhaps the most indelible opening lyric in the musical canon: \u201cAttend the tale of Sweeney Todd.\u201d<\/p>\n
That instruction is all well and good, but before anyone can attend anything, there\u2019s the pesky matter of filling the title role, one of theater\u2019s most demanding undertakings for a singer-actor.<\/p>\n
In the complete title of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s horror musical \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,\u201d \u201cdemonic\u201d could be the daunting adjective facing director Jason Alexander in approaching this work.<\/p>\n
Jason Alexander directs the La Mirada Theatre production of \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.\u201d (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\n
\u201cSweeney is one of the most complex characters of the musical theater,\u201d says Alexander. \u201cBut it is often approached in a somewhat simplistic way. As he is a dark character, many actors just play \u2018dark.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The role, Alexander feels, requires an actor who can burrow into the character\u2019s duality, the traces of humanity still present in a murdering maniac. And someone with the vocal range to inhabit one of Sondheim\u2019s most complicated scores.<\/p>\n
Oh, and ideally, a performer brimming with leading man appeal would be nice, too.<\/p>\n
Enter Will Swenson.<\/p>\n
In a 20-year Broadway career, Swenson has received plaudits for roles demanding a great range of acting and singing skills.<\/p>\n
He was a Tony award nominee as the merciless detective Javert in a revival of \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables.\u201d Most recently, he originated the role of pop icon Neil Diamond in the hit \u201cA Beautiful Noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-03.jpeg\")
Jason Alexander directs Lesli Margherita and Will Swenson in the La Mirada Theatre production of \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.\u201d (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\n
This range jumped out at Alexander.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has an amazing r\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u201d says Alexander. \u201cFrom the passion of Javert to the spontaneity of Berger in \u2018Hair\u2019 and the warmth of Diamond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill contains the vocal talents and actor ability to bring it all to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before casting Swenson, Alexander and the actor discussed the character and the production. Alexander feels they were on the same page, but as the director cannily notes \u201cIt is all fine enough to talk about but then you need an actor that can produce it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander came away convinced.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill is sexy and thrilling and sensitive and powerful. His voice contains riches. I\u2019m blessed that he\u2019s with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Will](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-04.jpeg\")
Will Swenson and Lesli Margherita rehearse for the La Mirada Theatre production of \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.\u201d (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\n
Additional Broadway talent in the form of actress Lesli Margherita plays the key role of Sweeney\u2019s cohort in misdeeds, Mrs. Lovett, the maker of \u201cthe worst pies in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margherita most recently appeared in New York in a major revival of \u201cGypsy,\u201d starring Broadway royalty Audra McDonald, who just happens to be married to Swenson.<\/p>\n
![\"Audra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-05.jpg\")
Audra McDonald, right, and Will Swenson attend the God\u2019s Love We Deliver Golden Heart Awards at The Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n
A Southern California native until he moved to Utah when he was 12, Swenson has been on the ground at La Mirada Theatre across four weeks of rehearsals.<\/p>\n
Swenson took his luncheon break to talk, which required some sacrifice on his part because it kept him from going out in search of Mexican food (\u201cwhich I pretty much gotta have every meal out here because it\u2019s so good.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Q: What scenes are you rehearsing today?<\/p>\n
A: Today we\u2019re working on the end of the show. So, (sarcastically) nothing much at all.<\/p>\n
Some singing, starting with the \u201cBeggar Woman\u2019s Lullaby\u201d and at the end it turns into a big kind of group number cause (Swenson brays out a mock scary-movie laugh) everything\u2019s coming to a head, with me killing \u2026 (three spoilers deleted!) \u2026 which wraps up all the juicy stuff.<\/p>\n
Q: From your side of things, how did this production come about?<\/p>\n
A: Awhile back I put a bug in my agency: \u201cSweeney is the top of the list.\u201d I started to feel old enough to be right for the role. It\u2019s a somewhat notorious part for being hard to learn. Anyway, a couple of planned productions didn\u2019t work out but then I got contacted on this.<\/p>\n
![\"Lesli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-08.jpeg\")
Lesli Margherita and Will Swenson are directed by Jason Alexander in rehearsals for \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street\u201d at La Mirada Theatre. (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\n
Q: Did you feel simpatico with Jason Alexander before rehearsals on how to interpret and approach Sweeney\u2019s inner self and behaviors?<\/p>\n
A: We had a Zoom call a few months ago. And we had really similar ideas about who Sweeney is and how we might develop the character in an interesting way \u2026 about how to reveal the transition from a harshly treated average person named Benjamin Barker. So, when the character secretly returns (to London) it is as the wronged Sweeney Todd.<\/p>\n
Q: What kinds of challenges does playing Sweeney present that other roles might not, beyond killing people, that is?<\/p>\n
A: Other shows are a lot more straightforward; you might just stand there and say words or sing a pretty song. But this one requires sort of rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time, that kind of concentration.<\/p>\n
