Sweeney Todd 

Fifteen years ago, the barber Benjamin Barker was convicted by Judge Turpin for a crime he did not commit, and was sent to a penal colony. Barker’s wife Lucy was then abused by Turpin. 

Act 1

Benjamin Barker, who now calls himself Sweeney Todd, has returned to London on board a ship. He bids farewell to Anthony, a young sailor who saved his life during the voyage. A mad beggar woman forces herself upon them and they chase her away.

Todd seeks out his old barber shop in Fleet Street. Mrs. Nellie Lovett, a pie maker, has set herself up on the ground floor. Her business is not going well. She recognises the barber and tells him that in her despair, his wife Lucy took poison, and that his daughter Johanna is now living at Judge Turpin’s house as his ward. Mrs. Lovett has kept Sweeney Todd’s razors; he takes them and decides to open a barber shop again on the first floor of the building in Fleet Street – and also to take his revenge.

Anthony sees Johanna sitting like a caged bird in the judge’s house, and immediately falls in love with her. The sailor asks his new friend Sweeney Todd to help him rescue the girl from her containment.

On the market square, Tobias is singing the praises of Rudolfo Pirelli’s hair growth elixir. When the self-appointed ”King of the Barbers” appears, Todd challenges him to a shaving contest and wins. He then invites Beadle Bamford, Judge Turpin’s assistant, to a free shave in his new shop. But before that, Pirelli appears. He has recognised Sweeney Todd and wants to blackmail him. Todd kills Pirelli. Mean­while, Tobias makes friends with Mrs. Lovett.

Judge Turpin is planning to marry his ward Johanna. His beadle suggests that he should have a shave at Sweeney Todd’s, and the judge submits to the knife ... but just as Todd is about to commit the deadly stroke, Anthony bursts in and betrays the young lovers’ escape plan. Furious, Judge Turpin hurries off and thus Sweeney is robbed of his revenge. Rage and despair trigger a bloodlust in Sweeney, who decides from now on to cut the throats of all his customers.

But what is he to do with the body of his first victim Pirelli? Mrs. Lovett has an idea: her pie business is going badly and meat is expensive ... Todd and Lovett agree on a macabre collaboration to their mutual satisfaction. 

Act 2

Both businesses are flourishing. Sweeney’s salon has been enhanced by means of a new chair with a sophisticated mechanism: once customers have been ”shaved”, they are dispatched directly downstairs to the bakehouse. Mrs. Lovett is scarcely able to keep up with the demand for her delicious pies. Tobias assists her in serving them.

Judge Turpin has had Johanna taken off to the insane asylum in order to get her away from the attentions of Anthony. Mr. Fogg, the director of the asylum, sells his patients’ hair. Anthony disguises himself as a wig seller and succeeds in getting Johanna out.

Mrs. Lovett dreams of living happily by the sea with Todd, but he cares only about his revenge. He tries to lure Judge Turpin back to his salon by means of a letter stating that he will keep Johanna there until Turpin

comes to collect her. Tobias mistrusts Todd and suspects that crimes are being committed, so Mrs. Lovett locks him in her bakehouse. Tobias discovers human body parts, and when the dispatched body of the beadle lands beside him, he hides in the sewers.

The beggar woman warns of fire and disaster. Todd kills her and finally also has Judge Turpin at his mercy. Johanna, who has been hidden in the barber shop by Anthony, witnesses the murders and almost becomes a victim herself.

Sweeney Todd descends to the bakehouse one last time …