A murderous barber sent away to
Australia for 15 years by a corrupt judge, Judge Turpin. He was formerly known as Benjamin Barker, but when he returned to London he changed his name so he would be unrecognizeable. He arrives back in London off of the Bountiful out of Plymouth with a young sailor named Anthony, after leaving the ship port he returns to his barber shop on Fleet Street. His barber shop is even given an address, 186 Fleet Street. When he gets there he sees a woman making a meat
pie, that is Mrs Lovett. Together they take revenge on Londoners until Sweeney is able to exact revenge on the Judge himself. Sweeney slits his customer's throats and Mrs Lovett chops the meat up and turns the
people into
meat pies, making for a very profitable business. Mrs Lovett is madly in love with Sweeney and plans to become his
wife. She hopes the
pie business with him will allow them to escape and live "By the Sea"
The story carries themes of love, obsession, and revenge (
big main theme)
It was a written play, and then created into a musical by Stephen Sondheim and more recently re created as a movie directed by Tim Burton and starring
Johnny Depp as title role and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is very well known in both the US and UK and Sweeney is more recently recognizeable as
Johnny Depp's version as well as the way George Hearn portrayed Sweeney in the original broadway musical cast.
