Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd tells its story through roughly 25 to 30 numbers, framed by “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and built around showpieces like “Epiphany” and “A Little Priest”. Here is every song in order, who sings it, what happens in it, and which songs the 2007 Tim Burton film left out.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler, based on Christopher Bond’s version of the Victorian penny-dreadful story. Directed by Harold Prince, it opened at Broadway’s Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin) on March 1, 1979, with Len Cariou as Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett, and ran 557 performances (IBDB). It won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, plus Tonys for Cariou, Lansbury and Prince.
Spoiler note: the song notes below describe the full plot, including the ending.
What songs are in Sweeney Todd?
Sweeney Todd has roughly 25 to 30 numbers, depending on how you count the reprises of the ballad and the long linked sequences in Act 2. Very little of the show is spoken. Sondheim called it a “black operetta”, and most of the story is told through music, so many “songs” are really sung scenes that flow into each other.
The story: Benjamin Barker, a barber, was transported to Australia for life on a false charge by Judge Turpin, who wanted Barker’s wife. Fifteen years later, he returns to London as Sweeney Todd. He sets up shop above Mrs. Lovett’s failing pie shop, waits for his chance at the Judge, and, when it slips away, turns his razor on everyone. Mrs. Lovett has a practical idea about what to do with the bodies.
The most famous numbers are “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”, “The Worst Pies in London”, “Johanna”, “Pretty Women”, “Epiphany”, “A Little Priest” and “Not While I’m Around”.
What is the Sweeney Todd song list in order?
This order follows the original Broadway production. Numbers marked with an asterisk are often cut or moved in productions; for example, “Johanna (Mea Culpa)” was cut in previews in 1979 but recorded on the cast album.
Act 1
| # | Song | Who sings | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prelude: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd | Company | The chorus invites us to “attend the tale” |
| 2 | No Place Like London | Anthony, Todd, Beggar Woman | A young sailor and a bitter man arrive in London |
| 3 | The Barber and His Wife | Todd | Todd tells his own story, disguised as someone else’s |
| 4 | The Worst Pies in London | Mrs. Lovett | Mrs. Lovett complains about her terrible pies and her lack of meat |
| 5 | Poor Thing | Mrs. Lovett | She reveals what happened to Lucy, Barker’s wife |
| 6 | My Friends | Todd, Mrs. Lovett | Todd is reunited with his razors |
| 7 | Green Finch and Linnet Bird | Johanna | Todd’s daughter, the Judge’s ward, longs to escape |
| 8 | Ah, Miss | Anthony, Johanna, Beggar Woman | Anthony sees Johanna at her window |
| 9 | Johanna | Anthony | Anthony’s love song, and his promise to rescue her |
| 10 | Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir | Tobias, Todd, Mrs. Lovett, crowd | A market-day sales pitch for a fake hair tonic |
| 11 | The Contest | Pirelli (with Tobias)* | Todd beats the flashy barber Pirelli in a shaving match |
| 12 | Wait | Mrs. Lovett | She urges an impatient Todd to bide his time |
| 13 | Johanna (Mea Culpa)* | Judge Turpin | The Judge’s disturbing private confession about his ward |
| 14 | Kiss Me | Johanna, Anthony (later with the Beadle and Judge) | The lovers plan to elope |
| 15 | Ladies in Their Sensitivities | The Beadle | The Beadle advises the Judge to smarten up |
| 16 | Pretty Women | Todd, Judge Turpin (later Anthony) | Todd finally has the Judge in his chair |
| 17 | Epiphany | Todd, Mrs. Lovett | After losing his chance, Todd declares war on the world |
| 18 | A Little Priest | Todd, Mrs. Lovett | The pie plan, sung as a comic waltz |
Short reprises of the ballad also punctuate Act 1. For two of these songs in more detail, see our breakdowns of “The Worst Pies in London” and “Green Finch and Linnet Bird”.
Act 2
| # | Song | Who sings | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | God, That’s Good! | Tobias, Mrs. Lovett, Todd, customers | The pie shop is suddenly a hit |
| 20 | Johanna (Act 2 sequence) | Anthony, Todd, Beggar Woman, Johanna | Anthony searches for Johanna while Todd kills customers |
| 21 | By the Sea | Mrs. Lovett, Todd | Mrs. Lovett dreams of a cozy seaside retirement |
| 22 | Wigmaker Sequence / The Letter | Todd, Anthony, quintet | Todd plots to lure the Judge with a letter |
| 23 | Not While I’m Around | Tobias, Mrs. Lovett | Tobias swears to protect Mrs. Lovett, not knowing the truth |
| 24 | Parlor Songs | The Beadle, Mrs. Lovett, Tobias | The Beadle sings at the harmonium while asking about the smell |
| 25 | City on Fire! / Fogg’s Asylum | Anthony, Johanna, lunatics, company | Anthony frees Johanna from a madhouse |
| 26 | Beggar Woman’s Lullaby | Beggar Woman, Todd | Added for London in 1980; the Beggar Woman in the barber shop |
| 27 | The Judge’s Return | Judge Turpin, Todd | Todd’s revenge at last |
| 28 | Final Scene | Mrs. Lovett, Todd, Tobias | Todd learns the truth; the ending unfolds |
| 29 | The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Epilogue) | Full company | The chorus warns that Sweeney is still out there |
Who sings each song in Sweeney Todd?
- Sweeney Todd carries the dark heart of the score: “The Barber and His Wife”, “My Friends”, “Pretty Women”, “Epiphany” and most of the finale.