Sweeney is a barber and while I give somebody a shave, which I do a few times, part of the brain is trying to stay in character during dialogue. And another part of your brain is trying to sing with good technique.<\/p>\n
But then another part of your brain is trying to remember to angle the barber chair so the audience can see the other actor reclining while he talks or sings. And the other part of your brain is holding a razor and then another part of your brain is saying, \u201cWait, you didn\u2019t lather his face yet\u201d\u2026 so, it\u2019s almost like six cooks in the kitchen kind of all vying for different space.<\/p>\n
![\"(Top](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-06.jpeg\")
(Top Center) Will Swenson and Lesli Margherita star (with the company) in the La Mirada Theatre production of \u201cSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.\u201d (Photo by Jason Niedle, TETHOS)<\/p>\n
Q: As Javert in a Broadway production of \u201cLes Miserables,\u201d you played another relentlessly focused, harshly obsessive character. Did you draw on that experience at all here?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: Every process I do is different. It has to be to find the inner swirlings in each role.<\/p>\n
But Javert is like Sweeney, another character who absolutely is rooted in the idea that he\u2019s doing the right thing and who loses sight of the big picture and doesn\u2019t understand he\u2019s kind of flipped over to the other side.<\/p>\n
I think that aspect maybe helps you as an actor \u2014 creating someone with a strong conviction that they are on the right side and the actions they take are valid no matter what anyone else thinks.<\/p>\n
Q: In an article you and Audra McDonald interviewed each other and you referred to her as a \u201ctruth-seeking missile\u201d in researching roles to know a character. And you intimated she was a role model for you because \u201cthere\u2019s a lot more work to be done than just showing up to rehearsal.\u201d What preparations did you make here?<\/p>\n
A: I had to show up with a good amount of character already in my bones, so to speak.<\/p>\n
There was the technical part of learning the script but in trying to be that truth-seeking missile, also finding the parts that really speak to me about his human qualities, versus the \u201cdemon\u201d aspects, coming through.<\/p>\n
I was really interested in a couple spots that really show some of his humanity and at least expose his love for his family, finding out how broken he is.<\/p>\n
Q: Did you move outside the script for background knowledge?<\/p>\n
A: Benjamin Barker had been shipped to a prison camp for 15 years. I read up and did history on Botany Bay in Australia, that\u2019s where he was transported. Pretty horrifying learning what happened there. It helped knowing how broken mentally and physically he would be as he returned to London.<\/p>\n
Q: On the other side of the part, singing versus acting, is there any song in the musical that is especially challenging for you?<\/p>\n
A: I think anyone that plays Sweeney would probably say that \u201cEpiphany\u201d (late in the second act) is the top of the mountain. It\u2019s musically quite kind of bipolar. It jumps around in theme, six or seven times. It\u2019s discordant, at times dissonant, and, I guess, is near the top of the range for this role.<\/p>\n
Q: So, technically challenging?<\/p>\n
A: But also, emotionally. It\u2019s about as frenzied as we see the character get. So, it\u2019s all that the actor can give in one moment, I guess.<\/p>\n
Q: How old were you when you first even heard about \u201cSweeney Todd?\u201d<\/p>\n
A: Oh, I saw it when I was 8 or 9. It was when we were here in California (living in Glendale) and we knew an actor in it who played The Beadle.<\/p>\n
Q: Whoa, intense material for that age. Weren\u2019t you scared?<\/p>\n
A: The big shrieking train whistle near the start scared the pants off me! The show was dark and kind of gory so that was interesting, not like the friendly kids\u2019 musicals I knew. And I remember clocking that the music wasn\u2019t to be melodic, its purpose was just to tell a story.<\/p>\n
![\"Will](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WDN-L-SWENSON-0130-07.jpg\")
Will Swenson, left, and Audra McDonald arrive at the 78th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n
Q: Your youngest daughter Sally is just a little older than you were \u2026 will she get to see you in this?<\/p>\n
A: Luckily, it\u2019s going to coincide with a week off from school in New York, so the plan is for her to come out with my lovely wife for it.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s really interested in theater and acting and she\u2019s heard me practicing this and I think she\u2019s gonna see it \u2026 if she doesn\u2019t change her mind.<\/p>\n
Q: Wait. Isn\u2019t she in favor of theater because her parents do it?<\/p>\n
A: Well, \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cmaybe\u201d might be closer. She understands what we do, but (laughs) she\u2019s pretty good at guilting us into stuff based on each of us can be a bit absentee parents on nights when we\u2019re working and she can be not necessarily in favor of that.<\/p>\n
Q: But a trip near Disneyland, nicer weather\u2026 won\u2019t that seal the deal?<\/p>\n
A: Hope so. (Laughs) But, like I said, she knows it can be leverage.<\/p>\n
Q: What theater plans lie ahead for you?<\/p>\n
A: Right now, I am excited for this.<\/p>\n
The biggest next thing is to go to Australia in about six months and open \u201cA Beautiful Noise\u201d there. I have so much fun doing that one. And Neil Diamond was so huge down there it sounds like those audiences may eat it up.<\/p>\n
Plus, Audra\u2019s going to take a break and the whole family will come down. We\u2019re all excited for that adventure!<\/p>\n
\u2018Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street\u2019<\/p>\n
Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada.<\/p>\n
When: Preview performances 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30 and 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31; regular performances 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31 through Feb. 22. Curtain times 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays.<\/p>\n
Tickets: $36-$132<\/p>\n