Sweeney Todd

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

 

About the Composer/Lyricist

 

Stephen Sondheim's work as a composer-lyricist over the past four decades has set the standard for modern American musical theatre. He has won a record seven Tony Awards for his songwriting, and received a Pulitzer Prize for "Sunday in the Park with George".

An American stage musical and film composer and lyricist, one of the few people to win an Academic Award, multiple Tony Awards, multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulizter Prize.  He has been described in the New York Times as “the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theatre”.  His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods as well as the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. 

 

Musical Numbers

 

Sondheim's score is one of his most complex to date.  It relies heavily on angular harmonies in the show and a stong company of singers.

 

Prologue

  • Organ Prelude
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd - Company

Act I

  • No Place Like London - Sweeney Todd, Anthony Hope
  • The Barber and His Wife - Beggar Woman
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (incidental)
  • The Worst Pies in London - Mrs. Lovett
  • Poor Thing - Mrs. Lovett
  • My Friends - Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise)
  • Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Johanna
  • Ah, Miss - Anthony Hope and Beggar Woman
  • Johanna - Anthony Hope
  • Pirelli's Miracle Elixir - Tobias Ragg, Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett and Company
  • The Contest - Pirelli
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise)
  • Johanna - Judge Turpin
  • Wait - Mrs. Lovett
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Three Tenors)
  • Kiss Me - Johanna and Anthony Hope
  • Ladies in Their Sensitivities - The Beadle
  • Kiss Me (Quartet) - Johanna, Anthony Hope, The Beadle and Judge Turpin
  • Pretty Women - Sweeney Todd and Judge Turpin
  • Epiphany- Sweeney Todd
  • A Little Priest - Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

Act II

  • God, That's Good! - Tobias Ragg, Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd, Beggar Woman and Customers
  • Johanna (Quartet) - Anthony Hope, Sweeney Todd, Johanna and Beggar Woman
  • By the Sea - Mrs. Lovett
  • Wigmaker Sequence; The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise)
  • The Letter
  • Not While I'm Around - Tobias Ragg and Mrs. Lovett
  • Parlor Songs - The Beadle and Mrs. Lovett
  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (reprise)
  • Fogg's Assylum; Fogg's Passacaglia
  • City On Fire - Lunatics, Johanna and Anthony Hope
  • Ah, Miss (reprise)
  • The Beggar Woman's Lullabye
  • The Judge's Return
  • Final Scene - Anthony Hope, Beggar Woman, Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin, Mrs. Lovett, Johanna and Tobias Ragg

Epilogue

  • The Ballad of Sweeney Todd