Sweeney Todd, or the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd, or the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), a musical thriller by Hugh Wheeler (book), Stephen Sondheim (music, lyrics). [Uris Theatre, 557 perf.; Tony, NYDCC Awards.] Bitter at his imprisonment and at the world in general, Sweeney Todd ( Len Cariou) returns to London and sets up as a barber. But he is no ordinary barber. He slits his customers' throats and turns their bodies over to his friend, Mrs. Lovett ( Angela Lansbury), who bakes them into pies. He even succeeds in murdering the venal judge who sent him to prison, but when he learns he has also inadvertently murdered his long‐lost wife his mind snaps completely, and he pushes Mrs. Lovett into her own oven. He in turn is murdered by a young boy Mrs. Lovett had taken in off the streets. Notable songs: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; Johanna; A Little Priest; Not While I'm Around; Worst Pies in London. The musical was based on Christopher Bond's 1973 play, Sweeney Todd, which in turn was derived from George Dibdin Pitt's 1847 melodrama, The String of Pearls, long a favorite at the Bowery Theatre. Hal Prince staged the mammoth production using Brechtian techniques, a constructivist set by Eugene Lee, and bold, bigger‐than‐life performances. For many it was Lansbury's crowning performance. Both critics and playgoers were sharply divided over the musical's merits: some considering it a superbly artful, venturesome work; others, a gruesome joke. Over the years the challenging piece has caught on and it is now revived in theatres and opera houses across the country.