It's the road show version of Stephen Sondheim's tale of grand guignol melodrama, book by Hugh Wheeler, direction by Harold Prince.
It all derives from a penny dreadful called THE STRING OF PEARLS, probably written by James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest in 1846. By the following year, Sweeney had leapt onto the stage, a staple of melodrama. By 1926 he was on the movie screen, with Tod Slaughter's ripe version in 1936. I had the pleasure of seeing Sondheim's version in its original run; it remains my second favorite of his works. Tim Burton essayed a movie version in 2007, which lacked the precision of the stage play, and fell apart completely in the second act.
Because this version was intended for broadcast and theatrical release, it shows some editing techniques, including cuts to close-up, that betray the theatrical make-up and cyclopean sets of the original. Nonetheless, with George Hearn in the mad lead, and Angela Lansbury as the even madder Mrs. Lovett, this remains the best version we are ever likely to get. Unless, of course, Tod Slaughter returns from the dead to again perform as Sweeney, which I wouldn't put past him.
It all derives from a penny dreadful called THE STRING OF PEARLS, probably written by James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest in 1846. By the following year, Sweeney had leapt onto the stage, a staple of melodrama. By 1926 he was on the movie screen, with Tod Slaughter's ripe version in 1936. I had the pleasure of seeing Sondheim's version in its original run; it remains my second favorite of his works. Tim Burton essayed a movie version in 2007, which lacked the precision of the stage play, and fell apart completely in the second act.
Because this version was intended for broadcast and theatrical release, it shows some editing techniques, including cuts to close-up, that betray the theatrical make-up and cyclopean sets of the original. Nonetheless, with George Hearn in the mad lead, and Angela Lansbury as the even madder Mrs. Lovett, this remains the best version we are ever likely to get. Unless, of course, Tod Slaughter returns from the dead to again perform as Sweeney, which I wouldn't put past him.