Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Plot synopsis:
=== Prologue ===
The citizens of London, acting as a Greek chorus to raise commentary throughout the play, drop a body bag into a shallow grave. Sweeney Todd rises forth ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd"), and introduces the play, set some months before the burial.
=== Act I ===
In 1846, young sailor Anthony Hope and Sweeney Todd, whom Anthony has recently rescued at sea and befriended, dock in London, where a half-crazed Beggar Woman sexually solicits them, appearing to briefly recognize Todd ("No Place Like London"). Todd tells Anthony of his troubled past as a naïve barber, when a crooked judge banished him in order to pursue his wife ("The Barber and His Wife"). Leaving Anthony, Todd enters a meat pie shop on Fleet Street, where the owner, Mrs. Lovett, laments about the scarcity of meat ("Worst Pies in London"). When Todd asks about her empty upstairs apartment, she reveals that its former tenant, Benjamin Barker, was transported out of England on false charges by Judge Turpin, who, along with his servant, Beadle Bamford, then lured Barker's wife Lucy to the Judge's home and raped her ("Poor Thing"). Todd's reaction reveals that he is himself Benjamin Barker. Promising to keep his secret, Lovett explains that Lucy poisoned herself and that their then-infant daughter, Johanna, became a ward of the Judge. Todd swears revenge on the Judge and Beadle, and Mrs. Lovett presents Todd with his old collection of sterling silver straight razors, which persuades Todd to take up his old profession ("My Friends" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd – Reprise"). Elsewhere, Anthony notices an exquisite blonde girl singing out her window ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"), and the Beggar Woman tells him that her name is Johanna. Unaware that Johanna is his friend Todd's daughter, Anthony is immediately enamored ("Ah, Miss") and he pledges to return for her, even when the Judge and Beadle chase him away ("Johanna").
In the crowded London marketplace, faux-Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli and his simple-minded assistant, Tobias Ragg, pitch a dramatic cure-all for hair loss ("Pirelli's Miracle Elixir"). Todd and Lovett soon arrive; Todd exposes the elixir as a sham, challenges Pirelli to a shaving competition, and easily wins ("The Contest"), inviting the impressed, onlooking Beadle to a free shave ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd – Reprise 2"). Several days later, Judge Turpin flagellates himself in a frenzy over a growing lust for Johanna, but instead resolves to marry her himself. ("Johanna – Mea Culpa"). Todd impatiently continues to wait for the Beadle's arrival, but Mrs. Lovett attempts to calm him ("Wait"). When Anthony tells Todd of his plan to ask Johanna to elope with him, Todd, eager to reunite with his daughter, agrees to let them use his barbershop as a safehouse. As Anthony leaves, Pirelli and Tobias enter, and Mrs. Lovett takes Toby downstairs for a pie. Alone with Todd, Pirelli reveals that he is actually an Irishman named Daniel O'Higgins, an assistant to Todd fifteen years ago, who knows Todd's true identity. When O'Higgins attempts to blackmail his former employer, however, Todd injures and hides him, later slitting his throat ("Pirelli's Death" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd – Reprise 3"). Meanwhile, Johanna and Anthony plan their elopement ("Kiss Me"), while the Beadle recommends Todd's services to the Judge, so that he can better win Johanna's affections ("Ladies in Their Sensitivities").
At first panicked upon learning of Pirelli's murder, Mrs. Lovett seizes his leftover coin purse and then discusses with Todd plans to dispose of the body. Suddenly, the Judge enters; Todd quickly seats him and lulls him into a relaxed conversation ("Pretty Women"). Before Todd can kill the Judge, however, Anthony re-enters to explain the specifics of his and Johanna's plans, accidentally informing the Judge, who storms out and vows never to return. Todd drives Anthony away in a furious fit of madness, determining that he will kill all future customers, since all people deserve to die: the rich to be punished for their corruption, and the poor to be relieved of their misery ("Epiphany"). Mrs. Lovett slyly suggests that they use the flesh of Todd's victims in her meat pies, and Todd joyously agrees ("A Little Priest").
