Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical)

About

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (often referred to as just Sweeney Todd) is a dark musical satire by Stephen Sondheim, first staged in 1979 with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury as the murderous Sweeney Todd and the maniacal Mrs. Lovett respectively. Sondheim takes the original story (in which Todd kills his customers and fleeces his customers' belongings for fun and financial gain) and further develops Todd as a character, reimagining him as a once kind man destroyed by an exploitative system. Sweeney Todd uses cannibalism as a metaphor for capitalism in a similar vein to Delicatessen and A Modest Proposal and has been widely praised as a dark and effective satirical comedy that raises macabre questions about the moral cost of consumerism.

Synopsis

The story opens with the wide-eyed young sailor Anthony Hope singing about how happy he is to be back in London. A disgruntled Benjamin Barker enters, scoffing at Anthony's optimism and telling him that life is unfair and someday he will learn how cruel reality is. Anthony, confused, asks him what he means. Barker explains that he was sent to prison on a false charge by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who wanted Barker's wife Lucy.

Anthony and Barker go their separate ways, and Barker heads to his old apartment, which is now owned by Mrs. Lovett; an absent-minded baker who has turned the first floor into a pie shop and restaurant. He introduces himself with the alias Sweeney Todd. Suspecting Todd is Benjamin Barker, Mrs. Lovett tells him that his wife Lucy was sexually assaulted by Judge Turpin, who had him sent to prison on a false charge, and that Turpin now has custody of his sixteen-year-old daughter Johanna. Barker (now Todd) asks what happened to Lucy, and Mrs. Lovett reveals that she committed suicide via poison.

Mrs. Lovett leads Todd upstairs and reveals that she's kept his set of straight razors for fifteen years. She hints at being romantically interested in Todd, but he either doesn't realize or ignores her, and instead is fixated on the razors, swearing that he will get revenge on Turpin.

Later, Todd and Lovett meet rival barber Adolfo Pirelli in a town square. Todd challenges him to a shaving competition, betting on his razors, which he shows Pirelli. Todd wins not only five pounds from Pirelli, but the admiration of Beadle Bamford, Turpin's corrupt henchman. The Beadle is impressed and promises he will recommend Todd's barbershop to Turpin.

Meanwhile, Anthony comes across Johanna. Turpin keeps her locked in her room, where he spies on her through a hole in her bedroom wall. Anthony sees her singing to caged birds in her bedroom window. He vows to rescue her, but before he can do anything, he is confronted by Turpin and the Beadle, who threaten him and tell him to stay away from Johanna.

In an often-cut scene (omitted from the movies and many productions), Turpin watches Johanna through the hole in the wall, alternating between blaming Johanna for 'tempting' him and whipping himself as repentance for lusting after a child. He eventually decides that, in order to "shield her from the evils of this world", he's going to marry her, which she violently opposes. Johanna and Antony decide to run away together.

Todd returns to the barbershop, only to be confronted by Pirelli and his young assistant Toby. Lovett keeps Toby downstairs and gives him a pie, while Pirelli goes upstairs to talk to Todd. Pirelli reveals that he knew Todd back in the day, and recognized his razors. He attempts to extort Todd, threatening to rat him out to Turpin if he doesn't pay him half of his salary. In a panic, Todd either strangles Pirelli (stage) or beats him to death with a tea kettle (film) and hides the body in a trunk just as Toby comes upstairs.

Todd plies Toby with gin to get him to go back downstairs, as Judge Turpin walks in. He shaves Turpin, and, right as he's about to kill him, Anthony interrupts, revealing that he has met Johanna and plans to run away with her. In a rage, Turpin storms out, vowing to never visit Todd's establishment again. Todd yells at Antony to leave, as Lovett comes in, asking what's wrong. Todd has the revelation that everyone deserves to die, even himself, because the world has and continues to operate off of other people's exploitation. He vows to kill all his customers as "practice" before he finally gets to Turpin, vowing revenge not just on Turpin, but the ruling class as a whole.

