The people in Sweeney are fuelled by basic and simple human emotions: greed, lust, vengeance, and a desire to love and be loved in return. They inhabit a corrupt, unjust, and dangerous world, but this should tend to intensify their humanity rather than destroy it. To overemphasize the elements of the show encapsulated most clearly in the lines:
“The engine roared, the motor hissed,
And who could see how the road would twist . . .?”
is in some ways to deny the audience’s total involvement with the people and events in the story, and is ultimately too Brechtian an approach for me. If the people are dehumanized for any reason we cease to care about them. Paradoxically, when I have directed the show I have always shifted the emphasis of the first two scenes of Act II by having grotesquely frock-coated and crinolined figures in half-masks as Mrs. Lovett’s customers and Sweeney’s anonymous victims because I don’t want people involved with them. Visually, this ties up with the dumb-show rape of Sweeney’s wife in Act I, and I like the idea that the pie shop and barber shop have become a chic venue for the gentry to attend—the white folks slumming it in Harlem, so to speak. The masks also seem to fit well with Sweeney’s almost dreamlike state during the “Quartet” and maybe add another layer of meaning to the line:
“Those above will serve those down below . . .”
The other major shift that I have attempted in production is in the middle section of Act I. The first act is very long and it was found necessary in the original production to cut the Judge’s song; this seems unfortunate as it tends to reduce him to an all-purpose baddie, and I have found it more satisfactory to introduce Anthony into the market scene to get across swiftly such plot points as are important, follow the market scene with the Judge’s song, and then cut almost the entire scene in the barber’s shop up to Pirelli’s entrance, retaining just enough lines to reestablish the Beggar Woman’s presence in the street and Sweeney’s growing impatience that the Beadle has not yet come for a shave. It is also possible to keep Pirelli’s song in the market intact; it is long, but if the scene can be staged so that he sings as he shaves and pulls teeth, then it holds.
These and other minor alterations I made when I first directed the show at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1981. With a cast of ten and an orchestra of five. Which I think is the minimum it should be attempted with! I think it worked: It certainly did for the punter who, when Sweeney’s razor was poised over the disguised Johanna’s neck, leapt to his feet and yelled: “Don’t kill ’er, yer soft get; she’s yer daughter!” He subsequently became aware of where he was and sat down in confusion. But maybe melodrama isn’t completely dead and buried. I hope not. Now read on. Bon Appetit.
Chris Bond
Karlstad, Sweden
October 1990
(Upper left) Sarah Rice (Johanna) and Victor Garber (Anthony) and (from lower left) Joaquin Romaguera (Pirelli), Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd), Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Lovett), Jack Eric Williams (the Beadle) and Edmund Lyndeck (Judge Turpin) in the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Len Cariou
Angela Lansbury
(Lower left) Jim Walton (Anthony) and Gretchen Kingsley (Johanna) and (from upper left) Michael McCarty (the Beadle), Bill Nabel (Pirelli), Bob Gunton (Sweeney Todd), David Baron (Judge Turpin), Beth Fowler (Mrs. Lovett) and Eddie Korbich (Tobias) in the 1989 Circle-in-the-Square revival of Sweeney Todd
Bob Gunton
To Flora and Janet Roberts
Time: The 19the Century
Place: London: Fleet Street and environs
CAST OF CHARACTERS
ANTHONY HOPE
SWEENEY TODD
BEGGAR WOMAN
MRS. LOVETT
JUDGE TURPIN
THE BEADLE
JOHANNA
TOBIAS RAGG
PIRELLI
JONAS FOGG
TOWNSPEOPLE, LORDS, LADIES,
POLICEMEN, LUNATICS, ETC.
“Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
was originally produced on Broadway by
Richard Barr, Charles Woodward,
Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards
MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACT I
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” COMPANY
“No Place Like London” ANTHONY, TODD, BEGGAR WOMAN
“The Barber and His Wife” TODD
“The Worst Pies in London” MRS. LOVETT
“Poor Thing” MRS. LOVETT
“My Friends” TODD, MRS. LOVETT
“Green Finch and Linnet Bird” JOHANNA
“Ah, Miss” ANTHONY, BEGGAR WOMAN
“Johanna” ANTHONY
“Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” TOBIAS, TODD, MRS. LOVETT, COMPANY
“The Contest” PIRELLI
“Johanna” JUDGE TURPIN
“Wait” MRS. LOVETT
“Kiss Me” JOHANNA, ANTHONY
“Ladies in Their Sensitivities” THE BEADLE
“Kiss Me” JOHANNA, ANTHONY, THE BEADLE, JUDGE TURPIN
“Pretty Women” TODD, JUDGE TURPIN
“Epiphany” TODD
“A Little Priest” TODD, MRS. LOVETT
ACT II
“God, That’s Good!” TOBIAS, MRS. LOVETT, TODD, BEGGAR WOMAN, CUSTOMERS
“Johanna” ANTHONY, TODD, JOHANNA, BEGGAR WOMAN
“By the Sea” MRS. LOVETT
Wigmaker Sequence TODD, ANTHONY, QUINTET
“The Letter” TODD, QUINTET
“Not While I’m Around” TOBIAS, MRS. LOVETT
“Parlor Songs” THE BEADLE, MRS. LOVETT, TOBIAS
“City on Fire” LUNATICS, JOHANNA, ANTHONY
“Searching” MRS. LOVETT, TODD, BEGGAR WOMAN, ANTHONY, JOHANNA
Final Sequence MRS. LOVETT, TODD, BEGGAR WOMAN, JUDGE TURPIN
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” COMPANY
Prologue
As the audience enters, an organist takes his place at a huge eccentric organ to the side of the stage and begins to play funeral music. Before a front drop depicting in a honeycombed beehive the class system of mid-19th century England two gravediggers appear, carrying shovels, and begin to dig a grave downstage center. As they dig they disappear six feet into the earth, leaving piles of dirt on the upstage side.