=== Act II ===
Several weeks later, Mrs. Lovett's pie shop has become a thriving business, and Toby is now working there as a waiter ("God, That's Good!"). Todd and Mrs. Lovett acquire a specially-designed mechanical barber's chair that allows Todd to kill his clients and then send their bodies directly through a chute into the pie shop's basement bakehouse. Mundanely slitting his customers' necks, Todd despairs about ever seeing Johanna again, while Anthony discovers that Johanna is missing ("Johanna–Quartet"), having been locked away in an insane asylum by the Judge. After a day of hard work, Mrs. Lovett envisions a seaside retirement ("By the Sea"), but Todd remains fixed on his revenge. Anthony arrives to beg Todd for help to free Johanna, and Todd, revitalized, devises a plan to rescue her by having Anthony pose as a wigmaker intent on purchasing inmates' hair ("Wigmaker Sequence" and "The Ballad... – Reprise 4"). Todd later sends a secret letter to notify the Judge of Anthony's plot, hoping to lure the Judge back to his shop ("The Letter").
In the pie shop, Toby expresses suspicions against Todd and his own desire to protect Mrs. Lovett ("Not While I'm Around"). When he recognizes Pirelli's coin purse in Mrs. Lovett's possession, she distracts him by showing him the bakehouse, instructing him how to work the meat grinder and the oven, before locking him down there. Upstairs, she encounters the Beadle at her harmonium, requested by neighbors to investigate the strange smoke emitted by the pie shop's chimney. Mrs. Lovett stalls the Beadle until Todd returns to offer the Beadle his promised "free shave"; Mrs. Lovett loudly plays her harmonium to cover the Beadle's screams above, as Todd is killing him ("Parlor Songs"). In the basement, Toby discovers human remains in a pie, just as the Beadle's fresh corpse comes tumbling through the chute. Mrs. Lovett then informs Todd that Toby has discovered their secret, and they plan to kill him.
Anthony arrives at the asylum to rescue Johanna, but cannot bring himself to shoot Jonas Fogg, the deranged asylum owner who tries to stop them; Johanna does so herself, grabbing the pistol. Now, the asylum's inmates pour out into the streets, ecstatically proclaiming the end of the world, while Todd and Mrs. Lovett hunt for Toby, and the Beggar Woman fears what has become of the Beadle ("City on Fire/Searching"). Anthony and a disguised Johanna arrive to find Todd's shop empty. Anthony leaves to seek a coach after he and Johanna reaffirm their love ("Ah Miss – Reprise"). Left alone, Johanna hears the Beggar Woman enter and so she hides. The Beggar Woman seems to recognize the room, but, before she can make sense of it, the frantic Todd appears to greet the approaching Beggar Woman and lethally cuts her, sending her down the chute just a moment before the Judge bursts in ("Beggar Woman's Lullaby"). Todd assures the Judge that Johanna is repentant and the Judge asks for a quick splash of cologne. Once he has the Judge in his chair, Todd soothes but then suddenly mocks him. The Judge recognizes him as "Benjamin Barker!" just before Todd slashes his throat and sends him hurtling down the chute ("The Judge's Return"). The disguised Johanna finally stands, horrified, from her hiding place, surprising Todd. Todd next decides to kill her too, before Mrs. Lovett shrieks from the bakehouse below, providing a distraction for Johanna to escape. Downstairs, Mrs. Lovett is struggling with the dying Judge, who claws at her. She then attempts to drag the Beggar Woman's body into the oven, but Todd arrives and sees the lifeless face clearly for the first time: the Beggar Woman is his wife Lucy. Todd is in shock as Lovett confesses that she did not tell him the full story of Lucy because she loves him herself. Todd then feigns forgiveness, dancing manically with Lovett until pushing her into the raging fires of the oven. Full of despair, Todd embraces the dead Lucy. Toby, with his hair now white from shock and babbling nursery rhymes to himself, picks up Todd's fallen razor, and cuts Todd's throat. As Anthony, Johanna, and some constables break into the bakehouse, Todd falls dead and Toby drops the razor, heedless of the others, while absentmindedly turning the meat grinder ("Final Scene").
=== Epilogue ===
The citizens, soon joined by the ghosts of Todd, Mrs. Lovett, and the others, recite "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." The company exits, with Todd and Mrs. Lovett being the last, with Todd exiting with an abrupt slam of a door.

Tags: comedy, dark, gothic, murder, cult, violence, flashback, satire, melodrama, tragedy, romantic

Review:
All were blended together in the setting he is so very well-known for, the dark streets of London.In addition, I thought the fact that he maintained the musical aspect of the film/play worked in the movie's favor.
I liked the adaptation of the off-off Broadway Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but have been left underwhelmed by all the recent big budget film musicals, so I'm glad to say that Sweeney Todd, wipes the floor with every major screen musical of the last decade, including the likable if over extended Hairspary.
