David McVicar's production of Stephen Sondheim's shocker is sinister, spectacular and not at all suitable for vegetarians. The hot reek of real meat seeps under the curtain for the start of the second half, which opens with the chorus tucking into pies in which many of the characters from the first half feature as ingredients.

When Opera North first produced this work five years ago it left some of the audience gagging for more, and others simply gagging. Now it's back, mercifully fresh, and enabling one to appreciate that this is one of Sondheim's most ambitious, fully integrated scores.

Sondheim pumps a whole abattoir's worth of flavours through the mincing machine, from Kurt Weill-styled burlesque and Broadway show tunes to Victorian parlour songs and cockney anthems. Conductor James Holmes and the Opera North orchestra draw out far more subtleties from this deceptively complex score than the average pit-band can muster.

Steven Page accommodates the baritonal heights and resounding, bass depths of the title role with room to spare, leaving the rest of his energy to concentrate on a chilling, monomaniacal characterisation. Beverley Klein's combined comic and vocal ability make for a magisterial Mrs Lovett, the enterprising pie-woman who shows Sweeney how to get ahead in the cut-throat business of cutting throats.

Stuart Kale provides a superb parody of a squawking Italian tenor as the charlatan Pirelli, with Christopher Saunders in ringing voice as the mountebank's assistant. The sweet-toned Daniel Broad and Anna-Clare Monk keep the love interest genuinely interesting for once.

Exemplary ensemble work from the chorus ensures that you'll never eat pies in this town again.

· At Leeds Grand Theatre (0113-222 6222) until May 4, then touring.