5 Facts About Sweeney Todd in Time for Halloween

It’s officially spooky season, so it’s time to curl up for the annual rewatch of Sweeney Todd!

Here are some little-known facts about the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler stage musical it is based on.

The musical is an Adaptation

Multiple adaptations of the story of the demon barber paved the way for the Sondheim musical we know and love today. Most notably, it was a drama by Christopher Bond that formed the basis for the piece.

Stage magic (and Play-Doh) bought the recent revival to life

The latest Broadway production, directed by Thomas Kail, closed up shop earlier this year, but it was applauded for its gory effects. In this production, they used salt dough and real pies filled with scrambled egg. A net is used to protect the orchestra pit when they are thrown around on stage. Additionally, getting the blood right is a fine art. Previous iterations have used razor blades that squirt blood-like liquid, but the recent revival used blood vessels (holding a golf ball’s worth of ‘blood’) hidden in the barber capes.

Practice Makes Perfect

In preparation for the film adaptation, Helena Bonham Carter rehearsed her songs as Mrs. Lovett while baking in order to perfect the rhythm of the music – why don’t you try it next time you bake a pie?

A Hit!

The original 1979 Broadway production won all but one of the 10 Tony Awards that it was nominated for; including Best Musical, and Best Actor and Actress awards for Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury.

Back to its roots

The 2023 revival was the first since its premiere to use a full 26-piece orchestra (playing Jonathan Tunick’s original orchestrations), as it was intended.