Sweeney Todd at Lakeside Community Theatre in The Colony

One of the darkest musicals ever written, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the unsettling tale of a Victorian-era barber 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, Sweeney swears vengeance on the entire human race, murdering as many people as he can, while his business associate Mrs. Lovett bakes the bodies into meat pies and sells them to the unsuspecting public.

Sweeney Todd is known by many as a tale of obsession and revenge, and an allegory for capitalism and class warfare. Though the show is set in Victorian era London, in the midst of a very specific religio-political battleground, there are many events and themes that may resonate with contemporary artists and audiences.