#113 Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls

Hollywood Theater of the Ear's Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls converges somewhere between horror and comedy. Extremely well written (but what else would you expect from Yuri Rasovsky) and well acted. Based on the original "penny dreadful" this production tells the tale of Sweeney Todd (sometimes called the demon barber) who robs and kills his customers in his barber shop. He then carries them  into an underground tunnel that connects to Mrs. Lovett's bakery which is just a few blocks away. Mrs. Lovett is of course his accomplice, helping him dispose of the bodies. You see she makes the best meat pies in the entire city. Customers, having no idea that the secret ingredient she uses for the stuffing in her pies is supplied by Sweeney Todd, are always raving about the flavor and coming back for more. If you have a flare for the horror type genre then you won't find this "audio melodrama in three despicable acts" hard to swallow.

Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls is nothing less than an exceptional production!

From HTE:

According to legend, Sweeney Todd had his barber shop at number 186 Fleet Street, London, next door to St Dunstan's Church, just a few blocks from the Royal Courts of Justice. On this site, they say, he robbed and murdered more than 150 customers. To dispose of their remains, he carried them through underground tunnels to the bakery of one Mrs. Lovett a few blocks away, where they supplied the stuffing for her meat pies, the favorite mid-day repast of the lawyers who worked nearby and who got their shaves from Sweeney Todd. The man you lunched with yesterday could be your lunch today!

The story first appeared in 1846 as A String of Pearls: A Romance, a best-selling "penny dreadful," or sensational thriller published in weekly installments. Before the final chapters even had a chance to hit the stands, the first stage version was packing them in at a London playhouse. Since then there have been numerous stage and literary versions of the story, most notably, of course, Stephen Sondheim's now classic musical.

http://www.irasov.com/Sweeney%20Todd.htm

Fred Greenhalgh recently featured a segment of Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls on his Radio Drama Revival program. Follow the link to the Radio Drama Revival website ot hear a preview of this production.

http://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-252-sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-strikes/

http://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-253-a-bit-more-polishing-off-from-olde-sweeney-todd/

http://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-254-a-barbarous-black-friday-with-sweeney-todd/