The Tony-award winning musical features a singing rogue’s gallery of infamous murderers and would-be killers,

This production of the Stephen Sondheim classic is a festive, sophisticated romp that more than earns its laughs.

A Sondheim musical with a long history comes back to D.C. with a new, heartfelt interpretation at Signature Theatre

It may feature some of the greatest musical theater songs from one of its most celebrated composers, but for audiences, Stephen Sondheim’s Follies has always been kind of a hard sell. Is it the depressing storyline, with its ruminations on mortality and fidelity? Its pastiche-heavy multi-song fantasy sequence? Do folks not want to invest almost three hours of their time to watch a musical about aging, fading stars?

Sherri Edelen as Mrs. Lovett in ‘Sweeney Todd.’ Few shows walk the line quite as successfully as Sweeney Todd. Whether the line be between horror and absurdity, good and bad taste, gore and slapstick, Sweeney is there to push the boundaries. And Signature Theatre’s gleefully bloody, winking but impassioned production is firmly in that spirit. Courtesy of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (hearing the tweens in Signature’s audience Wednesday debate the merits of the…