Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton’s two-hour-long film version of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest musical is a devastatingly concise, horrifically bloody exercise in neo-Gothic naturalism from which all the stage-specific presentational elements of the original production have been trimmed away. The results are effective in the extreme, not least because of Johnny Depp’s cold, hard, unrelenting performance of the title role. No, the singing isn’t great, but it’s still the best film of a Broadway musical ever made, Cabaret included (TT).

The Complete Louis Armstrong and the Dukes of Dixieland (Essential Jazz Classics, three CDs). The greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century teamed up with a banjo-and-tuba Dixieland septet in 1959 to knock off an early-stereo LP of very standard New Orleans standards. It should have been an infallible recipe for ennui, but Armstrong caught fire, and the result was one of the liveliest and most exciting albums of his middle age, followed a year later by a similarly satisfying sequel. Both albums have now been reissued in their entirety on this three-CD set, augmented by twenty alternate takes. Take a taste of “Bourbon Street Parade” and see if it doesn’t make you feel like cooking up some of that good ol’ red beans and rice (TT).

The Seafarer (Booth, 222 W. 45). What’s the Broadway show to see if you’re only seeing one? I strongly recommend Conor McPherson’s uncommonly powerful fantasy about an unhappy Irishman (David Morse) who swears off the booze and finds himself standing face to face with the Divvil Himself. “The stuff of greatness,” say the posters. “Do not miss this play!” Yes, that’s what I wrote in The Wall Street Journal, except for the gratuitous exclamation point, and I meant every word (TT).

David Parkinson, The Rough Guide to Film Musicals (Rough Guides, $14.99 paper). A decently written, unexpectedly sensible primer that walks you through the long and winding road that leads from The Jazz Singer to Chicago. Some films are undervalued, others overrated, but for the most part Parkinson plays it down the center, steering clear of the twin ditches of academic theory and camp silliness. If Sweeney Todd has you wondering whether there’s more to the genre than Busby Berkeley, this is a good place to find out what it’s all about (TT).

New York City Ballet, The Nutcracker (New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, closes Dec. 30). A half-century after it first knocked out New York audiences, George Balanchine’s verison of Tchaikovsky’s perennial family favorite remains the best of all possible Nutcrackers, above all for its letter-perfect opening scene, in which the greatest choreographer of the twentieth century put on stage the home-for-the-holidays Christmas of everybody’s dreams. It’s a permanent masterpiece of Western art–but don’t tell that to your kids (TT).

Jonathan Carr, The Wagner Clan: The Saga of Germany’s Most Illustrious and Infamous Family (Atlantic Monthly, $27.50). Even if you’re not one of those who think Richard Wagner’s music is better read about than listened to, my guess is that you’ll find this crisply, engagingly written study of the Wagners and what they wrought to be full of interesting things you probably didn’t know. Carr tells the tale fairly, but with just enough acid to keep it tart (TT).

Rock ‘n’ Roll (Bernard B. Jacobs, 242 W. 45). With the end of the stagehands’ strike, Tom Stoppard’s latest play, a study of the last days of Communism in Czechoslovakia and England, has returned to Broadway. Yes, it’s way too long, but that doesn’t make Stoppard’s reflections on philosophical materialism and its emotional discontents any less stimulating or perennially relevant, and Sinead Cusack’s performance in the tricky double role of a mother and her daughter is the stuff Tonys are made of (TT).

Greta Gertler and the Extroverts, Edible Restaurant. Fresh, quirky indie pop by a singer-pianist with the bicontinental sensibility of an Aussie in New York, accompanied by a deliciously rough-hewn backup band whose deep-throated tuba and Salvation Army-style drums add a touch of Kurt Weill to the recipe. Check out “If Bob Was God” for a taste of Gertler’s smart songwriting (TT).