Abstract
Sweeney Todd is the story of a barber who returns home after an absence of 15 years. Sweeney Todd – not his real name – is obsessed with the idea of seeking revenge on Judge Turpin, who took terrible advantage of Todd’s wife Lucy and exiled him to an Australian penal colony. He learns from Mrs. Lovett that Johanna, his daughter, is living as Judge Turpin’s ward – and that the judge is planning to marry her soon. Sweeney moves into his old barber shop and starts whetting his knife. But when Todd’s premeditated murder of Turpin goes awry, Todd vows revenge on all of mankind, and in a blind fury kills as many people as he can. Mrs. Lovett, in turn, makes her own kind of killing: she processes the corpses into mince pies, earning a pretty penny from an unsuspecting clientele... Although Sweeney Todd is considered a musical, the lavishly orchestrated, through-composed score brings the piece, which draws its inspiration from both classical horror literature and horror films, close to a grand opera. And the casting of the title character calls for an outstanding performer who can convincingly present the deeply wounded and bloodthirsty figure of Sweeney Todd on stage, and do it with a grand operatic voice of the darkest dimensions. Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel can do it all. He was lauded as Sweeney Todd at this production’s premiere and now returns to play the murderous barber in the revival of Andreas Homoki’s successful production. Joining him once again as Todd’s pie-making partner Mrs. Lovett is Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager. Musicals specialist David Charles Abelll will – as in the premiere – lead the Philharmonia Zürich.