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).

Last summer's Stage 2 hit play, Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session, starring Martin Rayner and Mark H. Dold, returns for a two-week engagement from June 22 - July 3, under the direction of Tyler Marchant, prior to an Off-Broadway run at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre.

BSC's Musical Theatre Lab on Stage 2 will present the world premieres of: Pool Boy by Nikos Tsakalakos and Janet Allard and The Memory Show by Sara Cooper and Zachary Redler. Casting for these productions will be announced at a later date.

FlexPass subscriptions are now on sale for both the Mainstage and Stage 2, as well as single tickets for all performances. For more information on the 2010 season, please call 413-236-8888 or go online to barringtonstageco.org.

About Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield , MA , was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage's mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre-especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention with William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's Tony Award-winning musical hit "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which began as a workshop at Barrington Stage in February 2004, was produced in its world premiere to critical acclaim that summer, and later transferred to Broadway's Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it played more than 1,000 performances. For more information, log on to www.barringtonstageco.org.