Dearest Martha, I hereby nominate your post for "Funniest of the Year"!
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of my favorite stage musicals. (I saw the original Broadway production dozens of times and my partner was the associate casting director for the national tours.)
The music and lyrics are by my favorite composer, Stephen Sondheim.
But Sweeney is inspired by the grand guignol (in France) or "penny dreadfuls" (in England) of the 19th century. Those were melodramas that featured a great deal of violence and bloodshed.
The story (based on an English legend used to scare children) deals with an average man who is so mistreated by the British legal system that he exacts revenge by becoming a serial killer, slashing his barbershop customers right and left. He forms a partnership with his downstairs neighbor, who runs a failing meat pie shop. Together, they cut up the corpses and serve them to unknowing customers in meat pies, making a small fortune in the process.
Did I mention that it's a musical comedy? And as close as we'll get to a great American opera.
By all means, go. It's brilliant. (At my house, we've planned Christmas day around getting to the very first showing.)
But be prepared for a bit of violence. :blowkiss: :blowkiss:
