There's been a lot of great coverage of the upcoming film version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp, and great reviews of the current national tour of the recent Broadway production have been pouring in. Florida's TC Palm newspaper has taken a look at a more under-reported but still important reworking of the play: the very first "School Edition," which premieres this weekend.

Today's most e-mailed story from the nytimes.com Movies section is "Demon Barber, Meat Pies and All, Sings on Screen," which was featured in yesterday's New York Times. The article tracks the story behind the film version of Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp—the soundtrack is due out on Nonesuch December 18—from the first time director Tim Burton saw the Stephen Sondheim musical as a college student in 1980. "After stewing in his imagination on and off for some 25 years," writes Sylviane Gold, "that encounter has been channeled into Mr. Burton's new film version."

Entertainment Weekly's special "Holiday Movie Preview" issue hits newsstands this week, and peering ominously from its cover is Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. Inside the issue is a one-on-one interview with Depp and an in-depth feature looking behind the scenes of the long-awaited film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical that puts to rest any question of its star's singing abilities. You can hear for yourself when the soundtrack is released on Nonesuch December 18. For now, EW says: "Johnny Depp can actually sing."

The Los Angeles Times "Gold Derby" blog is already predicting that Sweeney Todd will win the Oscar for best picture. "Sondheim's musical score is a masterpiece," says the site. "Viewers can't help but get swept up in Sweeney's lush melodies and raging drama." The blog says of the Stephen Sondheim play on which it is based: "Arguably, it's the greatest in Broadway history."

The Associated Press has posted a preview of the upcoming holiday films, and Sweeney Todd and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (with a score by Jonny Greenwood) have made the list. About Sweeney, AP asks "the season's big musical question: Can Johnny Depp sing?" And director Tim Burton replies with a resounding "yes": "He's a very musical person, but when he said he would do it, nobody had any idea if he could sing. I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't have said yes to doing it if he couldn't."

MSN has announced its list of the upcoming holiday season's must-see movies, and both Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood are among the top ten. "Combine Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical of a revenge-seeking barber, Tim Burton's distinctive vision, the charisma of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen, and you're up for one hell of a bloody (literally) ride," says MSN of Sweeney. And Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood score is a powerful player in that film.

Boston Now joins the critical mass in praising this week's kick-off of the Sweeney Todd national tour at Boston's Colonial Theatre, saying "It works gloriously." Entertainment Editor John Black offers high praise indeed when he writes: "On a night when it seemed that the entire city was staying at home to watch the Red Sox in the World Series, a few lucky thousand were seated at the Colonial Theatre watching a thrilling tale of revenge, romance, murder, and meat pies." Citing the recent Tony-winning Broadway production, Black writes, "The play obviously has a pedigree. Thirty minutes into the show at the Colonial, you will know why."

The first national tour of John Doyle's Tony Award–winning Sweeney Todd reinvention kicked off at Boston's Colonial Theatre on Tuesday night, to rave reviews. The Boston Globe says the production "reveals Stephen Sondheim's dark brilliance in all its cold-blooded glory. It is marvelous and terrible to behold." Sweeney Todd will play in Boston through November 4, when it will travel to Toronto, then on to more than a dozen cities across the US

Time Out New York, in honor of its special ticket issue, asks readers to send in pictures of their most prized ticket stubs from those unforgettable moments in life—"from the first baseball game you attended with your dad to that magical performance by Patti LuPone in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd." A prize will go to the ticket with the most compelling backstory out there.

On November 14 in New York City, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will present An Evening with Tim Burton, featuring a conversation with the director and a sneak peek at clips from his film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The special event will also include clips from a number of films from throughout Burton's illustrious 35-year career, including some from his previous five collaborations with Depp. But the evening's highlight will surely be the "first look" at scenes from Sweeney, which doesn't hit theaters until December. 

The unbeatable pairing of Broadway heavy hitters Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin—both Tony winners for their roles in the original Broadway production of Evita—is back for one week at Philadelphia's Prince Music Theater, October 23–29, in An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. The show, choreographed by fellow Broadway legend Ann Reinking, will include songs by Stephen Sondheim and Richard Rodgers among many others.

The 2006 Grammy Award nominations are in, and four Nonesuch recordings have been given nods: Kenny Garrett's Beyond the Wall, the Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris collaboration All the Roadrunning, Ali Farka Touré's Savane, and the Broadway revival cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.