Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979 Original Broadway Cast)

Nothin' like tappin' your toes and whistlin' along as people are murdered and turned into meat pies, huh?! Sondheim's ghoulish smash won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Score and one each for Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. Two bonus tracks (from Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall ) and a hidden track, too!

Despite being known for her televised sleuthing these days, Angela Lansbury once managed to both spook and delight Broadway audiences as the maker of very particular delicacies in Victorian London. In this macabre extravaganza, Lansbury's Nellie Lovett is the accomplice of Len Cariou's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. After he slashes his victims, she turns them into her meat pies' main ingredient. For this most ghoulish of shows, Sondheim looked for inspiration in the way the music is used in horror and suspense movies, particularly in the soundtracks of Bernard Herrmann. The winner of nine Tony Awards in 1979, Sweeney Todd may not be Sondheim's most accessible score, but its operatic complexity (it is almost entirely sung-through) makes it darkly spellbinding. --Elisabeth Vincentelli