Talk about a real heartstopper. Breakout star Joe Locke is joining the cast of Broadway’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street next month, in the role of Tobias Ragg.
Deadline broke the news early Thursday morning, confirming the 20-year-old Heartstopper star will make his Broadway debut as Sweeney’s naive yet insightful apprentice beginning January 31. Locke is replacing Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo, who left the production in November. Starting February 9, Locke will perform opposite incoming permanent castmates Aaron Tveit (as Sweeney) and Sutton Foster (as Mrs. Lovett).
“See u on broadway,” Locke wrote on Instagram after the news went live. In a series of Story posts Thursday, Locke elaborated on his excitement for the role. “I love film & TV but theatre has always had my 💜,” Locke wrote over an image of the current Sweeney Todd issue of Playbill. “Lil Joe would find this the coolest thing I’ve done,” he added.
But that’s not to say he doesn’t have some nerves. “I’m so fucking terrified I can’t lie xxxxx,” Locke wrote in another Story post later that day.
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Locke made his stage debut last year in Dawn King’s The Trials, a near-future play about climate crises that starred a mostly teenage cast. After rising to international acclaim last year as Charlie in warm-and-cozy teen soap Heartstopper (based on Alice Oseman’s webcomic of the same name), the violence of Sweeney Todd may seem like a sharp left turn for Locke, but the two characters are actually somewhat in sync. Charlie is a young, bullied boy trying to find love and learn to accept it in Heartstopper. And Toby — usually portrayed as young, extremely naïve, or both — is similarly seeking love, in this case from a surrogate mother, and to escape the cycle of abuse. But while Charlie is practically destined to be happy and healthy on the other side of his story, Toby’s inevitable loss of innocence forms the emotional core of Sweeney’s climax, giving Locke plenty to chew on while naturally branching out from the good-vibes role that made him famous.
The musical, adapted by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler from Christopher Bond’s original Sweeney Todd play, originated on Broadway in 1973 with Ken Jennings (no, not the one from Jeopardy!) playing Toby. The role only includes one major number, but a popular one: “Not While I’m Around,” a duet between Toby and Mrs. Lovett which was memorably recontextualized in the 2014 Glee episode “Bash.”
This might be musical theater fans’ chance to catch a rising young star breaking out of “safer” fare, comparable to Daniel Radcliffe’s legendary nude Equus performance back in 2007. As of this writing, seats for Locke’s first January 31 performance are still available starting at just under $60, according to the show’s official box office. That’s not a price that will last too long on Broadway, so if this falls within your specific Venn diagram of interests, you’ll probably want to act soon. Missing out sure seems an awful waste.
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