Sweeney Todd: The Most Talented Cast On Earth

So last night, I finally was able to see Sweeney Todd live, and it was certainly not what I was expecting. I have seen a few YouTube videos of Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury in the original Broadway production, and it was a "regular" show. It had various sets, one of which was a raised room that was the barber shop, which stood over the pie shop. And, like most musicals, the actors did not double as the orchestra. Wait, what?!

When my father and I got to the theater, we noticed that there was no orchestra in the Pit, and we were perplexed. I started reading the Playbill, and noticed that the actors were listed next to lists of instruments, I half-suggested that the actors would play their own instruments. But how would that work? But when the show started, we saw that the only 10 actors in the show each had instruments, and sang and played simultaneously (if the given instrument allowed for it).

Throughout the show, the 10 actors played their roles as well as an average of 3 instruments each (some played up to 4 or 5, while the actor playing Jonas Fogg only played the bass, and the actress playing Johanna only played the cello). And when they weren't acting or playing, they were moving the furniture on the set around to create new locations. There was one set, but the furniture would signify different areas.

In retrospect, I don't know why this set-up surprised me so much. I've seen pictures of the actors performing while playing (I have one in a previous post!), but for some reason, I never thought it would work. And yet, the production worked beautifully. From what I read, the show was reformatted for a West End production due to budgetary constraints. But the show works so beautifully that the tour chose keep the style.

Keeping every major character in the show on stage during every scene adds to the intimacy of the story. This is a musical that has no dancing and is based entirely on raw emotion. The actors stay in character even when they are not a part of the scene; the Beggar Woman always moves with a shaky gait while Tobias had a latent insanity behind his movements. At times, the use of instruments even infuses a little bit of humor into the extremely dark show. When Mrs. Lovett walks around with an enormous tuba to announce the new and improved pie shop, the visual is priceless.

Sadly, I did have a few complaints, but they were about the actors themselves, not the way the show was produced. Unfortunately, the actors playing Sweeney Todd and Anthony were not the strongest that I've seen/heard, and the songs, "Epiphany" and "Johanna (1 and 3)", which are usually some of my favorites, were mediocre at best.

I want to end with a few things that were not important, but I feel like mentioning anyway. I loved the way the show opened; the curtain came up and we see Toby gagged and bound in a straight jacket, looking absolutely horrified. And the other is that in this production, Pirelli is played by a woman. I never thought that I would think of that character as being very attractive (remember, Sacha Baron "Borat" Cohen played him in the film), but damn!

Up next: Foreign films...

Sweeney Todd: Attend The Tale

Many musicals have great stories, but are renowned for their dance numbers (it is also possible to have the latter but not the former). Sweeney Todd has a fantastic story and excellent music, but it is not based on grand dance numbers with the full company. Most of the songs are sung by one or two people, and in the film, director Tim Burton emphasizes the internal workings of the characters' minds by using close-up shots of the singers, as opposed to wide shots of an entire cast. I think that the only song that could be reasoned as using the full company would be "God That's Good", which features the patrons of Mrs. Lovett's pie shop demanding more pies through song.

The show is therefore 100% dependent on the singing strength of the main characters, and both the original Broadway cast, with Len Cariou as Todd and Angela Lansbury as Lovett, as well as the film, with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, have numerous strengths. The weakest of the four is by far Carter; her singing is fair, but it pales in comparison to Lansbury, who has a much better vocal range. Carter does well in "By The Sea", but everything else is fair. However, Depp and the supporting cast more than make up for this. Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Anthony in the film, is probably the only role that I definitely enjoy more in the film than in the play. The longing in his voice when he sings "Johanna", as well as the innocence seen in "No Place Like London" comes across so well. The play's Anthony (whenever I refer to the play, I am referring to the cast from the Original Broadway soundtrack) is great, but there is something about Bower that I enjoy more.

