Adrian Lester teases return to Sondheim in future musical revival

Adrian Lester has hinted he will return to Stephen Sondheim in a future stage musical.

The actor spoke on the red carpet at the opening of the new revival of Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods. A revival is a fresh production of an older show. Lester told reporters Sondheim's work "should be revived constantly, again and again", according to WhatsOnStage.

He refused to name the project. "I'm thinking of something that's going to happen in my future that I will speak on later on," he said.

Pressed on whether it could be Sweeney Todd, Lester shut the idea down. "No chairs, no chairs, no chairs, but… definitely lots of… colour," he said. The barber's chair is central to Sweeney Todd.

That word did the rest. WhatsOnStage reported the "colour" remark prompted speculation about Sunday in the Park with George. The Sondheim and Lapine musical about the painter Georges Seurat features the signature song "Color and Light". No casting has been confirmed.

Lester knows Sondheim well. He played Bobby in Sam Mendes' 1995 Donmar Warehouse production of Company. The staging then made a transfer, meaning it moved from its original subsidised home into a commercial West End house, the Albery. He won an Olivier Award for the role. The Olivier Awards are London's annual theatre prizes, run by the Society of London Theatre.

He has just finished a run in Cyrano de Bergerac at London's Noël Coward Theatre. A separate planned Barbican production of Sunday in the Park with George was postponed after the exit of its reported stars, Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande.

What makes this stand out is the gap. Thirty years on from Company, Lester remains closely linked with Sondheim in the minds of many theatregoers. For fans, this means a wait. Further official details about his next musical have yet to be announced.