Considered as Stephen Sondheim's most operatic - and darkest - musical theatre work, Sweeney Todd is based on the Victorian horror story The String of Pearls by Thomas Peckett Prest (which was itself a retelling of a British myth). In 1973 British playwright Christopher Bond adapted the story and made Sweeney an ordinary man whose happiness has been destroyed by a corrupt social order, rather than simply a greedy murderer. It was this version that inspired Stephen Sondheim to adapt the work for the musical stage in collaboration with director Harold Prince and librettist Hugh Wheeler.

Unjustly treated, his family destroyed, Benjamin Barker is overpowered by revenge to unexpected ends. Mrs Lovett and the potential of her meat pies gradually give way to gory secrets, heightened by the dark shadows of Victorian London - a city on fire with lust and madness.

The show first opened on Broadway at the Uris Theatre in 1979 starring Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd and Angela Lansbury as Mrs Lovett and directed by Harold Prince. It ran for 558 performances and won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical. The show also received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical.

THE STORY
Sweeney Todd is the alias of a man wrongfully accused of a crime and transported to Australia. When the barber escapes and returns to Fleet Street, he is told that his wife Lucy has died and his daughter Johanna has been raised by the evil Judge Turpin who framed him 15 years before.

Todd meets up with Mrs Lovett, who makes "the worst pies in London" and together they plot his revenge against Judge Turpin and a Beadle who assisted the Judge in his nefarious plans. Opening up a barber shop, he plots to kill the Judge when he comes for a shave. Made mad by his anger, Sweeney begins killing as many of his customers as possible, which Mrs. Lovett uses for her pies.

Anthony Hope, the hero of the story, falls in love with Johanna, and is determined to reveal the heinous crimes of Sweeney Todd. In classic tragic formula, Sweeney Todd's desire for revenge proves to be his undoing.

Detailed synopsis (from The Guide to Musical Theatre)

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION - Judge Turpin
"Lecherous", "corrupt", "evil", "perverse", "cruel" are the adjectives most frequently used to describe the character of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd.

The Judge is the main object of Todd's revenge. He is an arrogant and deceitful man who coveted and seduced Barker's wife Lucy. With the help of the villainous Beadle Bamford he arranged for Barker to be deported to Australia to serve time on a trumped-up charge.

The Judge has brought up Barker's daughter Johanna in his house under strict discipline. One day, realizing that Johanna has reached womanhood and he can no longer keep her captive, but tortured by guilt-ridden lust for her, he decides to marry her...

MUSICAL NUMBERS

ACT ONE
Organ Prelude
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd - Sweeney & Chorus
There's No Place Like London - Anthony, Sweeney, Beggar Woman
The Barber and His Wife - Sweeney
The Worst Pies in London - Mrs Lovett
Poor Thing - Mrs Lovett
My Friends - Sweeney, Mrs Lovett, Chorus
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise) - Chorus
Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Johanna
Ah, Miss - Anthony, Johanna, Beggar Woman
Johanna - Anthony, Judge Turpin, Johanna
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir - Tobias, Sweeney, Mrs Lovett, Chorus
The Contest - Pirelli
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise) - Chorus
Wait - Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Todd
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise) - Chorus
Kiss Me - Anthony & Johanna
Ladies in Their Sensitivities - Beadle, Judge Turpin
Kiss Me/Ladies in Their Sensitivities - Johanna, Anthony, Beadle, Judge Turpin
Pretty Women - Judge Turpin, Sweeney
Epiphany - Sweeney, Mrs Lovett
A Little Priest - Mrs Lovett, Sweeney

ACT TWO
God, That's Good - Tobias, Mrs Lovett, Sweeney, Chorus
Johanna - Anthony, Sweeney, Johanna, Beggar Woman
By The Sea - Mrs Lovett, Sweeney
Wigmaker Sequence - Sweeney, Anthony
The Letter - Chorus
Not While I'm Around - Tobias, Mrs Lovett
Parlour Songs - Beadle, Mrs Lovett, Tobias
City On Fire! / Searching- Chorus, Johanna, Mrs Lovett, Sweeney, Beggar Woman, Anthony
Ah, Miss (reprise) - Anthony, Johanna
The Judge's Return - Sweeney, Judge Turpin
Final Sequence - Sweeney, Mrs Lovett, Tobias
The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd - Chorus