Aside from Lovett and Anthony, the rest of the cast is either equal across media or the two actors each have a different strength. For example, Depp brings a bit of a punk flair to the character in the singing, while his acting makes us truly believe that we are watching a man who has lost all remnants of humanity. Depp's eyes alone convey so much anger and frustration that if I were to meet Sweeney Todd on the street, I would run the other way. His annoyed delivery and expression in "By The Sea" makes Mrs. Lovett's obliviousness to the situation all the funnier as well. Cariou on the other hand has a much more booming voice. I never saw his performance, so I don't know what he looked like, but his voice alone is enough to strike terror into the hearts of Todd's victims. His cold laugh during "A Little Priest" is absolutely chilling, but he is also able to convey longing very well during his songs about Lucy and Johanna. As for Judge Turpin, I love Alan Rickman, and he did a great job as the villainous judge. His singing was not bad either, much better than I expected. However, the actor from the play is a trained singer, so he did sing a little better than Rickman. Both Tobeys also did really well, and they each bring something different to the table. I don't know if the story was slightly different in the play or if the producers didn't want a child in such a dark show, but Tobey is a teenager on stage and a pre-teen on film. Finally, Johanna has so few lines that it is almost too hard to distinguish between the two roles. However, in her few songs, both actresses do wonderful jobs.

The biggest difference between the play and the film is the length. Most of the songs in the film have been edited down; the film is about two hours long, and if the songs had retained their length, I think it would have reached beyond the 2.5 hour mark. Personally, I wouldn't have minded, but I'm sure that a lot of people can only take so much nihilistic gloom. No major plot is cut out except for Anthony and Johanna's courting. In both shows, it was minimal, since it was a sub-plot, and it revolved around the urgency of getting Johanna away from the controlling Turpin. However, if I remember correctly, it was almost non-existent in the film.

However, while most songs are edited, a few are eliminated all together. There are a few narration songs, which were originally going to be kept in the show. Christopher Lee and Anthony Stewart Head (who played Giles on Buffy!) were going to play two of the six narrators. I was excited for this, since Head is such a good singer (I don't know how well Lee can sing, but he's a good actor), but due to Depp's child getting sick, those songs were cut (I'm pretty sure that was the reason given). These songs don't add to the plot, but I wish that I could see Head singing again (I considered putting the Buffy episode "Once More With Feeling" in as well and making this a quintet, but decided that, since it's never been a live show, it doesn't fit in the group).

Up next: I'm not sure yet...

Sweeney Todd: A Dark Masterpiece

The odd thing about the final play, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is that I never saw it as a play (at least not yet; I plan to this Spring). Instead, I saw the film adaptation by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as the title character. I still find it incredible that the story of a deranged serial killer could be turned into a successful musical with songs that not only advance the plot, but are pretty awesome. These elements on their own can all work (for further proof that a serial killer can be a compelling protagonist, check out Showtime's Dexter, featuring Michael C. Hall), but for them to come together and work so perfectly is a testament to the creativity of Stephen Sondheim.

This post will be about the story and the themes, while I will compare/contrast the film and stage show in the next one (I have listened to both soundtracks, and find strengths in both of them). The show is about obsession; pretty much every lead is almost single-mindedly driven by one thing. Sweeney Todd wants revenge on Judge Turpin, Mrs. Lovett wants Sweeney Todd, Pirelli wants money, Tobey wants love, Judge Turpin and Anthony Hope want Johanna, and Johanna wants freedom. But I'll expand on these throughout the post.

The show begins with Sweeney Todd and Anthony Hope, a sailor, coming back to London after a sea voyage. Anthony saw Todd floating on a raft in the middle of the ocean and rescued him. Anthony, who appears to be a very optimistic youth, tries to strike up a friendship with the man, who is extremely introverted and angry. Eventually, Todd tells Anthony his story in an effort to explain why he is so pessimistic (though it is ambiguous whether Anthony realizes that he is hearing Todd's own history as opposed to anecdote Todd knows): Todd was once called Benjamin Barker and was a successful barber with a shop on Fleet Street. He was married to a beautiful woman and had a young daughter named Johanna. Like Anthony, Barker was an optimistic man who would never believe that human cruelty could be "as wondrous as Peru". A corrupt judge named Turpin arrested Barker for a crime he didn't commit and had him exiled to Australia so that the judge would be able to have Lucy, Barker's wife, for himself.

It's been fifteen years, and Barker has finally returned to London, under the name of Sweeney Todd, in order to take his revenge. He returns to his old shop, which is above a meat pie shop and pub run by a woman named Mrs. Lovett. Lovett has hit hard times, since she makes the "worst pies in London". Todd asks her about what happened to the man who lived upstairs, and she fills in the story for him. After Barker was arrested, Judge Turpin made his move on Lucy. He raped her at a costume party, and the other guests misunderstood what was happening, so they laughed at her. This left her so distraught that she poisoned herself. With both parents gone, Johanna became a ward of the state and was placed in Turpin's care. This news strengthens Todd's desire for revenge, and Mrs. Lovett, who harbors a not-so-secret crush on the barber, offers her assistance.

