Top 100 Greatest Musicals Poll – Number 9 – Sweeney Todd
Attend The Tale to find out how a Victorian penny dreadful became the subject of a play by Christopher Bond which caught the eye of one Stephen Sondheim. Taken with the tale of revenge on a grand and gruesome scale Sondheim started work on what would become the 1979 musical thriller Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd was directed by Harold Prince and would follow their ground-breaking work on Company (1970), Follies (1971) A Little Night Music (1973) and Pacific Overtures (1976). Returning to London after 15 years of exile, a revenge-driven Sweeney is out for blood. Judge Turpin stole his wife, his daughter and destroyed his life. Sweeney teams up with Mrs Lovett, who has a serious problem – she is in need of a supply of fresh meat for her … Read more
