Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Artwork from the original Broadway production
Music	Stephen Sondheim
Lyrics	Stephen Sondheim
Book	Hugh Wheeler
Basis	Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond
Productions	1979 Broadway 1980 West End 1982 Telecast of national tour 1984 Houston Grand Opera 1989 Broadway revival 1993 West End revival 1995 Barcelona 1997 Madrid 1997 Helsinki 1999 Vancouver 2003 Toronto 2004 West End revival 2005 Broadway revival 2007 São Paulo 2007 Film 2008 Madrid 2011 Paris 2012 West End revival 2014 Quebec City 2015 Johannesburg 2016 Cape Town 2017 Moscow
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Book Tony Award for Best Score Drama Desk Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Outstanding Book Drama Desk Outstanding Lyrics Drama Desk Outstanding Music Olivier Award Best New Musical

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book 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 details the return of barber Sweeney Todd to London after 15 years of exile, in order to take revenge on the corrupt judge who banished him, by conspiring with a local baker, Mrs. Lovett, who is in desperate need of fresh meat for her 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.

The character of Sweeney Todd had its origins in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as "penny dreadfuls". A story called The String of Pearls was published in a weekly magazine during the winter of 1846-47. Set in 1785, the story featured as its principal villain a certain Sweeney Todd and included all the plot elements that were used by Sondheim and others ever since. The psychopathic barber’s story proved instantly popular – it was turned into a play before the ending had even been revealed in print. An expanded edition appeared in 1850, an American version in 1852, a new play in 1865. By the 1870s, Sweeney Todd was a familiar character to most Victorians.

Sondheim’s musical was, in fact, based on Christopher Bond’s 1973 spooky melodrama, which introduced a psychological background to Todd’s crimes. In Bond's reincarnation of the character, Todd was the victim of a ruthless judge who raped his young wife and exiled him to Australia. Sondheim first conceived of a musical version of the story in 1973, after he went to see Bond's ghoulish take on the story at Theatre Royal Stratford East.