SWEENEY TODDsailor who rescued Sweeney, attempts to run away with Johanna. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a ‘penny dreadful’ in 1840s London. From this it was

SWEENEY TODD B y S T E P H E N S O N D H E I M & H U G H W H E E L E R

G C E A S \ A L E V E L \ \ © W J E C C B A C L t d 2 0 1 6

SWEENEY TODD

STEPHEN SONDHEIM & HUGH WHEELER

G C E A S / A L E V E L



The original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened at the Uris Theatre, New York City in 1979, starring Len Cariou as Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett. The original West End production, featuring Denis Quilley as the titular character and Shelia Hancock as Mrs. Lovett, opened at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1980. Despite its initial commercial failure, it has since become one of Sondheim’s most performed works.

The musical is set in England in 1849. Sweeney Todd, a barber who has escaped from an Australian prison, returns to London to seek revenge on Judge Turpin. He finds an ally in Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a pie shop, who reveals that his wife killed herself and their child, Johanna, is now a ward of the Judge. His initial attempts to kill the Judge are thwarted when Antony, the sailor who rescued Sweeney, attempts to run away with Johanna. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a ‘penny dreadful’ in 1840s London. From this it was adapted for the stage, where it was very successful. Christopher Bond wrote his version of the play in the late 1960s, which was the version Sondheim saw at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. Sondheim and Wheeler’s version is a ‘musical thriller’. Its constant underscoring builds up suspense and keeps the audience in rapture. Sondheim describes the music as his tribute to Bernard Hermann and Hangover Square.

The original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and the 1980 London production won the Olivier Award for Musical.

INTRODUCTION



Richard Eder, writing in ‘The New York Times’ about the original production:

The musical and dramatic achievements of Stephen Sondheim’s black and bloody “Sweeney Todd” are so numerous and so clamorous that they trample andjameachotherinthatinvisiblebutfinitedoorwaythatconnectsastage and its audience... There is more artistic energy, creative personality and plain excitement in “Sweeney Todd,” which opened last night at the enormous Uris Theater and made it seem like a cottage, than in a dozen average| musicals.

Although some of the characters conform to the archetypes of Victorian melodrama, it is best not to play the characters with one-dimension. It would be helpful for students to plot out the overall journey the characters go on, identifying key emotions and moods for each scene and song.

SWEENEY TODD

Sweeney was once a successful barber but he was wrongly accused of a crime and has spent the previous 18 years in Australia as punishment. He is the central character of the play and it is a challenging one because the audience needs to feel sympathetic to his plight, even when he resorts to murder. In ‘No Place in London’ he sings to Antony: ‘You are young. Life has been kind to you. You will learn.’, showing his pessimistic outlook on the world. His songs are written for a baritone, and his physical appearance is typically masculine. This is not a man you would want to mess with. An actor needs to consider how this can be depicted physically, through both movement and gesture.

Sweeney is a victim of his circumstances and the society in which he lives. This is a man who has lost everything. His cynicism is apparent when he sings in ‘Epiphany’:

THE MAIN CHARACTERS



There’s a hole in the worldlike a great black pitandit’sfilledwithpeoplewhoarefilledwithshitand the vermin of the worldinhabit it – but not for long!’

His interactions with Mrs. Lovett also need to be considered. He uses her as a source of information, and she becomes entangled with his schemes. However he rejects her more romantic advances.

MRS. LOVETT

Owns – quite proudly – the worst pie shop in London, above which Sweeney used to have his barbershop. She is a chatterbox, which is established in her first song ‘The Worst Pies In London’, with its constant change in subjects and mood. In ‘Wait’ she attempts to calm Sweeney down:

Slow, love, slow.Time’s so fast.Now goes quickly –See, now it’s past!Soon will come.Soon will last.Wait.

