Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto 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 tells the story of Benjamin Barker, alias Sweeney Todd, who returns to London after 15 years' transportation on trumped-up charges. When he finds out that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who transported him, he vows revenge on the judge and, later, the whole world. He teams up with a piemaker, Mrs. Lovett, and opens a barbershop in which he slits the throats of customers and has them baked into 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.
No Place Like London is the song that is sung at the beginning of the film. It's sung by Anthony and Sweeney as they land the good ship Bountiful in the harbors of London. For Anthony, this is his first visit to this city, and he paints it in romantic, idealistic tones. But for Sweeney, it's an very uneasy return to a place that he once called home after spending fifteen years in prison on a terrible, false charge, and he has nothing but contempt for the city, as evidenced with Sweeney Todd's dark reprise of Anthony's hopeful lyrics.
The song then segues into A Barber And His Wife, in which we have a flashback of the man that Sweeney used to be before he got sent off straight to prison, and of Judge Turpin, the man who sent him there because he wanted Sweeney's beautiful wife, Lucy Barker, for himself.
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.
No Place Like London is the song that is sung at the beginning of the film. It's sung by Anthony and Sweeney as they land the good ship Bountiful in the harbors of London. For Anthony, this is his first visit to this city, and he paints it in romantic, idealistic tones. But for Sweeney, it's an very uneasy return to a place that he once called home after spending fifteen years in prison on a terrible, false charge, and he has nothing but contempt for the city, as evidenced with Sweeney Todd's dark reprise of Anthony's hopeful lyrics.
The song then segues into A Barber And His Wife, in which we have a flashback of the man that Sweeney used to be before he got sent off straight to prison, and of Judge Turpin, the man who sent him there because he wanted Sweeney's beautiful wife, Lucy Barker, for himself.