Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls: an Audio Melodrama in Three Despicable Acts
by Yuri Rasovsky
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Description
The insidious Fleet Street barber slit his first throat in an 1846 "penny dreadful," one of those gaudy serialized novels that gleefully offered thrills and gore to sensation-hungry Victorians. Titled The string of pearls, it told of Sweeney Todd, whose shop stood next to St. Dunstan's Church just a few blocks from the Royal Courts of Justice. On this site, he robbed and murdered hundreds of customers. To dispose of their remains, he carried them to an underground bakery of one Mrs. Lovett, show more whose pie shop was a few blocks away. She ground the cadavers into stuffing for her meat pies, the favorite mid-day repast of the lawyers who worked nearby and who got their shaves from Sweeney Todd. The man you lunched with yesterday could be your lunch today! Before the serial's final chapters even hit the stands, the first stage version, pirated from the already published installments, was packing them in at a London theater. Since then there have been numerous stage, literary and screen versions of the story, most notably the hit Sondheim musical. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
This is ridiculous but so entertaining. A lot of the dialogue is funny. The actually storyline is scary, a barber killing people and a cook selling them in her pies. It’s worth the time.
The Story: Completely different from the movie version, still the story is not for the light of heart and definitely not for listening when you're eating your cheeseburger (trust me). Johana's character was a pleasant surprise, she's so strong and intelligent, much more than any other character in this story.
Audiobook Review: This title show up in the 'just arrived' section of my library's webpage, and I just wanted to listen to it. The title was just too awesome to ignore. I had a lot of fun listening to it, it is the dramatized version so I have to say I thought it was a bit too fast at times and I did had to rewind every now and then but it didn't stop me from enjoying it as whole. The actors do have a British (?) accent, I didn't show more find it hard to understand them but it's something to keep in mind. show less
Audiobook Review: This title show up in the 'just arrived' section of my library's webpage, and I just wanted to listen to it. The title was just too awesome to ignore. I had a lot of fun listening to it, it is the dramatized version so I have to say I thought it was a bit too fast at times and I did had to rewind every now and then but it didn't stop me from enjoying it as whole. The actors do have a British (?) accent, I didn't show more find it hard to understand them but it's something to keep in mind. show less
This is ridiculous but so entertaining. A lot of the dialogue is funny. The actually storyline is scary, a barber killing people and a cook selling them in her pies. It’s worth the time.
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Author Information
13+ Works 103 Members
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1846
- People/Characters
- Sweeney Todd; Mrs. Lovett
- Important places
- London, England, UK (Fleet Street)
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 21
- Popularity
- 1,232,907
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.06)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Audiobook
- ISBNs
- 10
