Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls

An Audio Melodrama in Three Despicable Acts (Dramatized)

By: Yuri Rasovsky

Narrated by: uncredited

According to legend, Sweeney Todd had his barber shop at number 186 Fleet Street, next door to St. Dunstan's Church, just a few blocks away from the Royal Courts of Justice. On this site, they say, he robbed and murdered more than 150 customers. To dispose of their remains, he carried them through underground tunnels to the bakery of one Mrs. Lovett a few blocks away, where they supplied the stuffing for her meat pies, the favorite mid-day repast of the lawyers who worked nearby and got their shaves from Sweeney Todd. The man you lunched with yesterday could be your lunch today!

The story first appeared in 1846 as a best-selling "penny dreadful", a sensational thriller published in installments. Before the final chapters even had a chance to hit the stands, the first stage version was packing them in at the Royal Britannia Saloon. Since then, there have been numerous stage and literary versions of the story.

This script has been specially commissioned by Blackstone Audio, Inc., based on the original sources of the tale.

The movie based on this classic will be released on December 21, 2007. It will be directed by Tim Burton and will star Johnny Depp.

• Audie Award Winner, Original Work, 2008
• Audie Award Winner, Audio Drama, 2008
• Audie Award Winner, Achievement in Production, 2008

©2007 Yuri Rasovsky (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

I had a hard time following

I am a native English speaker, and I found the reading hard to understand. I loved the effort in the voice acting and sound effects, but the old timey English accents were just difficult to decipher for me. I don't think most kids would be able to follow and I feel like I was using a lot of energy listening. I still gave three stars bc it seemed like a great performance/production effort and maybe it's just me who thought the accents were a bit too much.

Very Entertaining

I was happily surprised and thoroughly entertained with this title.

Good stuff.

Worth it

I listen to this book and can get lost in the story. I’m leaving this review after my third listen through.

Earns its Audies

Rasovski's adaptation easily earns its 3 Audie awards. The cast - including Martin Jarvis, W. Morgan Sheppard, and Rosalind Ayres - is superb. The same is true of each musical performance from by Tony Barrand and John Roberts between scenes. I always enjoy the Halloween season, and this macabre story definitely got me in the holiday spirit.

SWEENEY TODD....THE BARBER as the song says

I loved it, read string of pearls, the original penny dreadful story and watched the musical and definitely was different and enjoyable at the same time