Trivia

Though Dame Angela Lansbury won the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Mrs. Nellie Lovett on Broadway, this production is the national tour, filmed while in Los Angeles, California.

George Hearn (Sweeney Todd) and Betsy Joslyn (Sweeney's daughter, Johanna) were married in real-life from 1979 to 1984.

Len Cariou won the 1979 Tony Award (New York City) for Actor in a Musical for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for portraying the title role. However, he did not do the National Tour, so he does not appear.

Sondheim thought stage veteran Angela Lansbury would add some needed comedy to the grim tale as the lunatic Cockney shopkeeper, but Lansbury needed to be convinced. She was a Broadway featured star by the late 1970s, and, as she pointed out to Sondheim, "Your musical-show is not called 'Nellie Lovett,' it's called 'Sweeney Todd.' And I'm the Second Banana." To convince Dame Angela Lansbury, Sondheim auditioned his musical material, writing a couple of specific songs for "Nellie Lovett," including the macabre patter song, "A Little Priest." Sondheim gave Lansbury the key to the "Nellie Lovett" character, saying "I want Mrs. Lovett to have a music hall character." Lansbury, who had grown up in British (London) Music Hall Variety, immediately got it. "Not just music hall ... but dotty music hall", as she put it. After Lansbury was formally confirmed in the role, she relished the opportunity, saying that she loved "the extraordinary wit and intelligence of the (Sondheim's) lyrics".

Original Broadway Cast members in this taping include Dame Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Nellie Lovett) , Ken Jennings (Toby), Edmund Lyndeck (Judge Turpin), and Betsy Joslyn (Johanna) and Cris Groenendaal (Anthony) who played Members of the Company and understudied for Sarah Rice and Victor Garber as Johanna and Anthony, respectively.