Right away, these two characters' respective obsessions guide all their actions. Todd is blinded by his desire for revenge and cannot focus on anything else. Judge Turpin's beadle (a man who is a kind of lackey) also played a part in Lucy's rape, and is also one of Todd's targets. When the Beadle promises to come to Todd's shop for a shave "before the week is out", Todd angrily vents his frustration to Mrs. Lovett when he does not appear within a day. Lovett calmly responds that the week isn't out, as it is only Tuesday. At the same time, Mrs. Lovett is so infatuated with Todd that she not only accepts the fact that he is planning on killing people, she tries to help him with the planning. She is also completely oblivious to the fact that her advances on the barber are either unseen or ignored. I commented to my friends after seeing this movie that Lovett is almost more insane than Todd; she is able to rationalize Todd's first kill before he can, and it is her idea on how to dispose of the body.

When Todd humiliates a street vendor and barber named Pirelli, the man later appears at Todd's shop and reveals that he knows that Todd is really Benjamin Barker. Unless Todd wants to go back to prison, Pirelli tells him that he is entitled to half his earnings. Instead, Todd kills him. Todd is at first distraught that he has taken a human life, but Lovett tells him he had to do it to stay safe and get his revenge. And when it comes time to decide on how to get rid of the body, Lovett comes up with an idea that will help the both of them; if they grind it up and put it into meat pies, it can't be traced, and the overhead money that goes towards meat will disappear, since they will get it for free.

Meanwhile, Anthony notices Johanna, now a teenager, in the window of Judge Turpin's house, and she notices him right back. Unfortunately for both of them, Turpin is almost a warden towards his ward, keeping her locked up and threatening any young boy who tries to get to her. In the film version (I'm not sure if this happens in the play), Turpin also spies on Johanna through a small hole in the wall. After the Judge invites Anthony in, only to threaten him and throw him out, Turpin decides that he will marry Johanna himself to "protect" her from the world. Meanwhile, Anthony decides to steal Johanna away for himself.

Unfortunately for Sweeney Todd, the two people obsessed with Johanna converge in his shop. He is set to exact his revenge upon Turpin, who has come in for a shave, when Anthony bursts in to tell his friend Sweeney the news of his plans. Turpin states that he is never to return, since he will not patronize a barber who keeps company with miscreants. In a fit of rage, Todd has an epiphany wherein he realizes that everyone in London deserves to die; many people are wicked, and they don't deserve life, but everyone else lets the wicked ones walk over them, and death will relieve them of their pain. Todd vows that he will still have his revenge on the Judge, but in the meantime, he will "practice on less honorable throats". It is at this point that Lovett gets her idea for her special meat pies, and the pair sing a hilariously demented song about what different people will taste like.

The new pies turn out to be a huge hit, and Todd can't kill fast enough to keep up with demand. The only thing that can mess up this almost-perfect arrangement is Tobey, a young boy who used to be Pirelli's assistant. Pirelli mistreated the boy, and he latched on to Mrs. Lovett because she was the nicest person he had ever met (he talked about how he came from a work house, where he had never before known kindness). Tobey enters into a one-way relationship with Lovett that almost mirrors the one that she has with Todd. Mrs. Lovett's romantic feelings for Sweeney Todd go unrequited, while Tobey sees Lovett as a motherly figure, but she merely uses him for work, and would gladly give him away if the trade secured the love of Sweeney Todd in return.

Unfortunately, nearly every character meets an unfortunate end because of their obsessions. Todd finally gets his revenge when he tricks the Judge into returning to his shop, promising that he knows how to keep Anthony away from Johanna for good. However, his revenge comes with a large price. Let's just say that his desensitization to killing that was required to kill Turpin screws him over in the end. Mrs. Lovett's love for Todd is also her downfall; it is connected to the price that Todd pays, but I won't go into it in detail because it is too good to spoil. Tobey is one of only three characters not to die, the other two being Anthony and Johanna, but his experience with Todd and Lovett drives him insane. Most other children would run away from this devious pair after seeing some of the things that Tobey sees, but his devotion to Mrs. Lovett keeps him around, and his sanity is lost.

The only two characters who have the semblance of a happy ending are Anthony and Johanna, but even they have a rocky path ahead of them. As they are escaping, Anthony promises that now, everything will be fine, and all their dreams will come true. Johanna responds that she never had dreams, only nightmares...

Up next: The meanings, the film, and the play...