This must be the most blood drenched film since Shogun Assassin, with arteries spurting blood like like fountains as throats are cut, with the violence escalating towards the end leading towards a climax that is exhilarating, heartbreaking and satisfyingly bleak.Unlike the dreary dirges Danny Elfman supplied for Burton's stop frame musicals, Sondheim's score is a joy to listen to from beginning to end, its dark romanticism sometimes reminding me of Bernhard Herrmann, perfectly fitting what is both a musical and a horror film in equal measures.Depp and Bonham Carter are both excellent and it's down to their performances that I never quite lost sympathy with them in their descent into madness, blood lust and cannibalism.Musical haters may not be converted as 75% percent of the dialogue is sung, but this completely dispatches any notion of cloying sentimentally the genre is often associated with..
Good dark fun.I knew nothing of this movie except Tim Burton and Johnny Depp had something to do with it, and that, as the executive director put it, there was "lots of blood".
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the year's most talked about films, it's getting big Oscar buzz and of course, what could be better than Tim Burton taking on this dark musical?
Tim Burton hasn't exactly released a classic lately that would be remembered for all time, but Sweeny Todd is sure to make it's way into one of the most memorable films of 2007.
Along with an equally strong cast as Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen who were also incredible, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a new memorable musical for years to come.Sweeney Todd has come to London on a mission, a mission for revenge!
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of the best films of the year, I guarantee it, this was a terrific musical that was a bloody good time!
I am also sure that no one in film is better able to play the titular butcher than the shape-shifting, ever-naughty Johnny Depp.The opening song "No Place Like London" hints to Anglophiles like me that it won't be my usual tour of West End theaters, rather a seedy, dangerous place where Mac the Knife would be more at home.
Throughout the musical, Steven Sondheim's lyrics expressively revel in the amoral, throat-slicing world that Sweeney and his adoring meatpie lady, Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter), wallow in as he prepares to take revenge on the equally amoral Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who dispatched Todd to prison early on to get his beautiful young wife.
2007 has passed with 2 tracer bullet psycho-crime movies; Mr.Brooks and Sweeney Todd, with similar endings: Miss Jane Brooks(Danielle Panabaker) hunted his father(Kevin Costner) and Little Toby(Ed Sanders) overcame his master(Johnny Depp).
Anyway, Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a musical film-noir from Tim Burton with his original style of bearish and abominable bugs'n beetles movie..
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are all great (and they can sing too!) The songs will probably be stuck in your head for weeks (most notably "My Friends", "Pretty Women" and "No Place Like London").
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet StreetMusical genre has always been the heart of a theatre play or act and not so much in a film except some exceptions probably because not everyone gets it right but this time it has arrived, the long last wait of the musical film that we all deserved.
Sweeney Todd is the darkest project ever by Tim; that is saying a lot considering his history, and the best one too for the first time the movie gives enough work to the audience to mesmerize them.
Johnny Depp as always gives his heart to Tim and this time he deserved this movie where every side of him is visible as clear as a crystal; he is a revelation in it with a great supporting cast like Alan Rickman.
This movie is awful.I went to see this movie because I liked past performances of Depp and I like the way Burton works, but this was a waste of time and money.To begin with, with few exceptions the actors can't sing.
This is my first complaint about the movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd  The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Tim Burton.
Helena Bonham Carter, Who played Mrs. Lovette was no Angela Lansberry, by any means; and furthermore, to add to the insult of the tragedy that is this movie, they took out half of the funniest puns in "Have a Little Priest"!Sweeney Todd is a Dark COMEDY; however in this adaptation, they took out most of the comedy.
The bottom line is that the stage style was just too annoying and headache-evoking.While I am talking about the songs, I must point out that despite originally feeling very skeptical about casting Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the leads (after all, they're NOT known for their singing ability), they and the rest of the cast did quite well.
Helena Bonham Carter does a fine job, but she doesn't bring anything to the film that scores of other actresses couldn't have pulled off.While the ending has a nice punch because of the twists that unfold (I'll spare you the spoilers), we can't hold anyone here responsible for that, since the story is not Burton's creation.
(If you care, the others are Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Cabaret, and Street Scene...only one of which has a good movie made from it.) The almost operatic intensity of the music and story is compelling, and after having been in the pit for Sweeney Todd...well, I don't really know how many times I've done it, but it exceeds 100...I still like it a lot.
With Sweeney Todd, one of the most notorious (and acclaimed) stories to come out of 19th century London England, and later as a much more acclaimed musical from Stephen Soundheim, Tim Burton crafts a masterpiece of the macabre, a work full of harsh, visceral drama, a sinister look to the picture which only once or twice takes an escape to brighter (more elusive) pastures, and even pitch-black humor, the kind that isn't fit for the gallows but a slice of a razor to a horrible demise at the meat-grinder.
