A murderous barber sent away to Australia for 15 years by a corrupt judge,
Judge Turpin. He was formerly known as Benjamin Barker, but when he returned to London he changed his name so he would be unrecognizeable. He arrives
back in London off of the Bountiful out of Plymouth with a young sailor named Anthony, after leaving the ship port he returns to his barber shop
on Fleet Street. His barber shop is even given an address,
186 Fleet Street. When he gets there he sees a woman making a meat pie, that is Mrs
Lovett. Together they take revenge on Londoners until
Sweeney is able to exact revenge on the Judge himself. Sweeney slits his customer's throats and Mrs Lovett chops the meat up and turns the people into meat pies, making for a very profitable business. Mrs Lovett is madly in love with Sweeney and plans to become his wife. She hopes the pie business with him will allow them to escape and live "By the Sea"
The story carries themes of love, obsession, and revenge (big main theme)
It was a written play, and then created into a musical by
Stephen Sondheim and more recently re created as a movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as title role and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is very well known in both the US and UK and Sweeney is more recently recognizeable as Johnny Depp's version as well as the way George
Hearn portrayed Sweeney in the original broadway musical cast.