In this action-packed novel you will meet the brilliant, highly educated American version of Sweeney Todd, who became the most horrific serial killer ever known. The demons rising within him threaten to undermine decades of exhausting work that liberated him from desperate poverty and positioned him to be an excellent surgeon before he turned killer. Eliot Ness kept the identity of his most horrifying suspect secret for almost four decades until Marilyn J. Bardsley discovered the name. These are her fictional portrayal of the killer's thoughts and actions, based on interviews with his friends and relatives, the detectives who investigated him, and people close to Eliot Ness.

Sweeney Todd, the gruesome tale of a murderous barber and his pastry chef accomplice, is unquestionably strange subject matter for the musical theatre – but eight Tony awards and enormous successes on Broadway and the West End testify to its enduring popularity with audiences. Written by Hugh Wheeler, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical premiered in 1979 and has seen numerous revivals, including Tim Burton's 2007 film version. Aaron C. Thomas addresses this darkly funny piece with fitting humour, taking on Sweeney Todd’s chequered history and genre, its treatment of violence and cannibalism, and its sexual politics.

Ladies and Gentlemen...I have to state that Mrs Lovett' s pies are made OF human flesh ! ' This shocking announcement provides the stunning d' enouement TO a narrative first published OVER a period OF four months IN the winter OF 1846 - 7. The revelation marked ONLY the beginning, however, OF the notorious career OF Sweeney Todd, soon known TO legend AS the ' Demon Barber ' OF London ' s Fleet Street.The story OF Todd ' s entrepreneurial partnership WITH neighbouring pie - maker Margery Lovett - at ONCE inconceivably unpalatable AND undeniably compelling - has subsequently provided the substance FOR a seemingly endless series OF successful dramatic adaptations, popular songs AND ballads, novellas, radio plays, graphic novels, ballets, films, AND musicals.Both gleeful AND ghoulish, the original tale OF Sweeney Todd, first published under the title The String OF Pearls, IS an early classic OF British horror writing.It combines the story OF Todd 's grisly method of robbing and dispatching his victims with a romantic sub-plot involving deception, disguise, and detective work, set against the backdrop of London' s dark AND unsavoury streets.This edition provides an authoritative text OF the first version OF the story ever TO be published, AS well AS a lively introduction TO its history AND reputation.

'Ladies and Gentlemen...I have to state that Mrs Lovett's pies are made of human flesh!' This shocking announcement provides the stunning dénouement to a narrative first published over a period of four months in the winter of 1846-7. The revelation marked only the beginning, however, of the notorious career of Sweeney Todd, soon known to legend as the 'Demon Barber' of London's Fleet Street. The story of Todd's entrepreneurial partnership with neighbouring pie-maker Margery Lovett - at once inconceivably unpalatable and undeniably compelling - has subsequently provided the substance for a seemingly endless series of successful dramatic adaptations, popular songs and ballads, novellas, radio plays, graphic novels, ballets, films, and musicals. Both gleeful and ghoulish, the original tale of Sweeney Todd, first published under the title The String of Pearls, is an early classic of British horror writing. It combines the story of Todd's grisly method of robbing and dispatching his victims with a romantic sub-plot involving deception, disguise, and detective work, set against the backdrop of London's dark and unsavoury streets. This edition provides an authoritative text of the first version of the story ever to be published, as well as a lively introduction to its history and reputation.

The American musical has long provided an important vehicle through which writers, performers, and audiences reimagine who they are and how they might best interact with the world around them. Musicals are especially good at this because they provide not only an opportunity for us to enact dramatic versions of alternative identities, but also the material for performing such alternatives in the real world, through songs and the characters and attitudes those songs project. This book addresses a variety of specific themes in musicals that serve this general function: fairy tale and fantasy, idealism and inspiration, gender and sexuality, and relationships, among others. It also considers three overlapping genres that are central, in quite different ways, to the projection of personal identity: operetta, movie musicals, and operatic musicals. Among the musicals discussed are Camelot, Candide; Chicago; Company; Evita; Gypsy; Into the Woods; Kiss Me, Kate; A Little Night Music; Man of La Mancha; Meet Me in St. Louis; The Merry Widow; Moulin Rouge; My Fair Lady; Passion; The Rocky Horror Picture Show; Singin' in the Rain; Stormy Weather; Sweeney Todd; and The Wizard of Oz. Complementing the author's earlier work, The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity, this book completes a two-volume thematic history of the genre, designed for general audiences and specialists alike.

From West Side Story in 1957 to Road Show in 2008, the musicals of Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) and his collaborators have challenged the conventions of American musical theater and expanded the possibilities of what musical plays can do, how they work, and what they mean. Sondheim's brilliant array of work, including such musicals as Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods, established him as the preeminent composer/lyricist of his, if not all, time. Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical places Sondheim's work in two contexts: the exhaustion of the musical play and the postmodernism that, by the 1960s, deeply influenced all the American arts. Sondheim's musicals are central to the transition from the Rodgers and Hammerstein-style musical that had dominated Broadway stages for twenty years to a new postmodern musical. This new style reclaimed many of the self-aware, performative techniques of the 1930s musical comedy to develop its themes of the breakdown of narrative knowledge and the fragmentation of identity. In his most recent work, Sondheim, who was famously mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II, stretches toward a twenty-first-century musical that seeks to break out of the self-referring web of language. Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical offers close readings of all of Sondheim's musicals and finds in them critiques of the operation of power, questioning of conventional systems of knowledge, and explorations of contemporary identity.

"Foster Hirsch has updated the original edition of this book adding new interviews with Prince. He analyzes Prince's more recent work, including Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade, and the award-winning revival of Show Boat. He provides a detailed account of the creation and fortunes of Bounce, the 2003 musical that reunited Prince and Sondheim for the first time in twenty years. Illustrated with numerous rare photos, it is a must for any theatre fan."--BOOK JACKET.

A treasure trove of information, "American Opera" sketches musical traits and provides plot summaries, descriptions of sets and stagings, and biographical details on performers, composers, and librettists for more than 100 American operas. 86 photos.

A dictionary of short entries on American musicals and their practitioners, including performers, composers, lyricists, producers, and choreographers

The American musical has achieved and maintained relevance to more people in America than any other performance-based art. This thoughtful history of the genre, intended for readers of all stripes, offers probing discussions of how American musicals, especially through their musical numbers, advance themes related to American national identity. Written by a musicologist and supported by a wealth of illustrative audio examples (on the book's website), the book examines key historical antecedents to the musical, including the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, nineteenth and early twentieth-century American burlesque and vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, and other song types. It then proceeds thematically, focusing primarily on fifteen mainstream shows from the twentieth century, with discussions of such notable productions as Show Boat (1927), Porgy and Bess (1935), Oklahoma! (1943), West Side Story (1957), Hair (1967), Pacific Overtures (1976), and Assassins (1991). The shows are grouped according to their treatment of themes that include defining America, mythologies, counter-mythologies, race and ethnicity, dealing with World War II, and exoticism. Each chapter concludes with a brief consideration of available scholarship on related subjects; an extensive appendix provides information on each show discussed, including plot summaries and song lists, and a listing of important films, videos, audio recordings, published scores, and libretti associated with each musical.