Perhaps Today You Gave a Nod to Sweeney Todd

To seek revenge may lead to Hell
But everyone does it, and seldom as well
As Sweeney, as Sweeney Todd -
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!

Last month, feeling 100% in the Halloween spirit, I was looking for something seasonal to listen to. My go-to album for that time of year is Tales of Mystery and Imagination, but this year I felt like something more intense and listened to the original Broadway cast’s recording of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which I hadn’t listened to in years.

Sweeney Todd has a special place in Everything’s history. My discussion of the film adaptation was the first review I ever wrote and is nearly the oldest extant post on the site. Not too long after writing that, I was able to see a live performance of the musical in Dallas, which would’ve been the 2007 tour based on John Doyle’s 2005 Broadway production. It was a minimalist production, with a mere ten-person cast where the actors also played the music, but I loved it anyway, and the album by the original Broadway cast gave me some idea of what I’d missed from the original.

If you haven’t seen either the play or the film, the album does have something like 80% of the story, since much of the plot is carried forward through music. Ideed, composer Stephen Sondheim had originally planned to make it an operetta, but eventually decided this was impractical and so brought in writer Hugh Wheeler to help write the rest of the work. However, enough of the story is contained in the spoken dialogue that’s left out of the album that you do need to have seen the play or film to follow it. See a live stage version if you can, but if not, the film will suffice. It’s received some justified criticism, but its main weaknesses are in comparison to the source material, as is often the case with film adaptations.

It’s better to see a filmed live version; the theatrical acting style takes some getting used to, but after a few minutes you’ll likely settle in. The one I like best is from 1982, and stars George Hearn as Todd and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett (who, I should point out, originated the role and is the person most associated with the character). It’s available on DVD and I think streaming services, though if you want an authentic 2007 YouTube experience there’s also a playlist of the film cobbled together from various short videos of it by multiple uploaders. All but a few minutes are present, though, and a couple uploaders even consciously started their video where a previous one ended, so good job, team.

Another option is from 2001, starring Hearn again as Todd and Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett. This one is titled Sweeney Todd Live in Concert, and “concert” is accurate since there’s not much in the way of props or even costuming. That’s fine if you’re most interested in the music, but personally I’d have preferred to see a version with more spectacle.

There’s also a bootleg recording of the original 1979 Broadway version on YouTube, which is better quality than you might expect but it’s still a bootleg from 1979. If you want to see Len Cariou’s performance, this is your only option that I’m aware of. Mostly it makes me wonder about the logistics of that particular act of bootlegging - what sort of camera would you have to sneak in to a theatre in 1979? Who was buying these bootlegs, and how big was this market? Just how common were Broadway musical bootlegs in the late 70s in general?

Oh, I suppose I should warn sensitive souls that this story does include a lot of dark humour, throat-slashing, and cannibalism, so it’s not for the young or the squeamish.

Anyway, if you’re new to Sweeney Todd you may want to come back to this post since I’ll be discussing specific plot points and such, and I’d hate to spoil it for anyone. After all,

What happened then? Well, that’s the play
And Sweeney wouldn’t want us to give it away.

So, I said back in 2007 that this story is a bleak one, and that’s true. The entire premise is disturbing if one thinks about it seriously for even a moment, but there are two things keep it from becoming too oppressive. First is the humour, of which there’s enough that one could almost make a case that it’s a comedy. I’d still classify it as horror, or perhaps even tragedy depending on how noble you think Todd is, with the maximum amount of comic relief that these genres can accomodate - and no doubt, if you don’t mind dark humour, Sweeney is extremely funny. Everyone loves “A Little Priest,” and for good reason. The puns are very well done, and I always liked the back-and-forth between Todd and Mrs. Lovett, especially in their little rhyming contest:

Mrs. Lovett
Now, let’s see…
We’ve got tinker…
Todd
Something pinker.
Mrs. Lovett
Tailer?
Todd
Paler.
Mrs. Lovett
Butler?
Todd
Subtler.
Mrs. Lovett
Potter?
Todd
Hotter.
Mrs. Lovett
Locksmith?

At which point Todd is defeated. This scene is especially great in the 1982 version, as Todd and Mrs. Lovett look like they’re having a great time and laughing hard at each other’s jokes. I can see why Lansbury was so beloved in this role - she has these almost childish mannerisms, like the little dance she does a couple times here after lines she thinks are especially clever. It’s the funniest performance I’ve ever seen from an actress.

“The Worst Pies in London” is also great, and lets us know something about what Mrs. Lovett is willing to try to make some money as she tells Todd about the difficulties of running a pie shop these days:

And no wonder with the price of meat what it is,
When you get it.
Never thought I’d live to see the day men’d think it was a
Treat finding poor animals, wot are dying in the street.
Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop,
Does a business but I notice something weird -
Lately all her neighbours’ cats have disappeared.
Have to hand it to her -
Wot I calls
Enterprise,
Popping pussies into pies.
Wouldn’t do in my shop -
Just the thought of it’s enough to make you sick.
And I’m telling you the pussy cats is quick.

