Amazon.com Stephen Sondheim's Victorian horror thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is probably his most viscerally powerful score, realized to perfection by the original 1979 cast. Len Cariou plays the murderous title character with both menace and tragedy, while Angela Lansbury provides a grotesquely comic performance as Mrs. Lovett, his lover and partner in crime. At 73 minutes, this highlights CD is extremely generous but still omits over a half-hour from the complete recording. What's missing: the coloratura aria "Green Finch and Linnett Bird," the complete barber-contest sequence, the judge's flagellation number, much of the background of the show's central mystery, and a fair amount of connecting music. Yes, it's a good bargain, and it's convenient to have so much good music on a single CD, but any omission from this monumental score is one too many. If you're serious about Sweeney, spring for the two-disc set. --David Horiuchi, ISBN13: B000002W7E ISBN10: B000002W7E Material Type: audioCDAmazon.com Stephen Sondheim's Victorian horror thriller Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is probably his most viscerally powerful score, realized to perfection by the original 1979 cast. Len Cariou plays the murderous title character with both menace and tragedy, while Angela Lansbury provides a grotesquely comic performance as Mrs. Lovett, his lover and partner in crime. At 73 minutes, this highlights CD is extremely generous but still omits over a half-hour from the complete recording. What's missing: the coloratura aria "Green Finch and Linnett Bird," the complete barber-contest sequence, the judge's flagellation number, much of the background of the show's central mystery, and a fair amount of connecting music. Yes, it's a good bargain, and it's convenient to have so much good music on a single CD, but any omission from this monumental score is one too many. If you're serious about Sweeney, spring for the two-disc set. --David Horiuchi, ISBN13: B000002W7E ISBN10: B000002W7E Material Type: audioCD , ISBN13: B000002W7E ISBN10: B000002W7E Material Type: audioCD