tracks.
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1.StopPrelude: the Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd – Len Cariou 03:31
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2.StopNo Place Like London/The Barber and His Wife – Merle Louise, Victor Garber, Len Cariou 05:55
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3.StopThe Worst Pies in London – Angela Lansbury 02:50
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4.StopMy Friends/The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney! – Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury 03:29
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5.StopJohanna – Victor Garber 01:55
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6.StopThe Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney Pondered and Sweeney Planned 02:46
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7.StopKiss Me/Ladies in Their Sensitivities – Edmund Lyndeck, Jack Eric Williams, Sarah Rice, Victor Garber 05:26
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8.StopPretty Women/Epiphany – Edmund Lyndeck, Victor Garber, Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury 07:55
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9.StopA Little Priest – Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou 07:14
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10.StopGod, That's Good! – Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Ken Jennings 06:23
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11.StopJohanna – Sarah Rice, Merle Louise, Len Cariou, Victor Garber 05:27
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12.StopBy the Sea – Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury 03:33
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13.StopNot While I'm Around – Angela Lansbury, Ken Jennings 03:57
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14.StopFinal Sequence/Epilogue/The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Attend the Tale of 12:06
Sweeney Todd is of course the tale of a 19th-century London barber who, wrongly imprisoned by a judge lusting after his wife, returns to take revenge with his razor. What keeps the story from being a re-treading of The Count of Monte Cristo is the element of class conflict -- that and the grotesque device of having the barber get rid of the bodies by giving them to his pie-maker girlfriend to bake into her wares. We are thus treated to a very dark tale, indeed, with repeated mentions of the "Dies Irae" theme (the Day of Judgment theme from Catholic liturgical music which has been used by many classical composers). The darkness of Sweeney Todd, ironically, prompts Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and Hugh Wheeler (book) to write a richer, more coherent piece than the usual Broadway fluff. With his somber baritone, Len Cariou is chilling as the murderous, grief-stricken barber; Angela Lansbury, the cannibal-pie-maker, sounds like an insane Cockney Edith Bunker. The tormented young lovers Victor Garber and Sarah Rice are a bit bland, as second-string lovers in Broadway shows often are, but Merle Louise as the Beggar Woman provides some necessary spice. The orchestra is more than up to the demands of Sondheim's score, and the whole affair is well-recorded. This version of Sweeney Todd is a lot of fun as long as you don't listen to it too soon after a meal. Kurt Keefner, Rovi
- Genre: Classical, Soundtrack
- Subgenre: Vocal/Standards, Cast Recordings
- Category Musicals, Cast Recordings, Show Tunes
- Release Date: October 25, 1990
- Artist: Sweeney Todd [Highlights]
- Additional Artist: Jack Eric Williams (Performer), Sarah Rice (Performer), Ken Jennings (Performer), Merle Louise (Performer), Edmund Lyndeck (Performer), Angela Lansbury (Performer), Victor Garber (Performer), Len Cariou (Performer)