Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as one of the protagonists of a penny part serial entitled The String of Pearls (1846-7). In the most common versions of the story, he is an English barber who murders his customers with a cut-throat razor (or "straight razor" in American English), and turns their remains into meat pies. His establishment is situated in Fleet Street, London. The story became a staple of Victorian melodrama and a hit Broadway musical in 1979. Sweeney Todd has also featured in several films, the most recent being Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), directed by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp in the lead role.

Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real person are unsubstantiated.

In the original story, The String of Pearls: A Romance, Sweeney Todd is a barber who murders wealthy customers by pulling a lever while they are in his barber chair which makes them fall backward down a trapdoor, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. Just in case they are alive, he goes to the basement and "polishes them off", meaning he slits their throats with his straight razor. Todd also has a young assistant named Tobias Ragg. In some versions of the Sweeney Todd story Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime and variously his friend or lover (and whose first name is variously Nellie, Marjorie, Sarah, Shirley, or Claudette), hides his crimes by butchering the corpses of Todds victims, baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to unknowing customers.

In Stephen Sondheims 1979 musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Todd was known as Benjamin Barker, a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with a daughter, Johanna. The villainous Judge Turpin exiles Benjamin to Australia on false charges in order to have Lucy to himself. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself. Turpin adopts baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd returns to London, Johanna has become a young woman and falls in love with a sailor, Anthony, with whom she plans to elope.

In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, after Sweeney kills Tobys previous guardian, Adolfo Pirelli, who turns out to be a former assistant that tries to blackmail him. Toby is generally the first character to catch onto Sweeney Todds crimes and also is responsible for Todds death.

In almost every variation, Johanna, Anthony, and Toby are the only characters who survive.

The Story goes like this:

The company citizens of London assembles to perform a no-frills burial, dumping a body in a sack into a shallow grave. The company sings "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," introducing the tale of the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street." They continue to appear throughout the show to comment on the action. Sweeney rises from the grave as if called forth. In the original Broadway production, this was done with a lift from below the set, which produced a startlingly ghostly effect.

In 1846 [4], a young sailor named Anthony Hope rides a ship into London. Despite Hopes enthusiasm, his friend and shipmate Sweeney Todd is grim and uneasy. This mood is worsened by a half-mad Beggar Woman who begs from (then sexually solicits) both Anthony and Todd. She appears to recognize Todd, who runs her off. ("No Place Like London"). As they prepare to part, Todd tells Anthony a tragic story about a young and naïve barber, his beautiful wife, and the lustful judge who exiled him to covet her ("The Barber and His Wife").

Todd goes to a meat pie shop on Fleet Street, where he encounters the shops proprietress, Mrs. Nellie Lovett. She complains about her competition, her own pitiful pies, and the difficult economic times ("Worst Pies in London"). When Todd asks about the upstairs apartment, she tells him the sad tale of the previous tenant, a barber named Benjamin Barker. Barker had been falsely sentenced by the lecherous Judge Turpin and his corrupt cohort Beadle Bamford because of the Judges lust for Barkers wife Lucy. She reveals how, once Barker had been sent to Australia, the Judge had lured Lucy to his house and raped her ("Poor Thing"). Todd cries out in agony, confirming Mrs. Lovetts suspicions that he is Benjamin Barker, back from Australia. She tells him that his wife poisoned herself and that his infant daughter, Johanna, became a ward of the Judge. Todd swears revenge on the Judge who ruined his life. Mrs. Lovett is more concerned with how Todd will make a living, and shows Todd his collection of sterling silver razors, which she has kept hidden for years, telling him that he can become a barber again ("My Friends" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney!").