Lovett is a bawdy, flighty, independent working class woman. She is clearly in love with Sweeney and goes out of her way to please him – including disposing of the murdered bodies into her pies. In ‘By The Sea’, her infatuation is clear:



Oh, Mr Todd (Kisses him)I’m so happy(Kisses him again)I could eat you up, I really could!

There is some scope for comedy here as Todd sits reflecting his next plan and is ignoring Lovett’s advances. She is an animated character and would have slightly more exaggerated facial expressions to reflect this. However, she is manipulative. She tricks Todd into believing his wife is dead and when this is revealed at the end of the play, she gets her comeuppance, when Todd pushes her into the bakery oven.

JUDGE TURPIN

The Judge is your typical Victorian villain. He was responsible for Sweeney being sent to Australia and since then has looked after Joanna. Now that she is a young woman it is clear that his intentions are not pure, as he peers through the keyhole into Johanna’s room:

‘Johanna, Johanna, So suddenly a woman, The Light behind your window,It penetrates your gown…’

During this song, he undresses, ‘whips himself into a frenzy’; a creepy, lecherous man. His sexual intentions are made explicit here.

He is also educated and speaks with a sophisticated lexis as apparent in the following exchange:

JUDGE: Veneal young men of the street with only one thought in their heads. But there are men of different and far high breed. I have one in mind for you.JOHANNA: You have?JUDGE: A gentle man, who would shield you from all earthly cares and guide your faltering steps to the sober warmth of womanhood – a husband – a protector –



and yet an ardent lover too. It is a man who through all years have surely earned your affection. (Drops to his knees.)

The actor’s voice should indicate his social standing and somewhat patronising manner. His stance should be strong, and movement should be direct and with purpose.

JOHANNA

Is revealed to be the daughter of Sweeney Todd and has been the ward of Judge Turpin since her father was sent to Australia. She is the ‘damsel in distress’ who catches the eye of Anthony when he first arrives in London. Johanna is stereotypically feminine and the actor’s pitch and tone should reflect this. She has naïve impressions of love.

ANTHONY

Is a young, honest, idealistic sailor who rescued Sweeney and brought him to London. He sees Johanna at her window and falls in love with him; not knowing that she is Sweeney’s daughter. Like Johanna, his notion of love is naïve and that of fairytales:

‘I was half convinced I’d waken,Satisfiedenoughtodreamyou.Happily, I was mistaken, Johanna!’

THE BEADLE

Is the Judge’s right-hand man, a stereotypical villain’s sidekick. He is sly and slimy, and an actor must use his voice accurately to portray this. The Beadle is taken in by compliments and could be considered a bit of a dandy. He is responsible for health regulations and shows up at Lovett’s pie shop to find the source of the unsavoury smell, which results in his death.



THE BEGGAR WOMAN

Is revealed to be Sweeney Todd’s wife, who is now living on the streets, who has to sell her body for money. She is a victim of circumstances; having once been drugged and raped at a party held by Judge Turpin (as Mrs. Lovett reveals in ‘Poor Thing’), this is a woman who has lost everything. She has the lowest status of the characters in the play. When Sweeney realises that she is his wife, he is devastated that he has slit her throat. An actor playing this part must show her mental anguish and desperation.

PIRELLI

He is an ‘Italian’ barber who has a popular following in London. We find out that his real name is actually Daniel O’Higgins and he was once Sweeney’s assistant. He recognises him in the market place and tells Sweeney that he will reveal Todd’s identity unless he pays him off. Todd, to avoid being caught, slits Pirelli’s throat. An actor needs to be able to show the contrast between the flamboyant Pirelli persona and O’Higgins’s working class background.

