Tickets to Sweeney Todd in Arlington, VA, are selling as fast as Mrs. Lovett's meat pies. The six-week run of Norm Lewis starring in Sweeney Todd at the tiny Signature Theatre in Arlington has been extended by three weeks, to Nov. 7.

Lewis, of Broadway's Miss Saigon and Side Show, began playing the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sept. 7, in a run that opened Sept. 13. It was originally to close Oct. 17, and was previously extended to Oct. 31.

Signature artistic director Eric D. Schaeffer (of Broadway's aborning Putting It Together) staged the revival of the 1979 Stephen Sondheim musical, with Donna Migliaccio playing lovesick meat-pie cook Mrs. Lovett. Both director and actress are revisiting a work that earned them raves 10 years ago in the Signature's early days; Migliaccio won a Helen Hayes Award for her performance.

The 18-member cast and 18-piece orchestra in the 136-seat space will make this one of the most intimate productions of the bloodthirsty musical ever. Drawn from English lore, the musical recounts the murderous revenge a barber seeks from the venal judge who destroyed his life.

Lewis earned solid reviews as Jake in the Broadway cult hit, Side Show, and appeared in A New Brain and, most recently, as Bobby in a Nyack, NY, revival of Sondheim's Company.

The Sweeney troupe also includes Dana Krueger as the Beggar Woman, Jennifer Royall as Johanna, Chad Kimbell as Anthony, Jimmy Smagula as the Beadle, Lawrence Redmond as Judge Turpin, Michael Sharp as Toby, and an ensemble that includes Philip Bender, Jean Cantrell, Ilona Dulaski, Daniel Felton, Rodney D. Hussey, Liz Isbell, Buzz Mauro, Tracy Olivera, R. Scott Thompson and Tim Tourbin.

For information, call (703) 218-6500.

-- By Kenneth Jones