Sweeney Todd: A Case Study of Theatrical Adaptation

"How does theatrical adaptation reformulate or/and change the inherited narrative? Discuss any contemporary theatrical adaptation of your choice."

When creating the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim took much inspiration from the penny dreadful The String of Pearls. Through his inspiration of that story, he as an auteur, created a piece with distinct changes, but remaining themes and atmospheres from the penny dreadful. This video breaks down this creation through adaptation theories of auteurs and the concept of fidelity. His musical has gone on to be incredibly popular in the theatre community.

(78 Words)

Works Cited

30th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition, Broadway Cares, 25 April 2016.

76th Tony Awards, CBS, 12 June 2023.

“Andy’s Play” The Office, Season 7, Episode 3, NBC, 7 Oct. 2010.

Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author” Image, Music, Text, Fontana, 1977. pp. 147.

Burton, Tim, director. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Warner Brothers, 2008.

Cobb, Shelley. “Film Authorship and Adaptation” A Companion to Literature, Film, and Adaptation, 1st ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2012. pp. 107-108

Interview with Stephen Sondheim, BBC Southbank, 1980.

Interview with Stephen Sondheim, 2007.

Jersey Girl, starring Ben Affleck, Miramax, 2004.

Johnson, David T., 'Adaptation and Fidelity', in Thomas Leitch (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies, Oxford

The String of Pearls; Or, The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance, London, E. Lloyd, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, 1850.

Sondheim, Stephen, and Hugh Wheeler. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Nick Hern Books, 1979.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Warner Brothers, 1982.

[edwardinderrieden]

Hmmm. But it’s not a literary adaptation, as I think you state in the beginning. Sondheim was clear that it was based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. Not the penny dreadful. Also not a word of the contribution of Hugh Wheeler, the theatrical book writer.