Sweeney Todd

The gruesomely fascinating musical about the ‘Demon Barber of Fleet Street’, one of Sondheim’s greatest hits. From the writing partnership behind A Little Night Music.

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.

‘A masterpiece, perhaps the last truly great American musical. This is, in short, a blood-drenched love letter you are unlikely to forget in a hurry‘ — Daily Telegraph

‘Sondheim has been inching closer and closer to pure opera, and Sweeney Todd is the closest he’s come yet‘ — Newsweek

Best Musical, Tony Awards

Best New Musical, Olivier Awards

Author Biography

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) was a celebrated American composer and lyricist, one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre.

Sondheim started his theatre career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before becoming a composer and lyricist. Sondheim’s best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987).

He won many awards including eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008), eight Grammy Awards, an Olivier Award, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Author photo by Jerry Jackson