Few musicals can boast their excessive blood flow, homicide and even cannibalism. “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is the exception to the rule and brings its blood-curdling plot to the Overture Center of the Arts beginning Friday.

Based on a supposed urban legend, “Sweeney Todd” materialized into a Broadway production and was later made into a box office hit directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. Once audiences recovered from their initial shock of hearing Depp sing, the story of “Sweeney Todd” captivated even the musically indifferent.

“Sweeney Todd” tells the tragic story of a loving husband and father, Benjamin Barker, who was unjustly banished to 15 years in prison by a jealous judge lusting after Barker’s wife. Upon returning to the city that did him so much wrong, Barker, who now goes by Sweeney Todd, demands revenge. He begins by visiting his former neighbor, Mrs. Lovett, a meat pie baker, who immediately sees though the guise and offers him the story of what happened to his family.

As Lovett pictures a life with Todd, she too is drawn into Todd’s quest for revenge. As Todd reopens his barbershop above her meat pie shop, together they create an unconventional system of retribution that involves the input of Todd’s patrons and an output of meat pies. The musical culminates into a mixture of mystery, suspense and blood unlike any other show.

The Broadway version of this twisted tale can be accredited to director John Doyle and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Carrie Cimma, who portrays Mrs. Lovett, reflected more closely on the urban legend of Sweeney Todd.

“I did a lot of research and found that Todd was the precursor to Jack the Ripper. I found evidence of a man living and owning a barbershop in the 1790s who was rumored to be a serial killer. As time went on, the story was exaggerated, which is where my character comes in, making Todd’s victims into pies,” Cimma said in an interview.

While the Broadway production resembles the plotline of Burton’s “Sweeney Todd,” it differs in that the stage production takes full advantage of the audience’s imagination.

“As soon as a character is killed, a bucket full of blood is poured and the victim appears on stage with a bloody lab coat for the remainder of the show,” Cimma said.

The stage production also differs from the film in terms of perspective, as the Broadway show is told through the eyes of Toby, Lovett’s former young assistant. Toby recalls the horrors of his childhood in retrospect from an asylum.

As far as gore is considered, set director Adam John Hunter left out the throat slitting gore featured in the Hollywood production, a decision that builds even more suspense.

“There’s a lot left to the audience; your greatest fears are what is scariest to you and is often a lot scarier than anything that can be portrayed onstage,” Cimma said.

Throughout the show, minimalistic costumes and setting compliment the multitalented 10-person cast. These characters act, sing, play instruments onstage and also change the set. This “Jack-of-all-Trades” approach is incredibly difficult but it is equally rewarding.

“Writing this musical is like cracking open a character’s head. I’ve never done anything as completely integrated as the actors/musicians are in this show — we’ve memorized the entire score. It’s a lot of work,” Cimma said.

Cimma also said of the character of Mrs. Lovett in the Broadway musical, “The trick is to play the part and not think of my actions as crazy. It’s a lot creepier if you play Mrs. Lovett like a normal person. The idea is to have the audience think ‘I’d love to go out and get a beer with this lady and then, ‘Oh dear, what’s she done?'”

When asked what the most unusual/memorable occurrence that took place during the production of “Sweeney Todd,” Cimma recalled her personal liberation.

“They let me wear my own hair — my really short, peroxide blond hair without a wig — that was definitely a first,” she said.

In the Hollywood version of “Sweeney Todd,” Lovett lives in a fantasy world where she and Todd eventually live a married life in the country once her meat pie business picks up. Lovett is equally disillusioned in the Broadway version.

“Lovett ran a terrible business in the beginning of the show, and she then used the bodies from Todd’s Barber shop to make a ton of money for her and Sweeney to live together on. They were neighbors, and she is fixated on the person that he was before he went to prison: nice, charming and handsome,” Cimma said.

Mrs. Lovett portrays a soft side underlying her cannibalistic practices.

“You have to find the good in villains or the audience won’t want to watch you for 2 1/2 hours,” Cimma said.

For a “bloody” good musical unlike anything Broadway has seen before, be sure to see “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” where revenge is best served right out of the oven.

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be at the Overture Center from Friday, Jan. 23 to Sunday, Jan. 25. For ticket information, go to www.overturecenter.com.