Anthony, walking through Kearnys Lane, notices a girl singing at a window admiring a bird sellers wares ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"). The passing Beggar Woman (who again offers herself to him) tells Anthony that the girl is Johanna, Judge Turpins ward. Anthony is immediately smitten ("Ah, Miss") and pledges to woo her, but the Judge and the Beadle threaten him off. He swears to rescue her. Meanwhile, in the crowded marketplace, renowned "Italian" barber Adolfo Pirelli and his simple-minded assistant Tobias Ragg pitch a cure-all for hair loss ("Pirellis Miracle Elixir"). Todd, after exposing the elixir as fraudulent, challenges Pirelli to a shaving competition, and invites the Beadle to act as the judge of the competition. Pirelli puts on a grand show, but Todd wins easily. ("The Contest"), and invites the Beadle to visit his parlor for a complimentary shave ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney Pondered and Sweeney Planned").

Several days later, as Todd impatiently waits for the Beadles arrival, Mrs. Lovett urges patience ("Wait"), when Anthony bursts into the shop. He tells Todd of his sudden romance with Johanna and requests to bring the girl to the barber shop. No sooner has he left than Pirelli and Tobias visit the shop. Mrs. Lovett takes Toby downstairs for a meat pie, leaving Todd alone with Pirelli. Pirelli drops his Italian accent to reveal an Irish one and reveals his real name is Danny OHiggins, who served as assistant to Benjamin Barker in his barber shop fifteen years ago. OHiggins has recognized Todd and attempts to blackmail him. Rather than pay OHiggins off, Todd attacks him and strangles him, dumping his body into an empty trunk just before Tobias enters looking for his master, saying that he has an appointment with a tailor. Todd sends Tobias back down to Mrs. Lovett, tempting him with the offer of another pie and "a nice big tot of gin." Once the door has shut behind Tobias, Todd opens the trunk and finally finishes off his former assistant by slitting his throat. ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: His Hands Were Quick, His Fingers Strong").

Across town, Judge Turpin is tormented by his lust for his ward Johanna and announces to her that he intends to marry her ("Johanna"). Disgusted by the prospect, Johanna and Anthony plan to elope ("Kiss Me"). At the same time, the Beadle, accompanying his master, suggests that the Judge visit Todds barbershop to improve his appearance to better win Johannas affections ("Ladies in Their Sensitivities"). Turpin agrees and they set off.

Back at Todds shop, the ever-practical Mrs. Lovett extracts OHiggins gaudy coin purse from his corpse when the Judge arrives. Mrs. Lovett returns downstairs to distract Tobias where an eager Todd bides his time and slowly proceeds to exact his revenge, lulling the Judge into a sense of security ("Pretty Women"). Before he can kill Turpin, however, Anthony barges in to tell Todd about his and Johanna plans, also accidentally informing the outraged Judge. He curses Todd for conspiring against him before storming out of his parlor, vowing never to return. Todd, in his fury, descends into utter madness and broadens the target of his vengeance to all of society ("Epiphany"). Mrs. Lovett concludes that OHiggins body will not be Todds last victim, and during a discussion with Todd about how to dispose of OHiggins body, has a sudden burst of inspiration and suggests they use the flesh of Todds victims in her meat pies ("A Little Priest").

Mrs. Lovetts pie shop has become a thriving business with its new menu ("God, Thats Good!"). The only fly in the ointment is the Beggar Woman, who keeps hanging around the pie shop, telling anyone wholl listen that Mrs. Lovett is a witch. Todd and Mrs. Lovett now have a specially-designed mechanized barbers chair that allows Todd to kill someone (preferably a customer wholl never be missed) in the barber shop and send the body through a chute directly into the basement bakehouse of the pie shop Mrs. Lovett to use in her baking. Anthonys fortunes are not so bright as Johanna has disappeared. Over the weeks he searches for her while Todd accustoms himself to the idea that he may never see Johanna again, spending his time methodically slashing throats. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lovett dreams of a future life with Todd on the shore ("By The Sea").

