Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd…
As the curtain goes up, we see gravediggers digging a grave while the
members of the company come onstage (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd:
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd). In the middle Sweeney Todd climbs
out of the grave. The story opens in London in the nineteenth century.
A boat comes into the harbor with two men on it. One is Anthony Hope,
a young sailor. The other is Sweeney who was rescued from the sea by
Anthony. Sweeney shows disgust towards London and expresses it to
Anthony (No Place Like London).
A crazy beggar woman asks for donations from Sweeney. He pushes her
away and tells Anthony a story about a woman whose husband, a barber,
was transported from England by a judge, Judge Turpin, and his beadle
(The Barber and His Wife). They bid farewell and Sweeney
continues down the street. He comes to Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop.
Mrs. Lovett invites him in and explains why she has The Worst Pies in London.
She tells him the same story he has just told with a few twists (Poor Thing).
The judge told the woman, who had a year old daughter with the barber,
he was sorry for sending her husband away. He invited her to a party
at his home and she accepted. When she went there, the judge raped
her. She went crazy and drank poison. Their daughter, Johanna, was adopted
by Judge Turpin. Sweeney cannot take the story anymore and Mrs. Lovett
recognizes him as the barber, Benjamin Barker. She gives him his old
razors and he gives them a pep talk to prepare them for the taste of
revenge they are about to experience (My Friends).
He moves into his old apartment above the shop where he had lived so
many years earlier. The company comes back for a number (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd:
Lift your razor high, Sweeney!…).
They go into town and see a travelling barber, Pirelli, selling a miracle elixir
to grow hair (Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir). Sweeney smells it and
reveals to the crowd that it is “piss with ink”. He then makes a bet
with Pirelli that he can shave a beard and pull a tooth better than
anyone (The Contest). Sweeney wins the first part easily.
Only one man needs a tooth pulled so Pirelli puts his assistant,
Tobias, into his chair and tries to pull a tooth. Naturally Sweeney
wins the bet. He also announces the opening of his barber shop above
the pie shop.
Across town Anthony sees Johanna for the first time standing on her
balcony (Green Finch and Linnet Bird). He doesn not know her
and asks the beggar woman who she is (Ah, Miss). He is so
captured by her beauty that he vows to win her heart (Johanna).
He rushes back to the shop to tell Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. They
agree that Anthony should bring Johanna to Fleet Street before they
marry.
Anthony leaves and Pirelli enters with Tobias. Pirelli used to work for
Benjamin Barker. He threatens to blackmail Sweeney. Sweeney tries to
strangle him and then slashes Pirelli’s throat (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney pondered and Sweeney planned…).
Sweeney is distressed because the judge hasn’t shown up yet. Mrs.
Lovett gives him the best advice of all (Wait). The company comes on again to sing (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd:
His hands were quick, his fingers strong…).
Judge Turpin has feelings for Johanna but tries to hold them back
(Johanna). He tells Johanna that she will marry him on Monday.
Anthony and Johanna are finally together when he finds out the dreadful
news. They decide to marry on that same night (Kiss Me).
Judge Turpin talks to the beadle. He suggests that Judge Turpin
should go to Sweeney’s shop for a shave (Ladies in Their Sensitivities).
Sweeney is bent on revenge and plans to kill the judge and the
beadle. The judge goes to Sweeney and just as Sweeney is about to
slash his throat, Anthony bursts in singing about his love
(Pretty Women).
The judge storms out and Sweeney orders Anthony out too. Sweeney
becomes even more morbid than he already is and tells Mrs. Lovett
that we all deserve to die (Epiphany). Mrs. Lovett and
Sweeney finally decide where to put Pirelli’s body (A Little Priest).
Another woman who bakes pies puts cat meat into them. A human body is
good for a lot more pies than a cat. Act I ends with Sweeney and Mrs.
Lovett raising their respective weapons (the razor and a rolling pin)
A few weeks later Mrs. Lovett has made quite a name for herself
(God, That’s Good). People are flocking to her shop to taste
the best pies in London. Tobias becomes Mrs. Lovett’s assistant after
the barber’s unfortunate demise. The beggar woman is seen around the
shop quite a bit trying to get free food. Sweeney continues to kill
innocents and buys a special barber chair. When he pulls a lever,
the body travels down a chute into the bakehouse.
Sweeney and Anthony dream about Johanna (Johanna). Mrs. Lovett
interrupts Sweeney’s thoughts by telling him her own dreams
(By the Sea).
Anthony discovers that Judge Turpin has had Johanna locked in an insane
asylum and runs to Sweeney. They decide to have Anthony pose as a
wigmaker (Wigmaker Sequence). He will go to bedlam to buy hair
the color of Johanna’s and instead rescue her
(The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Sweeney’d waited too long before…).
Sweeney writes a note to Judge Turpin telling him that the sailor is
planning to run away with Johanna (The Letter). He will hold
them at his shop and he advises the judge to come to the shop right
away.
Tobias tells Mrs. Lovett how much he cares about her and she assures
him that the feeling is mutual (Not While I’m Around).
The beadle arrives at the shop because there have been complaints
about a smell from the bakehouse. It is the smell of burning hair.
Others have complained after finding hairs in their pies.
Mrs. Lovett has locked Tobias in the bakehouse and tries to keep the
beadle busy until Sweeney gets home (Parlor Songs). And so the
Final Sequence begins.
Anthony has gotten Johanna out of the asylum and inadvertently every
crazy person in London. They roam the streets screaming and yelling.
Sweeney arrives home and kills the beadle. Tobias has found hairs and
fingernails in some of the pies and starts to panic. He goes insane
after the beadle’s body comes down the chute. He hides in a dark
part of the bakehouse just as Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney arrive to do
away with him. Anthony and Johanna get to the shop and do not
realize that Sweeney is downstairs hunting his prey. Anthony leaves
to get a ride out of London. The beggar woman who spoke to Anthony
and was seen around the shop enters the shop. Johanna locks herself
in a trunk as the beggar woman continues to babble in her lair of
insanity. Sweeney bursts in with his razor. Hearing Judge Turpin
approach, he kills the beggar woman and sends her down the chute.
Sweeney leads the judge into the chair and murders him. He quickly
sends the judge down the chute, perhaps too quickly. He is still
alive. He clings onto the bottom of Mrs. Lovett’s dress and dies.
Sweeney rushes downstairs, but forgets his razor. When he gets back
to the shop he sees Johanna dressed as a sailor but does not
recognize her. He is about to kill her when Mrs. Lovett screams.
Sweeney runs to the bakehouse and gets ready to throw the bodies into
the oven. Mrs. Lovett tries to keep him away from the beggar woman.
Sweeney reaches down and recognizes her as his wife, Lucy.
She had lived and Mrs. Lovett knew it. The poison had only made her
go crazy.
Sweeney forgives Mrs. Lovett and starts to dance with her. When they
get near to the oven, he pushes her in and slams the door. He goes
back to his wife’s body and weeps. Tobias comes out of hiding and
kills Sweeney in a rage.
Anthony and Johanna appear at the door of the bakehouse and see the
gruesome scene. Tobias goes to the meat grinder and starts to crank
it while mumbling, “Three times through for them to get nice and
juicy. Smoothly. Smoothly.”
The company comes back on stage to deliver the epilogue. The final
lines are supplied by Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett as they rise out of
the grave (The Ballad of Sweeney Todd: Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd…).