Live from Covent Garden, Stephanie Hughes presents the first production of Stephen Sondheim's music at the Royal Opera House. A cruel and bloody comedy about the Fleet Street barber who embarks on a trail of murderous revenge with Mrs Lovett, only to discover that she has a dirty secret in her oven.
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Paul Gemignani

Act 1
9.00 Interval: Opera Box
Stephanie Hughes reveals the layers of Stephen Sondheim musicals and Christopher Cook tells the real story of Sweeney Todd. Plus a look at the British obsession with pies.

9.30 Act 2

[Photo caption] Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd - a musical about close shaves in Fleet Street, murder and meat pies

Opera on 3 7.25pm R3
Cynical readers will see the debut appearance of a Stephen Sondheim musical at the Royal Opera House as what was once home to a privileged elite showing its new common touch - not so much the Royal as the People's Opera House. But when the news of this production of Sweeney Todd broke earlier this year, Antonio Pappano, the director of the Royal Opera, described the musical as "a surprising but welcome addition to our repertory." So forget the cynicism - it's time for opera houses to have some fun too. And what better way than with this tale of the demon barber of Fleet Street, cutting his customers' throats as well as their hair, and then recycling the bodies very effectively in a nearby pie shop? The baritone Thomas Allen takes on the role of the murderous barber, while mezzo Felicity Palmer gets her teeth into the meaty role of his pie-making accomplice, the evil Mrs Lovett.