ABSTRACT
The Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Hugh Wheeler earns its subtitle each time it is staged: “a musical thriller.” Prince’s grandeur and Sondheim’s Black humor combined to make a piece of theatre that was such an amalgamation of genres that critics and audiences were left unsure how to react. Sweeney’s reception was as mixed as the potpourri of ideas that built it. Indeed, most critics did acknowledge the grand ambitions and achievements of Sweeney, namely, Sondheim’s score and Prince’s epic conception, while expressing confusion for the result. For more violence and gore (low) on the commercial stage (high) look no further than Little Shop of Horrors, an adaptation of the 1960 film of the same name ending in all the main characters being eaten alive by a carnivorous plant, or Carrie, an adaptation of a 1974 Stephen King novel.
