Sweeney Todd is an urban legend.  Although historians dispute whether he was real it is possible he existed in some fashion but either way his legend continues to thrive even into the 21st century. 

In the original version of the tale he is a barber who murders wealthy customers by slitting their throats with a straight razor[7] and letting the dead bodies fall through a secret trap door beneath his barber's chair, and into the basement below the first floor pie shop. After Todd has robbed his dead victims of their goods, Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime (in some later versions, his friend who wants to become his lover), assists him in disposing of the bodies by having their flesh baked into meat pies, and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop. Todd's barber shop is situated at 186 Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church, and is connected to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in nearby Bell Yard by means of an underground passage.

The tale surrounding the character became a staple of Victorian melodrama, and later a Tony award-winning Broadway musical in 1979. Sweeney Todd has also been featured in several films, the most recent being based on the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), directed by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp in the title role.

AwardsHome


















all images are copyrighted to Warner Brothers.