At curtain time a police warden appears, looks at his watch, hurrying them. Two workmen enter. They pull down the drop. The deafeningly shrill sound of a factory whistle. Blackout.
The lights come up to reveal the company. A man steps forward and sings.
MAN:
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod,
Did Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
ANOTHER MAN:
He kept a shop in London town,
Of fancy clients and good renown.
And what if none of their souls were saved?
They went to their maker impeccably shaved
By Sweeney,
By Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
(A blinding light cuts down the stage as an upstage iron door opens. Two men enter. They carry a body in a bag, tied at both ends with rope. They are followed by a woman carrying a tin canister marked “Flour.” They walk to the edge of the grave and unceremoniously dump the body in it. The woman opens the canister and pours black ashes into the hole. This action covers the next verse of the song)
COMPANY:
Swing your razor wide, Sweeney!
Hold it to the skies!
Freely flows the blood of those
Who moralize!
(Various members of the company step forward and sing)
SOLOISTS:
His needs were few, his room was bare:
A lavabo and a fancy
chair,
A mug of suds and a leather strop,
An apron, a towel, a pail and a mop.
For neatness he deserves a nod,
Does Sweeney Todd,
COMPANY:
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
WOMEN:
Inconspicuous Sweeney was,
Quick and quiet and clean ‘e was.
Back of his smile, under his word,
Sweeney heard music that nobody heard.
Sweeney pondered and Sweeney planned,
Like a perfect machine ’e planned.
Sweeney was smooth, Sweeney was subtle,
Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle.
(The men join in singing, voices overlapping in a gradual crescendo)
Sweeney was smooth, Sweeney was subtle,
Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle.
Inconspicuous Sweeney was,
Quick and quiet and clean ‘e was,
Like a perfect machine ’e was,
Was Sweeney!
Sweeney!
Sweeney!
Sweeeeeneeeeey!
(TODD rises out of the grave and sings as the company repeats his words)
TODD and COMPANY:
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
He served a dark and a vengeful god.
TODD:
What happened then — well, that’s the play,
And he wouldn’t want us to give it away,
Not Sweeney,
TODD and COMPANY:
Not Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . . .
(The scene blacks out. The bells of a clock tower chime. Early morning light comes up . . .)
ACT I
A street by the London docks. A small boat appear from the back. In it are SWEENEY TODD, ANTHONY HOPE and the pilot. ANTHONY is a cheerful country-born young ship’s first mate with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. TODD is a heavy-set, saturnine man in his forties who might, say, be a blacksmith or a dockhand. There is about him an air of brooding, slightly nerve-chilling self-absorption.
ANTHONY (Sings):
I have sailed the world, beheld its wonders
From the Dardanelles
To the mountains of Peru,
But there’s no place like London!
I feel home again.
I could hear the city bells
Ring whatever I would do.
No, there’s no pi —
TODD (Sings grimly):
No, there’s no place like London.
ANTHONY (Surprised at the interruption): Mr. Todd, sir?
TODD (Sings):
You are young.
Life has been kind to you.
You will learn.
(They step out of the boat, music under)
It is here we go our several ways. Farewell, Anthony, I will not soon forget the good ship Bountiful nor the young man who saved my life.
ANTHONY: There’s no cause to thank me for that, sir. It would have been a poor Christian indeed who’d have spotted you pitching and tossing on that raft and not given the alarm.
TODD: There’s many a Christian would have done just that and not lost a wink’s sleep for it, either.
(A ragged BEGGAR WOMAN suddenly appears)
BEGGAR WOMAN (Approaching, holding out bowl to ANTHONY, sings):
Alms! ... Alms! ...
For a miserable woman
On a miserable chilly morning . . .
