Gloomy, gripping, and laced with black humor: The Devilish Barber of Fleet Street is a musical thriller of oppressive intensity that deals with revenge, guilt, and the depths of human depravity in an extraordinary musical form.
In 19th-century London, a serial killer is on the loose. Men are dying in barbers' chairs, their throats slit with a razor blade. Behind the monster is Benjamin Barker, who returns after 15 years in prison under the name Sweeney Todd. Innocently sent to prison, he was robbed of everything: his wife Lucy, his daughter Joanna, his life. The person responsible is Judge Turpin, who got rid of Barker in order to take possession of his family. Back in freedom, Sweeney Todd learns of his wife's alleged suicide and his daughter's imprisonment in the judge's house. Together with the enterprising and deeply ambivalent innkeeper Mrs. Lovett, he embarks on a vendetta that increasingly turns from targeted retribution into indiscriminate violence—until Sweeney Todd realizes in the chaos of his actions that one of his victims was his beloved Lucy. The path to madness is thus complete.
Based on a story from the so-called "Penny Dreadfuls," Stephen Sondheim , together with Hugh Wheeler and Christopher Bond, created a work that he himself described as a "black operetta." The music combines haunting duets, touching ballads, and rhythmically sharp ensembles to create a soundscape of great psychological depth. Sweeney Todd is much more than a bloody thriller: the musical paints a portrait of a man who loses all moral boundaries as a result of the injustice he has experienced—and finds no redemption in his vigilante justice. An evening of musical theater with oppressive consistency and great artistic power.
Premiere June 20
Further performances: June 21 and 28, 2026
