BWW Q&A: Rob Fisher on SWEENEY TODD at Virginia Arts Festival

Virginia Arts Festival has cast one of Broadway’s leading lights in the role of a new, key position at the Festival: The Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and American Songbook.

And Rob Fisher knows his way around a song, for sure. A Norfolk native, this music director, conductor, arranger, and pianist was the founding director of the acclaimed Encores! series from 1994 to 2005; Encores! gained fame and a passionate fan following for its revivals of lost and classic works of American musical theater and won a Tony Award in 2000. Fisher continues to appear regularly as a guest conductor for the Encores! series

Among Fisher’s Encores! successes was Chicago: The Musical, which went on to become one of the most popular shows on Broadway, having celebrated its 21st year on Broadway in November 2021. Fisher continues to be music supervisor and arranger for the Broadway engagement of Chicago and serves as Music Supervisor for Chicago productions worldwide.

Virginia Arts Festival Perry Artistic Director Robert W. Cross noted “Rob Fisher has long been a frequent collaborator of the Festival, and his fan base here is just as devoted as the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have loved his Broadway and Encores! performances. With his appointment as The Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and American Songbook, we look forward to many happy seasons of inspired concerts and more.” Fisher responded: “Performing in the Hampton Roads area has always been a welcome homecoming for me. I grew up in Norfolk and went to Norview High School (Go Pilots!). I have so many great ideas for shows with the Festival – collaborations with artists who inspire, explorations of the works of the great Broadway legends, and fun forays into American popular music through the decades. I can’t wait to get started!”

Fisher cut his musical teeth working on the Berkshire Theatre Festival’s 1978 production of the Gershwin musical Let ‘Em Eat Cake—the first-ever revival of this 1933 gem. With that, his lifelong love affair with the work of George and Ira Gershwin was launched. He was chosen to prepare the musical artists for the international Gershwin Celebration at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1987, which featured such performers as Leonard Bernstein, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Bob Dylan. In the 1990s, Fisher served as artistic advisor of Carnegie Hall’s two-year Gershwin Centennial Celebration. His most recent contribution to the Gershwin legend came when he was chosen to supervise the creation of the score for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical An American in Paris.

Fisher has conducted concert versions of musicals with some of the world’s great orchestras including the New York Philharmonic (Carousel, My Fair Lady), the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (Candide, Guys and Dolls, and The Sound of Music), and the San Francisco Symphony’s Emmy-winning concert production of Sweeney Todd starring Patti LuPone and George Hearn. He has appeared with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Cleveland Symphony as well as the Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and National Symphony Orchestras. As a pianist, Fisher has performed as soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F with orchestras across the United States. On public radio, where he served as Music Director and leader of the “Coffee Club Orchestra” for A Prairie Home Companion from 1989 to 1993, Fisher was a fan favorite. 

Among the artists he has collaborated with are Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, David Hyde Pierce, and Patti LuPone. Fisher has worked with the Virginia Arts Festival to present many performances over the years including Kristin Chenoweth, Laura Osnes, Brooke Shields, Kelly O’Hara, Jane Krakowski, Patti LaPone, The DiGiallonardo Sisters, Mikaela Bennett, Ross Lekites, and Meredith Lusting. Among the awards Fisher has received are the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Special Achievement (1997) and a Grammy Award for the Chicago cast album.

What's your approach to conducting this concert version of Sweeney Todd? What's different about conducting a concert version instead of a fully staged production? 

Lucky me, I have been able to conduct fully staged (notably, Michigan Opera Theater with Karen Ziemba, Ron Raines, et al) and concert versions (notably, San Francisco Symphony with Patti LuPone, George Hearn, Neil Patrick Harris, et al).That one was also notable because, not only was Sondheim with us for rehearsals, he and I shared a dressing room for performances - a blessing and a stress.The biggest difference between the 2 presentations: getting to look into the eyes of the singers when I’m in the pit as opposed to seeing them with the “eyes” in the back of my head (developed through years of City Center Encores) when I am upstage of them. 

What attracted you to want to work on this performance? 

Another chance to dig even deeper into this masterful piece.And the opportunity to have full orchestral and choral forces.I feel that Sondheim’s score lands with more punch when the big, scary parts are actually a big sound.And then the cast we have is world class - as singers and actors.

What's one moment you're excited to hear the vocalists and orchestra bring to life? 

Too many to count, but if I have to: Rod Gilfry delivering the Epiphany, the first blast of the Virginia Symphony Chorus singing “Swing your razor wide, Sweeney”, the 5 superb voices coming from New York as featured ensemble singing “The Letter”, every moment I’m onstage with my pal, Chuck Cooper.

Why should audiences come to Virginia Arts Festival and see this performance? 

The stars aligned to bring together this perfect cast with a full chorus and orchestra. 

Have you worked with anyone in this Sweeney Todd/April 13 cast before? 

Big hahaha, 8 of the 9 principals, all 5 New York featured ensemble, several of the local featured ensemble.

You have connections to the Hampton Roads area – tell us about that. 

I grew up in Norfolk and have returned many times for concerts with the Virginia Symphony and to create special projects for the Virginia Arts Festival.

What are some of your other favorite Broadway musical scores? 

I am bad with favorites because I have a lot,and the order changes regularly, but again - if I have to:

Cabaret, Carousel, West Side Story, Hello, Dolly!, the big ones that are best with a proper orchestra.

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
A Musical Thriller
An Orchestra Concert with Broadway Soloists!

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an Adaptation by Christopher Bond
Originally Directed on Broadway by Harold Prince
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Originally Produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in Association with Dean and Judy Manos

Rod Gilfry, Sweeney Todd
Donna Lynne Champlin, Mrs. Lovett
Virginia Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Rob Fisher, conductor
Tom Quaintance, stage director

Connie and Marc Jacobson Opening Night!
Saturday, April 13, 7:30 PM
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk

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