Victim of a gross injustice that robbed him of his wife and child, Sweeney Todd sets about exacting a terrible revenge on society: slitting the throats of the customers who visit his barbershop.
But things are getting complicated - a romance has developed with Mrs Lovett, the lady who runs the pie shop next door, and the disappearances are starting to cause concern. With the bodies piling up, Sweeney Todd hits upon a novel idea, and starts passing on his 'patrons' to his homely neighbour... Meat pie, anyone?
Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical. It has since had numerous revivals as well as a film adaptation.
About the author
Stephen Sondheim was born in New York and studied music at Williams College, where he wrote the lyrics and music for two college shows. Sondheim also studied at Princeton University with Milton Babbit. He received recognition for writing lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957) and success as a lyricist-composer with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). However, his next musical, Anyone Can Whistle (1964), was unsuccessful. The production of Company (1970) again established Sondheim as a major composer and lyricist on Broadway. Sondheim's other productions include Follies (1971); A Little Night Music (1973), wherein its leading song, "Send in the Clowns," was awarded a Grammy in 1976; and Sunday in the Park with George (1983), a musical inspired by George Seurat's famous painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." He has won him three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Musical Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.