- Mrs. Lovett gets the comedy and much of the plot momentum: “The Worst Pies in London”, “Poor Thing”, “Wait”, “By the Sea”, and her duet with Todd in “A Little Priest”.
- Anthony Hope, the young sailor, sings the score’s great romantic ballad, “Johanna”, and leads the Act 2 rescue.
- Johanna introduces herself with “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” and shares “Kiss Me”.
- Judge Turpin, the villain, has “Johanna (Mea Culpa)” when it is included, and joins Todd for “Pretty Women”.
- Beadle Bamford, the Judge’s officer, sings “Ladies in Their Sensitivities” and the “Parlor Songs”.
- Tobias Ragg, Pirelli’s young assistant, opens “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir”, leads “God, That’s Good!” and sings “Not While I’m Around”.
- Adolfo Pirelli, the showy rival barber, has “The Contest”.
- The Beggar Woman appears throughout, begging for alms. She matters far more than anyone realizes until the end.
For a guide to each character, see our Sweeney Todd characters explained. And to hear the most famous duet sung by two Broadway veterans, watch Lea Salonga and David Bedella’s “A Little Priest”.
What is ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ doing in the show?
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” is the show’s narrator. It opens the evening, comes back again and again between scenes, and closes the show. The ensemble steps out of the story to comment on it, like a Greek chorus or a street singer selling a murder ballad. Each return picks up the story where it left off, which is why the reprises are often named after their first lines.
Its music carries a hidden signal. Sondheim built the ballad around the “Dies Irae”, the medieval plainchant melody from the Latin Mass for the dead, which composers have long used to suggest death and judgment. The ballad uses both fast and slow versions of it, and the same theme turns up in other places, including the accompaniment to “Epiphany”. So even when the characters are joking, the orchestra reminds you how this ends.
The ballad also does something sly at the end. In the epilogue, the dead characters rise and sing that Sweeney is not gone, and that he could be sitting beside you. The tale is over, but the audience is not let off the hook.
Want to play these songs yourself? Sweeney Todd is a great score to explore at the keyboard: pick out the “Dies Irae” theme that runs through the ballad, then try the sweeping waltz of “A Little Priest” or the flowing chords of “Johanna”. Try Pianoforall.
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Which songs were cut from the Sweeney Todd movie?
Tim Burton’s 2007 film starred Johnny Depp as Sweeney and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, with Alan Rickman as the Judge and Timothy Spall as the Beadle. Turning a roughly three-hour stage show into a two-hour film meant that some songs were shortened and others were removed, and Burton said Sondheim was open to honing the show down.
- “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” is gone entirely as a sung number. Screenwriter John Logan said a chorus singing as the people of London would feel alienating in a movie.
- Not on the soundtrack: “Ah, Miss”, “Kiss Me”, the Beadle’s “Parlor Songs”, the “City on Fire!” and asylum sequence, “The Letter” and “Beggar Woman’s Lullaby” do not have tracks on the film’s soundtrack album.
- Kept, often shortened: “No Place Like London”, “The Worst Pies in London”, “Poor Thing”, “My Friends”, “Green Finch and Linnet Bird”, “Johanna”, “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir”, “The Contest”, “Wait”, “Ladies in Their Sensitivities”, “Pretty Women”, “Epiphany”, “A Little Priest”, “God, That’s Good!”, “By the Sea”, “Not While I’m Around” and the final scene.
Jonathan Tunick, who orchestrated the original show, re-orchestrated the score for a much larger film orchestra. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, and the Academy Award for Best Art Direction; Depp won a Golden Globe and was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.
Which Sweeney Todd recording should you hear first?
Start with the Original Broadway Cast Recording (1979), with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. It is the reference version and includes “Johanna (Mea Culpa)” and the tooth-pulling contest, both of which were cut during the 1979 Broadway previews.
Next, try the 2023 Broadway revival cast recording. That production, directed by Thomas Kail with Josh Groban as Sweeney and Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett, opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on March 26, 2023, and restored Tunick’s full original orchestrations (IBDB). Its album was released in September 2023. It is a fuller, warmer modern sound, and Ashford’s comic timing is a highlight.
The 2007 film soundtrack is the place to go if you love the movie, but it is a shorter, more intimate take that skips much of the ensemble writing. If you like Sondheim’s storytelling here, our Into the Woods songs explained guide shows how he used a narrator very differently in a fairy-tale show.
Frequently asked questions
How many songs are in Sweeney Todd?
About 25 to 30, depending on how you count the ballad reprises and the linked sequences. Many numbers flow directly into each other as sung scenes.
What is the most famous song in Sweeney Todd?
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”, “A Little Priest” and “Not While I’m Around” are the best known. “Johanna” and “Pretty Women” are also widely performed.
Who sings ‘Johanna’ in Sweeney Todd?
Anthony, the young sailor, sings the love song “Johanna”. The Judge sings a darker “Johanna (Mea Culpa)”, and in Act 2 the melody returns as a quartet for Anthony, Todd, Johanna and the Beggar Woman.
Is Sweeney Todd an opera?
It is sometimes staged by opera companies, and Sondheim called it a “black operetta”. Most of the show is sung, but it was written for Broadway and is usually classed as a musical thriller.
Who wrote Sweeney Todd?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, and Hugh Wheeler wrote the book, adapting Christopher Bond’s play. Harold Prince directed the original 1979 production.
