Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

by George Dibdin Pitt

This version of the famous play, carefully restored by author and scholar Marvin Kaye, returns to the original text and clears away many of the problems created by lesser talents trying to revise the text. Footnotes and an afterword on staging a production of Sweeney Todd based on this text provide useful additional information.

Genres: Plays, Horror, Theatre

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1847

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is ridiculous as hell and totally charming! A rare example of 19th century British Theater, it's a fascinating read for fans of the musical or people with an interest in how the legend of the demon barber has changed since its roots in a bygone era. This version predates the pathos of the modern masterpiece, and has all manner of bizarre inconsistencies, but then it was a time of plot twists and action over depth and content. What's really interesting are the moments when the material manages to transcend itself to achieve its own kind of glorious brilliance. A truly worthwhile read for the lover of soap opera and schlock inside all of us.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This penny awful truly is awful in the best possible way. One of the most ridiculous plays I have ever read.

[Mbaxter]

I really liked this book. Anyone that likes people killing other people I would read this book.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reputation of Sweeney Todd has grown from urban legend of Victorian London to towering Shakespearean antihero, thanks primarily to the stage plays of Stephen Sondheim and Christopher Bond, and the film adaptation by Tim Burton. This volume publishes one of the original turn-of-the-century melodramas about Sweeney, before his twentieth century reinvention. It's ghoulish, silly and grandiose in a macabre fashion, but will always be a footnote thanks to the rise of Sweeney in culture as something more than just a psycho with a razor.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Believe it or not, you can get a copy of just the libretto/story. Interesting and quick read.

[ajr]

The edition I read had an introduction by Montagu Slater rather than Marvin Kaye but I couldn't find it on GR.