Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as "penny dreadfuls". A story called "The String of Pearls" was published in a weekly magazine during the winter of 1846-47. Set in 1785, the story featured as its principal villain a certain Sweeney Todd and included all the plot elements that were used by Sondheim and others ever since. The murderous barber’s story proved instantly popular – it was turned into a play before the ending had even been revealed in print. An expanded edition appeared in 1850, an American version in 1852, a new play in 1865. By the 1870s, Sweeney Todd
Not While I'm Around (Sweeney Todd) Not While I'm Around (Sweeney Todd) "Not While I'm Around" is a song from the Stephen Sondheim musical "". It is a duet between Tobias Ragg and Mrs. Lovett. "Sweeney Todd" opened on Broadway in 1979. In the pie shop that Mrs. Lovett owns, she has taken in young Tobias, who was homeless, to be her helper. Tobias expresses suspicions about Sweeney Todd and states his desire to protect Mrs. Lovett, whom he has come to view as a mother figure. Mrs. Lovett is revealed to be not as nice as Tobias had initially thought. "Variety" described this song as