TOBIAS

He is Pirelli’s young assistant who is taken in by Mrs. Lovett to help in the pie shop after Pirelli is killed by Sweeney. Traditionally on stage this part has been played by a young male actor as a simpleton, although the film version cast a child in this part. Joanne Gordon, writing in ‘Art Isn’t Easy: The Theater of Stephen Sondheim’, says:

The melodramatic form provides an ideal structure within which Sondheim can explore the pervasiveness of individual violence and societal culpability in contemporary life. [p209]



LOVE

This musical explores love in its different permeations and it is this pursuit of love that drives the central narrative. Love is a complex concept and what ‘Sweeney Todd’ does so effectively is show characters experiencing different stages of, and having different attitudes to, love. Some examples of this are:

1) It’s Sweeney’s love for his family that brings him back to London. It is this obsession to put things right that drives the plot.

2) Mrs. Lovett is clearly infatuated with Sweeney, and has possibly harboured these feelings for a long time, having looked after his razors in his absence. She admits:

I’m your friend too, Mr. Todd. If only you knew, Mr. Todd –… Always had a fondness for you, I did.

3) Johanna experiences different types of love from Judge Turpin and Anthony. Anthony’s desires are innocuous; his is love at first sight. When the Judge approaches him Anthony explains that his desires are pure:

JUDGE: If I see your face again on this or any other neighbor street, you’ll rue the day you were born. Is that plain enough speaking for you?ANTHONY: But, sir, I swear to you there was nothing in my heart but the most respectful sentiments –

Having got rid of Anthony, it is clear The Judge’s desire is more carnal:

JUDGE: (Relenting, patting her cheek) Dear child. (Gazing at her lustfully)

THEMES



How sweet you look in that light muslin dress. (She runs into the house, the JUDGE after her). 4) Even the minor characters embody different aspects of love. The Beggar Woman embodies the severity of love lost who now has to result to prostituting herself. Tobias has never known love but desires it.

REVENGE

The musical shows that revenge is not justified. Sweeney was once a mild-mannered barber who has been driven to obsession and cynicism due to what has happened to his family. He returns to London obsessed with exacting revenge on the Judge. However, an audience might question the number of innocent victims he murders to meet his end game. Are these deaths ever justified? However, by the end of the play, even Todd has become a victim.

CLASS

The characters also embody the class structure that was so prevalent in Victorian society. In the opening scene, Sweeney describes to Antony how he perceives this hierarchy: At the top of the holeSit the privileged few,Making mock of the verminIn the lower zoo, Turningbeautyintofilthandgreed.

This is not a society where there is class mobility. Describing the working classes as ‘vermin’ – much like the prevalence of rodents in the Victorian sewers – indicates how they were perceived by the upper classes. Sweeney mistrust of those with power (the chorus sing: ‘He’d seen how civilized men behave.’) is justified based on his experiences with Judge Turpin.



Musicals are traditionally performed on proscenium arch stages, with the orchestra in the pit at the front of the stage. The original production, directed by Hal Prince, was at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin), that with a seating capacity of 1933 seats is the largest Broadway theatre.

Eugene Lee’s production design:

‘…set the work in a huge ironfoundry, complete with rusty beams, enormous cogs, pipes and rotting handrails… Even when the corrugated-iron back wall was raised, the only vista in this Dickensian world…was a seemingly endless vision of factories belching wastes along the Thames.’

This elaborate design, in conjunction with the through-line music underscore, means that the work has become a staple of opera houses around the world. However not all of these productions have been set in the Victorian era. For example, the Welsh National Opera’s 2015 production was set in the late 1970s. The Stage described its design:

‘It takes its cue from Mr Fogg’s madhouse where Johanna is sent to set the whole show in an asylum, with industrial crates providing location settings of the barber shop and the judge’s house within it, while Pirelli’s mobile barber shop is driven in on the back of a lorry. Any sense of Victoriana is entirely banished to be replaced with one of 1970s Britain.’

STAGING THE PLAY



In the 2011 Chichester Festival Theatre production the design was updated to the 1930s; here the economic crisis of the time reflected the desperation of the central characters. One critic commented:

Anthony Ward has conceived a stripped-down, two-tier design scheme that suggestsratherthanfleshesoutlocationsexpressly;it’sbeautifullyredolent of long shadows in a suspicious city that is over-fond of locking people away in asylums.

