If you love Sweeney Todd, start with Into the Woods, Assassins and The Phantom of the Opera, then follow whatever thread hooked you: pitch-black humor, a revenge plot, gothic thrills, or Stephen Sondheim’s dazzling craft. Here are ten musicals that share the demon barber’s appetite for darkness, and why each one clicks for Sweeney fans.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened on Broadway in March 1979, and its most recent Broadway revival, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in March 2023 (IBDB, Playbill). If you need a refresher on who does what to whom, start with our Sweeney Todd characters explained guide, and our Sweeney Todd songs explained walk-through covers the score number by number.
What makes a musical feel like Sweeney Todd?
Sweeney Todd is a thriller, a black comedy and a near-operatic tragedy at once. Fans who say they want “something like Sweeney” usually mean one of these:
- Dark humor. Laughing at something you probably should not, as in “A Little Priest.”
- Revenge and obsession. A protagonist consumed by one idea, and the damage it does.
- Gothic atmosphere. Fog, blood, shadows and a city that feels like a trap.
- Sondheim’s craft. Intricate lyrics and music that carries the drama, not just decorates it.
Here is the short version of our list.
| Musical | Writers | Broadway debut | Sweeney thread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Into the Woods | Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine | 1987 | Sondheim’s dark fairy tale |
| Assassins | Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman | 2004 | Killers in the spotlight |
| Passion | Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine | 1994 | Obsession |
| Little Shop of Horrors | Alan Menken, Howard Ashman | 2003 | Horror comedy, people as food |
| Beetlejuice | Eddie Perfect, Scott Brown, Anthony King | 2019 | Gleeful gallows humor |
| Chicago | John Kander, Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse | 1975 | Murder as showbiz |
| The Phantom of the Opera | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe | 1988 | Gothic villain in a mask |
| Jekyll & Hyde | Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse | 1997 | Victorian London horror |
| The Threepenny Opera | Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht | 1933 | London’s criminal underworld |
| Next to Normal | Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey | 2009 | A family’s private darkness |
Which other Sondheim musicals should Sweeney fans see?
Into the Woods. Sondheim and James Lapine weave Grimm fairy tales into one story, and then the second act asks what happens after “happily ever after.” Giants fall, characters die, and the wishes have consequences. It opened on Broadway in November 1987 and won Tonys for Best Score and Best Book. Our Into the Woods songs explained guide breaks down the score.
Assassins. Sondheim and John Weidman gather the men and women who tried to kill US presidents in a carnival shooting gallery, each singing in the American popular style of their era. It is as morally unsettling as Sweeney, and it makes you hum along while you squirm. After a mixed Off-Broadway debut in 1990, its 2004 Broadway production won five Tonys, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Passion. If what grips you in Sweeney is a single, all-consuming obsession, Passion is the purest example in Sondheim’s work. A young soldier in 19th-century Italy becomes the object of the ailing Fosca’s unrelenting love. Sondheim himself conceived the project, as he did Sweeney Todd, and it opened on Broadway in 1994 and won the Tony for Best Musical. For more on where to begin with the composer, see our best Sondheim musicals for beginners.
Which musicals mix horror and comedy like Sweeney Todd?
Little Shop of Horrors. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s horror comedy follows a florist’s assistant who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. Like Mrs. Lovett’s pies, it turns a gruesome menu into a running joke, set to doo-wop and early Motown. It ran for five years Off-Broadway from 1982 and reached Broadway in 2003.
Beetlejuice. Eddie Perfect’s score and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King adapt the 1988 film about a ghost summoned by saying his name three times. Beneath the jokes is a girl grieving her mother, which gives it the same mix of laughter and loss. It opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in April 2019.
Chicago. Kander and Ebb’s Jazz Age satire turns murder into a path to fame, as Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly spin their crimes for the press. If you love how Sweeney skewers a corrupt society, Chicago does it with jazz hands. Its 1996 revival holds the record as the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
Which shows have a villain you can’t stop watching?
The Phantom of the Opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masked genius is, like Sweeney, a wronged man who lives in the shadows and kills to get what he wants. The gothic setting, the chandelier and the sweep of the music make it the natural partner for any Sweeney fan. Its original Broadway production opened in January 1988 and ran for 13,981 performances before closing in April 2023 (IBDB, NPR). Our musicals like Phantom of the Opera list goes further.
Jekyll & Hyde. Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse turn Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella into a Victorian London thriller, with a doctor whose experiment unleashes a murderous second self. It shares Sweeney’s foggy London and its central man coming apart. The original Broadway production opened in April 1997 and played more than 1,500 performances (IBDB, Playbill).
The Threepenny Opera. Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 “play with music” follows the criminal Macheath through a corrupt London underworld, and its opening ballad of Mack the Knife became a standard. If Sweeney’s attack on a society that eats its poor is your favorite thing about it, start here.
Next to Normal. There is no killer here, but the darkness is real. Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s rock musical follows a mother living with bipolar disorder and the grief her family cannot name. It opened on Broadway in April 2009, won three Tonys, including Best Original Score, and later won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Where should a Sweeney Todd fan start?
For more Sondheim, start with Into the Woods, then Assassins. For gothic chills, The Phantom of the Opera is the obvious next stop. If what you love is laughing at something terrible, Little Shop of Horrors is the most fun you can have with a carnivorous plant. Check each show’s official site or local listings before you buy, since productions come and go.
Frequently asked questions
What musical is most like Sweeney Todd?
Assassins is the closest match in tone. It also comes from Stephen Sondheim, mixes dark humor with real violence, and asks uncomfortable questions about the society that produces its killers. If you prefer gothic atmosphere, The Phantom of the Opera is a strong choice, and Into the Woods brings Sondheim’s darker side to fairy tales.
What other Sondheim musicals are dark?
Assassins, about people who tried to kill US presidents, and Passion, about obsessive love, are among Sondheim’s darkest. Into the Woods turns grim in its second act, when the fairy-tale characters face death and loss. Our guide to the best Sondheim musicals for beginners suggests where to start in his catalog.
Is Sweeney Todd an opera or a musical?
It is a musical, though it is often described as near-operatic because music runs through almost all of it, with very little spoken dialogue. Opera companies have staged it too. It opened on Broadway in 1979 and won the Tony for Best Musical, and it has had several Broadway revivals since, most recently in 2023.
Is Little Shop of Horrors like Sweeney Todd?
In some ways, yes. Both turn people into food and play it for dark laughs, and both have a hapless or wronged man who is drawn into killing. Little Shop is lighter and sillier, with a doo-wop and early Motown score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, while Sweeney is a true tragedy.
What should I watch after Sweeney Todd?
Try Into the Woods for more Sondheim, or The Phantom of the Opera for gothic romance and a villain in the shadows. Little Shop of Horrors and Beetlejuice suit fans of Sweeney’s humor, while Jekyll & Hyde offers another trip to Victorian London. Our list above explains which thread each show picks up.
