When Anthony Warlow was asked by TEG Life Like Company if he would star in their concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, he took six months to decide, even though it’s a role he admits he had coveted.

Anthony Warlow and Gina Riley in Sweeney ToddAnthony Warlow and Gina Riley in Sweeney Todd. Photo © Colin Page

“It is a much darker vocal role than I’ve ever attempted. But I looked at Fiddler on the Roof and I made my way through that without too much trouble,” he says – a massive understatement, given his magnificent performance as Tevye in 2016.

Warlow is one of Australia’s pre-eminent musical theatre performers, who began his career in opera. Renowned as Australia’s original Phantom of the Opera, his many other credits include Enjolras in Les Misérables, Archie Craven in The Secret Garden, “Daddy” Warbucks in Annie in Australia and on Broadway, and Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway production of Finding Neverland.

Having decided to take the plunge, Warlow describes Sweeney Todd as “the role of a lifetime”, and says that he expects it to be “the most challenging theatrical...