Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond. Set in 19th century England, the musical tells the story of Benjamin Barker, aka Sweeney Todd, who returns to London after 15 years' transportation on trumped-up charges. When he finds out that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who transported him, he vows revenge on the judge and, later, the whole world. He teams up with a piemaker, Mrs. Lovett, and opens a barbershop in which he slits the throats of customers and has them baked into pies.
Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and in the West End in 1980. In addition to several revivals the musical has been presented by opera companies. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Read more about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street: Musical Numbers, Principal Roles, Film Adaptation, Cultural References, School Edition, Themes, Musical Analysis, Recordings and Broadcasts
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Surely the words will continue, for that’s
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—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
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“No barber shaves so close but another finds his work.”
—English proverb, collected in George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs (1640)
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