Sweeney Todd :: essays research papers

Sweeney Todd is by no means a conventional musical it takes several forms ofmusic and theater and disingenuously places them together. Sondheim very effectivelytransports the audience back to Victorian England for a worked up waltz with murder,mayhem...and meat pies. He also utilizes his skill as a choral composer to writesome truly fascinating ensemble pieces attended by a very intricate plot withmany elements guardedly layered. There are several important thematic elements in this carefully writtencommentary on our society, and Sondheim makes good use of his music to vehemencenot only the melodramatic plot, but these themes as well. For example, the songbuss Me becomes an anthem for Anthony and Johanna and a symbol of their truelove....they loved when they did not eventide know each others names. Sweeney Toddmay be a dark musical, but its construction lends well to smartness voices and an equallylight orchestral style. Plot-wise, this evidence is rather light, the charact ers seemcartoonish and one-dimensional, especially Mrs. Lovett, Anthony, and Johanna,who appear to be little more than melodramatic character roles. Ironically, Mrs.Lovett, the absolute capitalist, is one of the shows most complex characters. Mrs.Lovett is not merely some amoral hagfish out to make a fast dollar, she is a character determined by greed and love to keep Sweeney however she can. In conclusion, the lend gives an excellent example of captive innocence, andthe loss of innocence that immediately follows. Sweeney is control to murder, Mrs.Lovett bakes these people into pies, Johanna kills, Lucy is forced to become aBeggar and a whore, and roughly every major character experiences their own fall