(ANTHONY drops a coin in her bowl)
Thank yer, sir, thank yer.
(Softly, suddenly leering in a mad way)
‘Ow would you like a little squiff, dear,
A little jig jig,
A little bounce around the bush?
Wouldn’t you like to push me crumpet?
It looks to me, dear,
Like you got plenty there to push.
(She grabs at him. As ANTHONY starts back in embarrassment, she turns instantly and pathetically to TODD, who tries to keep his back to her)
Alms! ... Alms! ...
For a pitiful woman
Wot’s got wanderin’ wits . . .
Hey, don’t I know you, mister?
(She peers intently at him)
TODD: Must you glare at me, woman? Off with you, off, I say!
BEGGAR WOMAN (Smiling vacantly):
Then ’ow would you like to fish me squiff, mister?
We’ll go jig jig,
A little —
TODD (Making a gesture as if to strike her): Off, I said. To the devil with you!
(She scuttles away, turns to give him a piercing look, then wanders off)
BEGGAR WOMAN (Singing as she goes):
Alms! ... Alms! ...
For a desperate woman . . .
(Music continues under)
ANTHONY (A little bewildered): Pardon me, sir, but there’s no need to fear the likes of her. She was only a half-crazed beggar woman. London’s full of them.
TODD (Half to himself, half to ANTHONY): I beg your indulgence, boy. My mind is far from easy, for in these once-familiar streets I feel the chill of ghostly shadows everywhere. Forgive me.
ANTHONY: There’s nothing to forgive.
TODD: Farewell, Anthony.
ANTHONY: Mr. Todd, before we part —
TODD (Suddenly fierce): What is it?
ANTHONY: I have honored my promise never to question you. Whatever brought you to that sorry shipwreck is your affair. And yet, during those many weeks of the voyage home, I have come to think of you as a friend and, if trouble lies ahead for you in London . . . if you need help — or money . . .
TODD (Almost shouting): No!
(ANTHONY starts, perplexed; TODD makes a placating gesture, sings quietly and intensely)
There’s a hole in the world
Like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world
Inhabit it
And its morals aren’t worth
What a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London.
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.
I too
Have sailed the world and seen its wonders,
For the cruelty of men
Is as wondrous as Peru,
But there’s no place like London!
(Pause, music under, then as if in a trance)
There was a barber and his wife,
And she was beautiful.
A foolish barber and his wife.
She was his reason and his life,
And she was beautiful.
And she was virtuous.
And he was —
(Shrugs)
Naive.
There was another man who saw
That she was beautiful,
A pious vulture of the law
Who with a gesture of his claw
Removed the barber from his plate.
Then there was nothing but to wait
And she would fall,
So soft,
So young,
So lost,
And oh, so beautiful!
(Pauses, music under)
ANTHONY: And the lady, sir — did she — succumb?
TODD:
Oh, that was many years ago . . .
I doubt if anyone would know.
(Speaks, music under)
Now, leave me, Anthony, I beg of you. There’s somewhere
I must go, something I must find out. Now. And alone.
ANTHONY: But surely we will meet again before I’m off to Plymouth!
TODD: If you want, you may well find me. Around Fleet Street, I wouldn’t wonder.
ANTHONY: Well, until then, Mr. Todd.
(ANTHONY starts off down the street. TODD stands a moment alone in thought, then starts down the street in the opposite direction)
TODD (Sing
s):
There’s a hole in the world
Like a great black pit
And it’s filled with people
Who are filled with shit
And the vermin of the world
Inhabit it . . .
(As TODD disappears, we see MRS. LOVETT’s pieshop. Above it is any empty apartment which is reached by an outside staircase. MRS. LOVETT, a vigorous, slatternly woman in her forties, is flicking flies off the trays of pies with a dirty rag as she sings or hums. TODD appears at the end of the street and moves slowly toward the pieshop, looking around as if remembering. Seeing the pieshop he pauses a moment at some distance, gazing at it and at MRS. LOVETT, who has now picked up a wicked-looking knife and starts chopping suet. After a beat, TODD moves toward the shop, hesitates and then enters. MRS. LOVETT does not notice him until his shadow passes across her. She looks up, knife in air, and screams, freezing him in his tracks)
MRS. LOVETT: A customer!
(TODD has started out in alarm. MRS. LOVETT sings)
Wait! What’s yer rush? What’s yer hurry?
(She sticks the knife into the counter)
You gave me such a —
(She wipes her hands on her apron)
Fright. I thought you was a ghost.
Half a minute, can’tcher?
Sit! Sit ye down!
(Forcing him into a chair)
Sit!
All I meant is that I
Haven’t seen a customer for weeks.
Did you come here for a pie, sir?
(TODD nods. She flicks a bit of dust off a pie with her rag)
Do forgive me if me head’s a little vague —
Ugh!
Four by Sondheim Page 25