It's also a sad film, a deep sorrow that pulses in nearly every frame that Johnny Depp occupies as Benjamin Barker-turned-Sweeney Todd which pervades the wretched vengeance that he seeks following his inexcusable detachment from his wife and daughter via Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman).
Burton here, more than ever I might wager, deals with punishment and evil, as well as what it means to be an anti-hero (if one could call a "Demon Barber" as such), and as well what a real cold-blooded villain is.The latter might be considered, more-so than Mr. T, in the form of Mrs. Lovett, who runs the place below where Mr. Barker used to run his barbershop, featuring the "Worst Meat-Pies in London." Following a savage, quick death of a character, she comes up with the idea to hide the body, and thus also continue a lucrative profit- take the bodies that Todd slices open whilst getting their shave, and grinding them into meat pies for a whole new cult of a crowd, who end up flocking to for such bloody-good (some pun intended) culinary delights.
I tapped my fingers whilst blood flowed and dark looks gleamed through the dark color palette.Now, taking into account Burton's knack at surprise (and precise) casting choices- Depp exceeds greatly in his first musical role, giving moments of subtly in just the deadened expression on his eyes while his two-dimensional frame consumes him; Carter has the best role to fill in the main lot of characters, as someone seemingly pleasant in her dirty Dickens way but also far more evil than she'll let on; Rickman, for ever little word he utters, is savage in having whatever he can by hook or by crook- it should be noted how superlative Burton matches technique with the source material.
Tim Burton uses his favorite actor and friend Johnny Depp together with his wife Helen Bonham Carter in a stylish musical, disclosing a series of murders committed by a deranged man blinded by the need of revenge after being separated from his family by an evil judge.
Helena Bonham Carter adds a well-needed female touch and humour to the role, Alan Rickman is perfect menacing as the judge, Timothy Spall does his mincing incredibly well as the BEadle and Sacha baron Cohen shows that he really can act as the wonderfully extravagant Pirelli!Tim's directing is also as perfect as everything else in the film.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Tim Burton's adaptation of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical, a dark comedy with an ending bordering on Greek Tragedy.
Tim Burton rounded up the usual suspects (Christopher Lee is absent though) and Johnny Depp is the lead as Sweeney Todd, a simple barber who once had a loving wife and daughter but they were stolen by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, wonderful as always) and Sweeney was shipped away.
Thankfully all my worries were dissolved from the beginning as Burton crafts possibly his most satisfying film to date, certainly since his earlier work, thanks to a great number of inspiring features.The plot sees barber Sweeney Todd return to London after being exiled for a crime he did not commit with intentions of gaining revenge on the Judge who wronged him.
Johnny Depp hasn't the best voice but for the pure emotion he puts into the songs it is impossible to fault him, while the distinct voices of Rickman and Bonham Carter fit really well.The acting is also superb, especially when you consider all the things the actors have to do.
Although this is a Stephen Sondheim musical, the film adaptation is truly a Tim Burton work of art.
I've seen the overwhelming number of glowing reviews of this film, and what they tell me is that people who are fans of musicals, Johnny Depp or Tim Burton will gush about ANY of their efforts that actually make it to the big screen.
If you haven't seen this film and are expecting something bizarre from the collaboration director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp.....well, you're going to get it!
Alright, I went to see the movie adaptation of 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' and thought it was amazing, but being a fan of the original Broadway stage versions I do have some complaints.
I have been a fan of Tim Burton's for years and have just recently grown to admire Johnny Depp to the point of calling myself a fan of his too (not that I did not respect him before I just never paid him a lot of attention outside of Tim's work, and seeing the trailer for this film inspired me to explore his body of work a little deeper.), and for me to claim that this is their best outing ever is hard since I am such an Edward Scissorhands fan, but alas Sweeney is a cut above that, pun most certainly intended.
Her singing is perhaps the weakest but she makes up for it in screen presence IMO.Rickman is diabolical as Judge Turpin and his singing is adequate though I think Johnny Depp's outshines his during Pretty Women (an enchanting number indeed) and Spall is delicious as the Beadle.The teen characters perhaps have the best singing voices, but they have little to do and you find you care very little about them, but this is not a weakness of the movie as I cared little about them during the play as well.Sacha Baron Cohen is a scene stealer for certain as the barber Pirelli and his singing voice is adequate.