On a much smaller scale was the John Doyle 2004 production, which originated at the Watermill Theatre before transferring to the West End and Broadway. Here the barber’s chair was dispensed with all together, with all the action ‘Set in a bleak wooden box of a room that suggests an underfinancedpsychwardinlimbo’(BenBrantley, The New York Times).



The directorial decision here replaced the orchestra with nine actor-musicians. This production used Brechtian staging techniques to create an imposing sense of horror.

In staging the musical, the director needs to first decide on what type of stage would best suit their production ideas. Do they wish to set it on an expansive proscenium arch stage, with an orchestra pit, as in the original production, and use elaborate stage designs? Or, like the Watermill production, do they wish to present it a smaller proscenium arch stage, with different locations represented by the simple use of props? How could a production of ‘Sweeney Todd’ by effectively staged in-the-round?

Discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of different production styles would also be useful. Then there is the question of the period in which the production is set. If the students are setting their production in the Victorian era (as it was originally performed) and wish to have naturalistic staging and costumes, research would need to be done to ensure that what they write about in the examination is accurate for the time period. On the other hand, there is some scope for a production to be modernised but the decisions behind this must be justified i.e. by moving it to the 1970s, what aspects of the musical’s themes and ideas are you highlighting?

Lighting could be used very effectively to create atmosphere. Low-level, stark lighting and the use of shadows could be used to emphasis the squalid, suffocating environment of Victorian London. It could also be used to highlight key moments of the musical, such as when Sweeney commits murder, and a colour, such as red, could be a strong contrast to the rest of the lighting used.

Lighting could also be used to highlight the change in circumstance for Mrs. Lovett after the increased success of her pie shop. In the Chichester version, the use of a neon sign was very effective in showing her increased wealth. How could Mrs. Lovett’s costume also show this change? For the staging of this sequence, Sondheim’s original suggestion for this involved the cast:

‘…to be seated at little tables, as in a beer garden, with Mrs. Lovett skipping in and out between them, but Hal had the stunning notion of putting them all at one large communal table, infusing the scene with a Breughel-like frenzy of chomping and swilling.’



The musical opens with a prologue, in which the company introduces to the audience the character of Sweeney. The stage directions state that ‘two gravediggers appear…and begin to dig a grave’ which sets the tone for this gruesome tale. If this stage direction is to be ignored, what other staging ideas could be used to create a suitable atmosphere.

The role of the chorus here also needs to be considered. Who are these people? It is probably best to define each chorus with individual traits showing the expanse of Victorian society. The chorus also appear in the ‘Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir’ and ‘God, That’s Good!’ sequences and the score is written in such a way that unlike in most musicals, where a chorus predominantly sing the same lyrics together, the chorus parts are divided into individual lines and the singing is overlapping.

Sondheim, writing in his book ‘Finishing the Hat’, describes the ongoing popularity of the show:

…it has turned out to be one of the most popular shows in my canon of collaborations…which prove[s] that if you give an audience a good story, especially an extravagant one, they’ll accept it with pleasure, no matter how bizarre or idiosyncratic it may be.



Cover: Welsh National Opera version; Johan Persson / ArenaPAL

Book cover; Hal Leonard Corporation http://www.halleonard.com/

Original set; Unable to trace copyright, please contact us if you are the copyright holder

Welsh National Opera version; Johan Persson / ArenaPAL

John Doyle Set; Peter Coombs Photography, http://petercoombs.com/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of materials however if there are omissions or inaccuracies please inform us so that any necessary corrections can be made.

http://www.halleonard.com/

http://petercoombs.com/

Documents

SWEENEY TODDsailor who rescued Sweeney, attempts to run away with Johanna. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a ‘penny dreadful’ in 1840s London. From this it was