When Anthony Warlow was asked if he would play the murderous barber in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for TEG Life Like Company, he took several months to decide. Though he had long coveted the part, it was a darker vocal role for him. Eventually he said yes – and he is superb, giving an extraordinary performance that outshines everything around him – though the orchestra also does a terrific job under Musical Director Vanessa Scammell.

Gina Riley and Anthony Warlow in Sweeney Todd. Photograph © Ben Fon

The character of the throat-slashing Sweeney Todd first became popular in the serialised Victorian penny dreadful publications. Sondheim decided to write his grisly musical thriller about a barber hellbent on revenge, and his landlady Mrs Lovett who uses his victims as fresh meat for the pies in her pie shop, after seeing Christopher Bond’s 1973 play in London. Bond added a psychological background to the story, portraying Todd as the victim of a ruthless judge who had him transported to Australia on trumped up charges so he could seduce his wife.

Drawing on Bond’s take and Grand Guignol, Sondheim’s show opened...