The scene with Pirelli, both “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” and “The Contest,” are favourites of mine; while shaving, I still sometimes think to myself,

To cut-a da hair,
To trim-a da beard,
To make-a da bristle
Clean like a whistle,
Dis is from early infancy
Da talent give to me
By God!
It take-a da skill,
It take-a da brains,
It take-a da will
To take-a da pains,
It take-a da pace,
It take-a da grace!

I also need to mention “Parlour Songs,” about which you can read a whole other post at this fellow’s blog.

The other counterpoint to the story’s bleak tone is Todd’s foil, Anthony Hope. Todd essentially tells him early on that he’s too young, too simple, sometimes naive, but his hope and optimism does get him the girl at the end (probably - as I said in the 2007 post, the story ends before we see his escape with Johanna), while Todd’s obsession with revenge leads him to kill the very person he was avenging.

As a side note, “Hope” has to be a deliberately symbolic choice of character name. We can look for symbolism in other names as well, if we really want to lean in on the literary analysis. See “love” in “Lovett,” the raggedy Tobias Ragg, barking mad Benjamin Barker, consistently referring to Beadle Bamford with his title which sounds like “beetle” (and yes, I realise beadle is a real office), and if we really want to go all-out, “Todd” is one letter removed from “Tod,” the German word for “death.” These are almost certainly overanalysis, but hey, it’s the kind of thing we Lit. majors live for.

Anyway, thematically the play has a few things going on. The most obvious theme is on obsession and revenge. Todd’s past wrongs would be tremendously difficult for anyone to move past, to say the least, and I don’t think that a truly happy ending would be plausible for him. There’s probably nothing to be done for Lucy, but we can imagine him settling into a new domestic life with Mrs. Lovett and Toby. If he hadn’t prioritised killing Judge Turpin, he could have had at least a brief reunion with his daughter; instead he almost kills her. Speaking of that scene, inviting Turpin over was extremely risky - a smart move if the goal is revenge, foolish if the goal is to help Anthony and Johanna. As mentioned earlier, this obsession ultimately leads to him killing Lucy himself.

I’ve seen others describe the second major theme as “anti-capitalist.” My only objection is that no two people in the world have the same definition of “capitalism,” but in a broad sense of prioritising making money over most or all other considerations, this is obviously true. I don’t think the cannibalism metaphor is very subtle, and “A Little Priest” is explicit in both its anti-capitalist satire and its broadly anti-hierarchical stance:

Todd
For what’s the sound of the world out there? […]
Those crunching noises pervading the air? […]
It’s man devouring man, my dear,
Todd and Mrs. Lovett
And who are we
To deny it in here?

Also:

Todd
We’ll take the customers that we can get.
Mrs. Lovett
High-born and low, my love.
Todd
We’ll not discriminate great from small.
No, we’ll serve anyone -
Meaning anyone -
Todd and Mrs. Lovett
And to anyone
At all!

Singing of London at the play’s beginning, Todd says:

At the top of the hole
Sit the privileged few,
Making mock of the vermin
In the lower zoo,
Turning beauty into filth and greed.

Ironically, though Todd and Mrs. Lovett sing that “Those above will serve those down below,” that isn’t at all what they do. Mrs. Lovett later tells Todd that they’re unlikely to get caught because thy target people who are unlikely to be missed, which would mean those at the bottom of the social hierarchy, not the top. Once we set aside the jokes and the sympathy we naturally have for Todd, we can see that these two are no less predatory than the hated Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford.

In the book Four by Sondheim, the introduction to Sweeney was written by Christopher Bond, who wrote the play that Sondheim based the musical on. He says that every major character is motivated primarily by the need for love. He doesn’t go into a lot of further detail, but I think that’s true but many are too inwardly-focused to find it.

Todd, of course, is too obsessed with his desire for revenge. The “Ballad of Sweeney Todd” points in this direction: In the Prologue, Todd and the chorus sing, “He served a dark and a vengeful god.” This line is nearly repeated in the Epilogue, “He served a dark and a hungry god.” Who is this god? Well, after killing Beadle Bamford, the chorus sings that the killing was “To satisfy the hungry god / Of Sweeney Todd.”

Mrs. Lovett seems sincere in her affection for Todd and Toby, but loses Todd by hiding the truth about Lucy and loses Toby when he discovers what her greed has led her to. Speaking of that greed, Angela Lansbury, in a 1981 interview she and George Hearn did for the TV show Elliot Norton Reviews, notes that she isn’t a character who’s merely “lost her marbles.” She’s quite canny, and is willing to whatever it takes - really, whatever it takes - to survive and raise herself out of borderline poverty.

Turpin is consumed by lust. Interestingly, the song “Mea Culpa” (cut from the original run on Broadway, unfortunately) tells us that he’s fully aware that his actions are wrong and has some desire to repent, but he gives in to his temptations anyway. Doing wrong even when he knows better makes him a worse villain than he would be otherwise, but also not so different from the rest of us sinners.

Toby, at least, is sincere. Unfortunately, he gets screwed over by the sins of others.