Anthony discovers the Judge has committed Johanna to Foggs Asylum for the mentally deranged and, with Todds help, infiltrates the asylum, posing as a wigmaker intent on purchasing inmates hair ("Wigmaker Sequence" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney Waited Too Long Before…"). Unknown to Anthony, Todd sends a letter to the judge notifying him of Anthonys intent to kidnap Johanna and her professed love for Turpin, hopeful of luring the judge to his shop. Meanwhile, in the pie shop, Toby begins to suspect that Todd is up to no good ("Not While Im Around"), and when he recognizes Mrs. Lovetts purse as one that had belonged to Pirelli, she locks him in the bakehouse under the pretext of teaching him how to grind meat. As she leaves, she encounters Beadle Bamford sitting at her harmonium ("Parlor Songs"), commissioned by the neighbors to investigate the thick black smoke and strange smells from the pie shops chimney. Together, he and Mrs. Lovett wait for Todd, who arrives and offers the Beadle the promised free shave while Mrs. Lovett plays Sweet Polly Plunkett on her harmonium to cover the screams of the Beadles demise. In the basement, Toby discovers a piece of hair from a "black cow" and a fingernail in a pie when the bloody corpse of the Beadle tumbles down the chute. Horrified, he tries to escape but realizes that he is locked in. Upstairs, Mrs. Lovett informs Todd that Toby has guessed everything; they head downstairs to dispose of him.

While Todd and Mrs. Lovett search the cellars for Toby, who at this point has vanished into the catacombs, Anthony infiltrates the asylum. He draws a pistol on Jonas Fogg, the owner of the asylum, but cant bring himself to shoot and drops the gun. Johanna grabs the gun and shoots Fogg dead. They both flee to Todds parlor (Johanna is disguised in sailors clothing) and the insane inmates pour out onto the streets ("City on Fire").

After Anthony leaves Johanna in Todds barber shop to hire a coach to leave London, the Beggar Woman appears, and Johanna hides in the trunk that once held Pirellis body. Todd discovers the Beggar Woman in his parlor as she desperately tries to warn him about Mrs. Lovett. As Judge Turpin arrives, Todd frantically slits the Beggar Womans throat and sends her down the chute before Turpin can see her. When Todd assures him that Johanna is totally repentant, the judge in lecherous expectation asks for a shave. Once he has his victim in his chair, Todd reveals his identity to the Judge and slits his throat. As Todd leaves the parlor to find Toby, Johanna emerges from her hiding place. Todd catches her, and, thinking this intruder is a man, prepares to kill her. Todd hears Mrs. Lovett screaming from the bakehouse below, providing a distraction for Johanna to escape. Todd races downstairs.

In the bakehouse, Mrs. Lovett struggles with the dying Judge before she realizes that Todd has killed the Beggar Woman. Todd bursts into the bakehouse and, seeing the face of the Beggar Woman clearly in the light from the open oven doors, drops his razor in horror upon the realization that the Beggar Woman is his wife Lucy, whom he thought to be already dead. Todd furiously accuses Mrs. Lovett of deceiving him. Mrs. Lovett confesses the truth but insists that she never lied, maintaining that Lucy had indeed taken poison but did not die from it. Instead, it had driven her insane, and that she [Mrs. Lovett] withheld the truth from Todd in order to spare him, and because she loves him. Todd calms the very nervous and afraid Mrs. Lovett, proclaims his love for her, and tells her that he forgives her. He waltzes her over to the huge oven and hurls her inside, slamming the doors shut. Todd sinks to the floor and cradles his beloved wife in his arms. Toby, now driven completely insane and with his hair now white from the horror of the proceedings, enters and stumbles towards the barber. The grief-stricken Todd shoves him away, but Toby picks up Todds fallen razor and fatally slashes Todds throat. As Anthony, Johanna, and some constables burst into the bakehouse, Toby drops the razor and, unmindful of the others, begins to turn the handle for the meat grinder in a mindless parody of his duties for Mrs. Lovett.

As the resurrected ghosts of Todd and Mrs. Lovett rise from their graves, they conclude that the capability for revenge is within all of us.