Bloodshed on Broadway: Spine-Tingling Showtunes for Your Halloweekend

In 1785, a tale titled, "The String of Pearls: A Romance" appeared in a series of Victorian fictions known as "penny dreadfuls." A story as gory as they come, the tale was a ghoulish account of a psychopathic barber and his pastry-proficient accomplice turning murder victims into meat pies. Gaining instant popularity among readers, the tale of obsession, vengeance, and deeply questionable pie fillings so captivated the public that the tale of Sweeney Todd was adapted for the stage before the ending had been revealed in print.

Over a century, the strange and terrible tale of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street would continue to capture the imaginations of audiences in more than one onstage incarnation, appearing in expanded texts and crossing continents. By the 1870s, the very mention of the name Sweeney Todd would be enough to strike fear in the hearts and stomachs of Victorians the world over.

Just over a century later, playwright Christopher Bond adapted the story once more into his play, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." However, this incarnation would explore Sweeney's history in addition to his more horrific pursuits. In taking Sweeney from a one-dimensional villain of urban legends, and applying the sympathetic backstory of Benjamin Barker, a wrongfully imprisoned man seeking revenge on his enemies, Bond would ultimately set the stage for a true turning point of the American musical.

For horror and musical theatre fans alike, the idea of the two genres ever coming together seemed an unlikely one, but in 1979 two theatrical luminaries, in the prime of careers that would forever re-define the scope of musicals, did just that. With Stephen Sondheim's complex and macabre score, Hal Prince's revolutionary direction, starring turns from Broadway legends, and one nerve-shredding train whistle, modern audiences were invited to attend the musicalized tale of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

It has been almost forty years since Sweeney Todd first slashed his way onto the Main Stem, delighting and horrifying audiences while testing the weaker stomachs among the theatre-going public. And while its original incarnation wasn't necessarily as well received as some might think (according to Sondheim the show lost about half of its capitalization), the mainstream slasher films of the 80's and 90's spurred on public consumption of the horror genre. As the slasher style grew in popularity, so, too, did Sweeney's and the concept of horror musicals overall.

From "Little Shop" and the Mean Green Mutha From Outer Space to the homicidal teens of "Heathers: The Musical" there have been a slew of musicals that have followed in Sweeney's wake, terrorizing and titillating audiences of all ages. In celebration of the history of horror on Broadway, we have compiled some of Broadway's spookiest show tunes for your ghoulish delight. Whether you're an Addams or a Sweet Transvestite, BroadwayWorld has your Halloween soundtrack covered.

Photo credit: Paul Kolnick