Theater Review: Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Heather Ainsley ECB Publishing, Inc. The scene opens to an ominous beat. The scene is set, and the mournful whine of organ music greets a series of forms carrying the still frame of a man. A funeral? Is prisoner Benjamin Barker dead? Perhaps not. May 17 marked the opening night of Sweeney Todd, a play that brings to life the story of Benjamin Barker, a naive man who made an honest living working as a barber in Victorian London. Barker enjoyed the company of his beloved wife Lucy and their young daughter, Johanna. Dear, sweet, unsuspecting Lucy was a figure of remarkable beauty, and a local and corrupt judge coveted her for his own. Determined to isolate her from her doting husband, the