Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the Victorian penny dreadful serial "The String of Pearls" (1846–47). The tale became a staple of Victorian melodrama and London urban legend, and has been retold many times since, most notably in the Tony award–winning by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although possible legendary prototypes exist. In the original version of the tale, Todd is a barber who dispatches his victims by pulling a lever as they sit in his barber chair.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street of the story. In the play, Sweeney Todd’s mental collapse and the subsequent plan for Lovett's meat pies take place in less than half a page of dialogue, much too quickly to convey the full psychological impact, in the view of scholar Larry A. Brown. Sondheim's version more carefully reveals the developing ideas in Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett's demented minds. Sondheim has often said that his "Sweeney Todd" was about obsession – and close friends seemed to instinctually agree. When Sondheim first played songs from an early version of the show for Judy Prince (wife of the show's director),