I had enormous expectations for seeing Sweeney Todd.And I think that expectations played against the movie because it did not satisfy me too much.In other words,Sweeney Todd disappointed me.Johnny Depp is one of my favourite actors but his performance in this movie is not credible.In other words,I could not see a man trying to take revenge.I could only see Johnny Depp singing,slitting throats and trying to be a man who takes revenge.Also,director Tim Burton's visual style is tiring me.That style worked greatly almost ten years ago with Sleepy Hollow,but,now,I would prefer that Burton finds another style.Also,I did not like the songs and some scenes bored me a little bit.Still with that,Sweeney Todd has some good elements.I enjoyed the gore and,except some scenes,the film kept me entertained.Sweeney Todd is a good film but it disappointed me for the simple fact that I expected much more from it.I hope Burton will find a fresh new style in his next movie..
Being that I am both a Johnny Depp and a Time Burton fan I was predisposed to liking it, but I have to say that this film will please even the harshest of critics.
(Its ominousness/"Dies Irae" riff means this decision probably worked as well for those not familiar with the show as those who are.) The fact that Burton made a movie rather than a filmed play also really helped the number "By the Sea," which comes off as overlong and a bit boring on the Broadway soundtrack.
Though it's a tragedy, Sweeney Todd remains in essence a dark comedy, and many of Mr. Burton's finer touches, especially the staging of the musical numbers, have enhanced the story to the point where I hardly miss the deletions, and I am someone who has loved this piece in most of its previous renderings.Although he has never been a particular favorite of mine, Johnny Depp is a revelation.
Despite that, I was reminded what a true work of absolute genius this score is.As for the performances, I would say there isn't a truly false note in the bunch of them - even Johnny Depp, who I have always loved but thought unlikely for this role - with special kudos to Timothy Spall (a favorite from Topsy-Turvy), Ed Sanders (as Toby) as clearly the finest singer in the film, and my buddy Sasha whose phony Italian barber is beyond priceless.Thank you to Burton and Sondheim - you have created something together that is unique in my not inconsiderable experience of cinema, and I will be forever grateful..
Very disappointed, such a bad story and worst movie ever from Tim Burton, I doubt he knows what he wants in this movie, so bloody and disgusting, an stereotype story, no surprises, and characters are all dark and boring, singing part is also killing me.Story doesn't work is the main reason that shut me down, sure Sweeney has the right to revenge, but the slater all innocent people for what?
Not coincidentally, none of the aforementioned words in any way describe Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, eccentric director Tim Burton's adaptation of Steven Sondheim's macabre stage musical.
The chillingly brooding Depp and the rest of the cast are enough to bring Burton's dark vision to gritty life, and the excellent song numbers prove among the most memorable of a year fraught with many movie musical efforts.
He along with Tim Burton, and this fabulous cast, has made Sweeney Todd one of the best movies of this year.And please don't ignore it just because it's a musical.
A typical Tim Burton movie with bizarrely unimaginative computer generated sets,and singing that makes "High School Musical"seem like high art.
This drivel can't hold a candle to the Broadway original or the filmed Hearn-Landsbury version of the late 1980s.You've seen it all before-just rent ANY Tim Burton movie, add some songs and a wimpy Johnny Depp and viola-you got it!
I recommend this to any fan of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and possibly of the play(I haven't watched it, but hey, the composer of it not only was involved with this, he's since said that he likes the movie, a lot, even).
The movies songs are also amazing, while none of them are happy and foot tapping like they were in Hairspray, they are superb to listen to and each and every one is memorable.Tim Burton's favourite actor and actress both appear in this movie as the leads, Johnny Depp being the infamous demon barber, and Helena Bonham Carter as equally as infamous Mrs Lovett.
"im tim burton, ill make a creepy musical with johnny depp in it must be good".
I'm not sure why she didn't get nominated since I couldn't find much of a difference between the two lead performances, but I guess it's do to the fact that she's not a big name like Depp.In the end, the plot was good, the look was great, but the musical just doesn't work.
With more dark psychologically rich subtexts and better acting then you come to expect from a film musical, "Sweeney Todd" OJ's its audience with cartoonish gore and spirited song and dance.
Like most Tim Burton movies this one stars Johnny Depp who did a fantastic job as Sweeney Todd.
Otherwise "Sweeney Todd" is an engrossing, Gothic, twisted, fun, and just plain weird movie, much like Burton's other films.
Fans of musicals, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, or weird movies will be enthralled and delighted by "Sweeney"..
Laura Michelle Kelly also give a terrific performance.Sweeney Todd is Tim Burton's best film.