Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Today's post is about live theater.

But not quite live.

I regret that Andrea and I do not get many chances to go see live performances as much as we would like. 

I think the last musical we saw live was Rent in 2022 and the last time music performance was the John Pizzarelli and Caatherine Russell show in 2023.  

So today's post about live theater is stretching things a bit.

It is a live performance of a Broadway born hit.  

That was recorded over 40 years ago.  

On on Saturday, October 28, 2023, Andrea and I watched TCM's presentation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a live performance filmed in Los Angeles in 1981.  

Some background:  

Sweeney Todd is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. 

It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. 

The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.

Sondheim's Sweeney Todd debuted on March 1, 1979 at the Uris Theatre in New York City. It would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical.  

A national tour started on October 24, 1980 in Washington, D.C. and ended in August 1981 in Los Angeles, CA. It's from the run in Los Angeles that the performance was filmed and first aired on television on September 12, 1982.  This television special was nominated for and won several Primetime Emmy Awards.  

Enough of all that.

What pray tell is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street?  

Sweeney Todd runs a barber shop in the space above a meat pie shop on Fleet Street owned and operated by the widow Mrs. Lovett. 

Sweeney slits the throats of his customers in the barber chair.

Mrs. Lovett grinds the bodies up for meat in her meat pies. 

Fun for the whole family, I must say! 

Sweeney's not just slicing throats for the fun of it. He's on a long quest for revenge against the unscrupulous Judge Turpin and his servant Beadle.  Sweeney was sent away to prison on false charges so Turpin could satisfy his lust for Sweeney's wife, Lucy. The judge raped Lucy who later took her own life. 

Sweeney and Lucy's infant daughter Johanna becomes Judge Turpin's ward and now that she has grown to womanhood, the judge demands complete control of her life and has some rather uncomfortable intentions for his young ward. 

Like mother, like daughter and just...  Ewwww!   

Hey, kids! Are we enjoying this so far? 

Before Sweeney Todd can get to Turpin and Beadle, a litany of other men fall victim to his blade to their throats and they all make their way into Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.  

Scrumdiddlydelicious! 

Andrea: I can't believe we're watching this! 

Me: Yeah, it's fun ain't it?

Andrea: What is wrong with you? 

Despite all the dark themes and, of course, the murdering and oh yeah also the cannibalism, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is almost fun. The malicious plotting and scheming and the murders are so frickin' over the top, it plays as a very dark comedy.  

But this is freakin' Stephen Sondheim we're dealing with here and as anyone who has seen Into the Woods can attest, whatever state you're in with Act 1, things will get much worse in Act 2.

Comedy will evolve into tragedy.   

People who are suppose to be dead will not be dead.

People who are miraculously alive after all will not stay that way.

People who are otherwise normal and well adjusted will be driven mad by the end. 

People who were already crazy in Act 1 will be crazier by Act 2. 

Revenge is a terrible folly and nothing good ever comes of it. 

The big deal for this particular production of  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the appearance of Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett who originated the role on Broadway. Yep, the dear lovely woman who gave voice to Mrs. Potts in the animated Beauty and the Beast  is the dastardly woman who grinds up human bodies into meat pies.  Lansbury steals the show in every scene she's in, a fount of positive energy as she bounces into her role in support of Sweeney's murders.  

The end of the play is virtually apocalyptic. Sweeney Todd's quest for revenge fulfilled with the deaths of his enemies but a final curse upon him as he has the blood of those he loved on his hands as well. 

Revenge is indeed a most terrible folly and nothing good comes of it for ol' Sweeney Todd.  

Andrea and I sat on our sofa for awhile, somewhat traumatized by what we just saw, a performance of live theater that reached across space and time to gob smack us in our living room. 

By the way, there is a movie version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.  I've actually seen parts of it. It might be awhile before I can bring myself to watch all of it. 

And that is that for this post about live theater. Maybe with some luck, Andrea and I will soon abscond from the Fortress of Ineptitude to see something actually live somewhere. 

Hopefully something fun and with fewer murders.