We don’t learn a lot about Beadle Bamford, but he’s clearly all about self-aggrandisement. There are a couple moments when he’s easily swayed by flattery. When Todd invites him up for a shave he doubtless expects that this is a run of the mill bribe - a free shave in exchange for taking it easy on him and Mrs. Lovett in his inspection of the bakehouse. As Mrs. Lovett sings in “A Little Priest,” “Beadle isn’t bad till you smell it / And notice how well it’s / Been greased.”

That leaves Anthony and Johanna, who also seem sincere but, unlike poor Toby, do appear to get their happy ending.

One slightly odd moment, only tangentially related to this theme, comes when Anthony rescues Johanna from Fogg’s asylum. Anthony points a gun at Fogg and demands Johanna be released, but Fogg decides to attack with a pair of scissors. I guess he could sense that Anthony wasn’t going to fire, and he doesn’t - he drops the gun, Johanna picks it up, and shoots Fogg. I guess the idea is that Johanna isn’t totally helpless, and in fact is apparently harder than Anthony, or at least more desperate. This would probably have been a better scene to drop than “Mea Culpa.”

Another thing that Bond says in his introduction is that, when he’s done productions of the musical, he has Todd’s victims wear masks so that the audience’s focus remains on Todd. This, however, is a mistake. The story is about Todd, yes, but the audience should remain aware of what he’s doing - Turpin victimised Todd, whose desire for revenge leads him to strike out blindly and wrong others, creating something of a domino effect of abuse. The various parts of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” also tell us that what he’s doing is, well, not good. The chorus tells Todd to take his razor and “sink it in the rosy skin / Of righteousness.”

We can certainly have some sympathy for our protagonist, but there’s no denying that he’s turned into a monster - and that’s what makes Todd such a compelling character. At the beginning he comes across as sad, bitter, and resentful. His bitterness and resentment is targeted, though; he seeks revenge, yes, but his emotions aren’t quite boiling over, not until his first attempt to kill Turpin is spoiled. At that point mere resentment explodes into rage in the song “Epiphany,” where he now wants to kill anyone and everyone. How does this song end, though?

But the work waits,
I’m alive at last
And I’m full of joy!

Joy? Then, not even a minute after this, he’s having the time of his life singing with Mrs. Lovett and making the world’s most morbid dad jokes. In the song “Johanna (Quartet),” he even sings of learning to say good-bye, like he’s ready to move on with his life (by contrast, Anthony hasn’t given up and is still seeking out Johanna).

He hasn’t moved on quite yet, though - he brings up the Judge again to Mrs. Lovett shortly after, and as soon as he sees another opportunity to get at him, he takes it. At this point he seems to have said good-bye to Johanna, but not to his bloodlust. Finally, he does get his revenge, at the cost of what he was avenging, and his life ends in despair. He even carries his resentment beyond the grave as the story ends with him exiting and turning around briefly with a glare - in the book, this glare is directed at the audience, but in the 1982 version seems directed at Mrs. Lovett.

The Epilogue’s lyrics tell us,

Todd
To seek revenge may lead to Hell,
Mrs. Lovett
But everyone does it and seldom as well
Todd and Mrs. Lovett
As Sweeney,
Company
As Sweeney Todd,
The demon barber of Fleet Street!

Well, Todd led himself to Hell, but did he carry out his revenge “well?” In the sense that he killed his enemies, sure, but in every other way it was disastrous. He turned himself into a demon, for worse than nothing.

Oh, but this isn’t even simply the story of a man who turns himself into a demon! I’ve become more sensitive to violent and disturbing content in media in the last few years, since my first child was born. When I first encountered Sweeney Todd back in college, much of my love for it came from the comedy and the great music. I recognised the bleak tone, sure, but it wasn’t the dominant impression I got from this story. Now, returning to Sweeney years later, both Todd’s wrongs and his murders hit me, and hit me hard enough that this has reversed - it’s now the horror that almost overshadows the comedy. Todd is a monster, yes, but I also feel that I understand him at a visceral level that was out of my grasp as a young bachelor.

Ultimately, here’s why Sweeney Todd is so powerful. It’s not just the music, great as it is, nor the comedy, funny as it is, nor the horror, as scary as it is when we’re not distracted from it. It’s not even the sympathy and catharsis we get from the Gary Plauchés of the world. It’s the complex mix of all these things, the awe, sympathy, and (perhaps grudging) respect we have for a man so driven to pursue justice for his past wrongs. It’s a horror story, but one so compelling that even when we’re aware of how misdirected Todd’s rage is we can’t help but say, along with the chorus,

Swing your razor wide, Sweeney!
Hold it to the skies!
Freely flows the blood of those
Who moralise!

Everyone has their enemies, perhaps immediate and personal, perhaps political and abstract, and many desire to hurt those who’ve hurt them. We can see ourselves in Sweeney Todd, and can see why we must never despair, nor give in to the desire for revenge, even when justified.

It’s an intense story, and I love it. There’s even more I could say, but I’ll leave it here and urge you to give your good friend Sweeney a visit, at the theatre or on film, paying attention to the details in the writing and performances. You may find there’s more going on than you’d realised, and -

Perhaps today you gave a nod
To Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!