The Tale of Sweeney Todd The Tale of Sweeney Todd The Tale of Sweeney Todd is a 1998 American crime-drama/horror television film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley. The teleplay by Peter Buckman was adapted from a story by Peter Shaw. It was broadcast in the United States by Showtime on April 19, 1998 and released on videotape in France the following month. It later was released as a feature film in select foreign markets. Set in 19th Century London, the story focuses on Sweeney Todd (Ben Kingsley), a murderous barber whose business provides him with two profitable sidelines, the
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Andrew Glover during the New Zealand tour), David Rogers-Smith as Adolfo Pirelli (replaced by Robert Tucker in New Zealand), Ross Hannaford as Tobias Ragg (replaced by Joel Grainger in New Zealand), Blake Bowden as Anthony Hope (replaced James Benjamin Rodgers in New Zealand), Amelia Berry as Johanna, Dimity Shepherd as the Beggar Woman (replaced by Helen Medlyn in New Zealand), and Jeremy Kleeman as Jonas Fogg. The first opera company to mount "Sweeney Todd" was the Houston Grand Opera in a production directed by Hal Prince, which ran from June 14, 1984 through June 24, 1984 for a total