Overview
Synopsis
One of the darkest musicals ever written, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the unsettling tale of a Victorian-era barber who returns home to London after fifteen years of exile to take revenge on the corrupt judge who ruined his life. When revenge eludes him, Sweeney swears vengeance on the entire human race, murdering as many people as he can, while his business associate Mrs. Lovett bakes the bodies into meat pies and sells them to the unsuspecting public. Perhaps composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s most perfect score, Sweeney Todd is lush, operatic, and full of soaring beauty, pitch-black comedy and stunning terror. It’s one of the signal achievements of the American musical theater of the last 50 years, and it’s the high-water mark of Sondheim’s six remarkable collaborations with director Harold Prince.
Show Information
- Book
- Hugh Wheeler
- Music
- Stephen Sondheim
- Lyrics
- Stephen Sondheim
- Category
- Musical
- Age Guidance
- Mature Audiences (M)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 1979
- Genres
- Drama, Dark Comedy, Horror
- Settings
- Multiple Settings, Period, Spectacle
- Time & Place
- 19th century london, fleet street and environs
- Cast Size
- medium
- Orchestra Size
- Large
- Dancing
- Optional
- Licensor
- Music Theatre International
- Ideal For
- College/University, Community Theatre, High School, Mature Audiences, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Star Vehicle Female, Star Vehicle Male, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Elderly, Young Adult, Late Teen, Child, Early Teen Characters, Medium Cast
Context
Sweeney Todd was the last and arguably greatest of the five groundbreaking musicals Stephen Sondheim scored during the 1970s (following Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and Pacific Overtures). It is the first Broadway show that Sondheim himself came up with the idea to adapt into a musical; all his previous projects had been conceived by a collaborator.
While it’s unlikely there was ever a historical
to read the context for Sweeney Todd and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Prologue
An unseen organist plays a dirge. Two men hastily digging a grave are interrupted by a long loud shrill factory whistle.
Lights fade to black, then rise on a grim-faced ensemble, who instruct the audience to “attend the tale of Sweeney Todd” (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”). Sweeney himself, “the demon barber of Fleet Street,” rises from the grave to join them. Blackout.
Act I
Lights rise on the London docks, where Sweeney and Anthony, a sweet-natured sailor, are
to read the plot for Sweeney Todd and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lead |
Male |
Bass-Baritone, Baritone |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Alto |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Soprano |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Bass, Bass-Baritone |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Supporting |
Female |
Mezzo-Soprano |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Ensemble |
Either Gender |
Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Baritone, Bass |
Songs
Act I
- "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" – Sweeney Todd, Ensemble
- "No Place Like London" – Sweeney Todd, Anthony Hope
- "Beggar Woman’s Lament" – Beggar Woman
- "Barber and His Wife" - Sweeney Todd
- "The Worst Pies in London" – Mrs. Lovett
- "Poor Thing" (Barber and His Wife Reprise) - Mrs. Lovett
- "My Friends" – Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett
- "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Reprise)" – Ensemble
- "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" – Johanna
- "Ah, Miss" – Anthony Hope
- “Beggar Woman’s Lament (Reprise)” - Beggar Woman
- "Johanna" – Anthony Hope
- "Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir" – Tobias Ragg, Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett, Ensemble
- "The Contest" – Adolfo Pirelli
- "Johanna" – Judge Turpin
- "Wait" – Mrs. Lovett
- "Kiss Me" – Johanna, Anthony Hope
- "Ladies in Their Sensitivities" – Beadle Bamford
- "Kiss Me" – Johanna, Anthony Hope, Beadle Bamford, Judge Turpin
- "The Contest (Reprise)" – Adolfo Pirelli
- “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Reprise)” - Ensemble
- "Pretty Women" – Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin, Anthony Hope
- "Epiphany" – Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett
- "A Little Priest" – Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett
Act II
- "God, That’s Good!" – Tobias Ragg, Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd, Beggar Woman, Ensemble
- "Johanna" – Anthony Hope, Sweeney Todd, Johanna, Beggar Woman
- "By the Sea" – Mrs. Lovett
- "Wigmaker Sequence" – Sweeney Todd, Anthony Hope
- “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” - Ensemble
- “Wigmaker Sequence (Reprise)” - Sweeney Todd, Anthony
- "The Letter" – Sweeney Todd, Quintet
- "Not While I’m Around" – Tobias Ragg, Mrs. Lovett
- “Sweet Polly Plunklet” - Beadle Bamford
- “Tower of Bray” - Mrs. Lovett, Beadle Bamford, and Tobias Ragg
- "Sweet Polly Plunket (Reprise)” - Mrs. Lovett
- "City on Fire" – Ensemble, Johanna, Anthony
- "Searching" – Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd
- “Ah, Miss (Reprise)” - Anthony Hope, Johanna
- “Beggar Woman’s Lullaby” - Beggar Woman
- "Final Sequence" – Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin
- "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" – Full Company
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
A song that uses short stanzas to tell a story about love.
Also called “black comedy,” takes a pessimistic view of the world.
The sound created when two discordant notes are played in unison and there is a lack of harmony.
Also called “anagnorisis” in Ancient Greek tragedy, this is the recognition by the hero of his tragic fate, and his inability to change it.
References a singer who has what has been considered a more classical approach to singing.
A recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.
A popular form of entertainment during the nineteenth century with a formulaic plot and stereotypical stock characters.
A restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed.
A production designed especially to show off the talents of a particular performer.
Relating to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) or a person who lived in the Victorian era.
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