A cutting-edge production

Ever since Johnny Depp slit throats in the eponymous film adaption, Sweeney Todd became world-famous. In March, the eerily beautiful musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond is coming to our stage – in a production by the English Theatre Frankfurt and directed by Derek Anderson.

Razor-sharp entertainment

An infamous tale of a Victorian-era barber Benjamin Barker, now Sweeney Todd, 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, with the help of Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, he opens a new barber shop where they plot a unique plan that leads them down a dangerous, thrilling path with deadly and delicious consequences. Mrs. Lovett’s luck sharply shifts when Todd’s thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up… and the carnage has only just begun!

Bloody successful

The original Broadway production (1979) won no less than eight Tony Awards inclduding Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score. The cast soundtrack was awarded with a Grammy Award. In London, the original production and the revivals have accumulated ten Laurence Olivier Awards. Tim Burtons film adaptation (2007) with Johnny Depp in the title role and Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman as Mrs. Lovett and Judge Turpin won two Golden Globes and an Oscar.

Sondheim’s 90th birthday

Shortly after the Munich-run of Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim celebrates his 90th birthday on 22nd March. The American composer and lyricist was – over the course of his long career – awarded with an Oscar, eight Tonys, eight Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and six Laurence Olivier Awards. His many works include Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and Into the Woods (1987). He also wrote the lyrics toWest Side Story (1957). In 2010, a Broadway-theatre was named in his honour.