He and Lovett then discuss what to do with the body. Lovett suggests making the meat into pies, to sell to the unsuspecting public. They sing a song playfully remarking on what people of different occupations would taste like. Lovett re-opens her business to uproarious success, despite a homeless Beggar Woman occasionally wandering in and insisting that Lovett is a "witch" and "the Devil". Todd builds a barber chair that sends his victims through a trapdoor directly into the basement, to be butchered by Lovett. Todd continues reminiscing about his wife, at which point Lovett tells him to stop living in the past and suggests that the two of them could have a life together.

Later, Antony informs Todd that Turpin has sent Johanna away to an asylum until she agrees to marry him. They concoct a plan to rescue her, and Todd writes a letter to Turpin pretending that he has Johanna and that if Turpin visits his barbershop, he'll give her to him. Meanwhile, Toby catches onto the murder/cannibalism operation and Lovett locks him in the basement. Todd goes upstairs, only to find the Beggar Woman looking at his family photos. She looks at him, and starts to remark that she recognizes him. Before she can finish, Turpin stairs to climb the stairs. Todd kills the Beggar Woman in a panic and sends her down the trapdoor.

Turpin enters and asks where Johanna is. Todd tells him that she's downstairs, and that he'll give him a shave in the meantime. Turpin remarks on how beautiful and seductive the sixteen-year-old Johanna is, at which point Todd reveals his true identity and kills Turpin. He goes downstairs, where Mrs. Lovett is hurriedly trying to dispose of the Beggar Woman's body in the oven.

Todd goes to help her, and she tries to stop him, as he realizes that the Beggar Woman is Lucy. Lovett at first denies everything, then tries to manipulate him into believing that she lied about Lucy's death out of compassion for him, before finally revealing that she lied because she loved him. Sings that she would be "twice the wife" Lucy was, asking Todd "could that thing [Lucy] have cared for you like me?" Todd pretends to fall for it, dancing with her across the bakehouse floor amongst the bodies. Finally, he pushes her into the oven and closes the door, leaving her to burn to death.

He kneels beside Lucy's body and sings to her as Toby comes out of hiding and picks up Todd's straight razor that he left on the floor. Todd makes no attempt to resist as Toby slits his throat. He bleeds to death holding his wife as Toby (depending on the version) either sings a nursery rhyme while operating the meat grinder, or walks away into the darkness.

[1]History and adaptations

Sweeney Todd first originated as a character in a penny dreadful series (serially published short stories popular in the mid to late 1800s) titled The String of Pearls. This story was a simple short horror story with little similarities to the musical, other than the fact that it featured a serial killer named Sweeney Todd and a cannibalistic accomplice named Mrs. Lovett.

The story was adapted into first a silent melodrama crime film in 1928, directed by Walter West and later into a 1936 horror film directed by George King and starring the aptly-named Tod Slaughter as the titular character. In 1973, it was adapted into a play titled Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street or Sweeney Todd: A String of Pearls by Christopher Bond. This play is the first incarnation of the story that would later become the musical, following essentially the same premise. This was the first version to give Todd a motive other than money, and was the first version to introduce the characters of Toby, Lucy, and Johanna.

Musical satirist Tom Lehrer was the first person to suggest a musical adaptation of Bond's play, and began adapting it with orchestra conductor Joe Raposo, but abandoned the project after writing only a few songs. In 1979, Stephen Sondheim wrote and produced Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as a two act Broadway musical starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. The musical won multiple awards, including the Tony for Best Musical and was praised for its themes of

The musical was adapted into a film in 2007, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The film was well received by both audiences and critics, though it was criticized for being marketed as a serious historical crime drama rather than a black comedy musical slasher, and many audience members ended up walking out of premieres. The film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Costume Design. It won several other awards for costume and production design.

In 2012, Sweeney Todd was adapted into a rock opera titled TODD by Russian punk band Korol i Shut.

The United States has announced that a new drama television program is currently in production to give the story of Sweeney Todd a new life from a new point of view. The story will feature each of the existing characters but with the twist of the tale being told from Mrs. Lovett's point of view. Production managers have stated that they also would like to rearrange the story a little bit, claiming that what would happen if Mrs. Lovett began to disagree with the actions she and Sweeney were taking. A title has yet to be confirmed but the favored options are "The Pie Woman" and "A Little Priest".