Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street(or simplySweeney Todd),directed byTim Burton , is an adaptation of the Stephen Sondheimmusical of the same name . The original musical did extremely well and has since been performed by theater troupes all across the existence . The film , meanwhile , was praised as a return key to mannequin for the director though it ’s something of a cult classic .
Sweeney Toddtells the tale of a man driven mad after experience the woman he get laid stolen from him and getting accused for a crime he did n’t commit . Upon release from prison house , he plans to take retaliation on the human beings who caused his current mess in life , aided by the maniacal Mrs. Lovett . They figure out a reciprocal solution from there and do their best to take care of business while not getting caught . The plot is conversant to many , but let ’s take a tone at some facts you might not have known .
The Music Is Extremely Complicated, Theoretically Speaking
The original product of the Stephen Sondheim theater of operations piece had an orchestra consisting of 26 appendage , with 6 of those being violinists . away from the filmy amount of musician utilize for the account , a shocking 80 % of the production is sung , with only about 20 % consisting of normal spoken dialog .
Thecomposition of the piecesalso lie mostly of classical techniques , like interlock melodies referred to as Counterpoint and repetitive melodic musical phrase which pop up again throughout the play , called Leitmotifs .
The Story Is Based On A Penny Dreadful
A centime fearful ( no , not the show ) is an old pamphlet printed on low - quality paper that would commonly show up in drugstores in London and other locations throughout England in the prim geological era , and even into the modern - day . They were unremarkably grisly tales of slaying and machination that were wide looked down upon , like video recording nasties would be after on in the nation ’s history .
This especial tale is based on a tarradiddle calledThe String Of Pearls , which would have more details impart as the story was adapted .
No One’s Sure If It Actually Happened Or Not
There have been multiple people in the history ofSweeney Toddwho have go out of their mode to claim that what happens in the melodious in reality happened and that it is n’t just an urban fable that was adapt into a penny dreadful .
That being said , a lot of scholars have looked into the veracity of this title , just to see if there was perhaps a historic Sweeney Todd that ever subsist and if not by that name , then if a similar story of his offence even survive in the first position . sentence and clock time again , not a whit of grounds proving that the musical comedy is found on fact ever come to igniter
Stephen Sondheim’s Production Wasn’t The First Adaptation
While Sondheim ’s production ofSweeney Todd : The Demon Barber Of Fleet Streetis both the most well - recognized and probably the most critically spat of any adaptation , that does n’t needfully imply that it ’s the only one . Tim Burton ’s cinema was base on this adaptation , but only because Burton had seen it when he was younger .
In 1847 , there was a lineal adaptation ofThe String Of Pearlsthat was billed as if it was ground on a true story for advertising use , and it ’s perhaps responsible for for perpetuating the rumour about its supposed diachronic accuracy . Then in 1973 , Christopher Bond put out a stage adaptation which was afterwards used by Sondheim as the basis for his melodic .
Themes Of Classism Are Explored
When someone first make up one’s mind to search intoSweeney Toddfor the saki of analysis , it ’s very easy to soar up in on the characters themselves rather than what ’s operate on around them . After all , Sweeney ’s ( Johnny Depp ) retaliation against Judge Turpin ( Alan Rickman ) get hold of center phase , but that would be ignore the year divide at the report ’s magnetic core .
Both Mrs. Lovett ’s ( Helena Bonham Carter ) issues at the Proto-Indo European shop and Benjamin Barker’s / Sweeney Todd ’s issues are born out ofclass struggleand unfair treatment by the power that be . Mrs. Lovett ca n’t open meat that is n’t badly - gotten and keep her shop afloat at the same sentence , and Todd ’s struggles came after being step by a judge who pull a crime he never should have gotten away with .
Charles Dickens Probably Inspired The Story
While it might be prosperous not to allowCharles Dickens his proper due in the invention of the story , it ’s very potential thatThe String Of Pearlsis only slightly original . There are a few instances where Charles Dickens alludes to cannibalism in his own taradiddle , and at least once when he ’s blab in book of facts to the lineament of the meat that ’s being attend in the local shops .
In the early illustration , he mentions it could be cat meat . In the latter instance , he speak specifically about the possibility of being served human heart . It ’s likely no concurrence thatThe String Of Pearlscame out only a couple month after that account .
The Film Wasn’t Advertised As A Musical
One of the major government issue with the film is that the studio apartment worry that they were conduct a peril on it , as it was a strange mix of the slasher and melodious . So instead of cutting some ofSweeney Toddor deciding to deflower it by removing the musical elements , it was merely advertised as another Gothic Burton horror picture show .
The issue with this is that it ’s both contemptuous to perfunctory moviegoer who do n’t hate musicals and to those who are involved in dramatics , since this publicizing pick all but implies thatSweeney Toddwould be better off without the vocalizing .
Tim Burton Really Loves The Musical
The first time that Tim Burton had follow into striking with the story was when he was attending CalArts in the ' eighty . He saw a showing of Sondheim’sSweeney Todd : The Demon Barber OF Fleet Street , and he was immediately enthralled with the story , the facial expression of the bid , the music , the case design , and the whole spectacle of the production altogether .
He was quoted as enunciate that it reminded him of a silent movie with music , which is probably because of the dense German Expressionist element both in the level play and in his own adaption .
Sweeney Looks Like A Walking Corpse
Sweeney ’s flavor was opine to present him as if he were a take the air stiff , which only make signified give his backstory . He ’s a man who was robbed of his whole living by judge Turpin , so much so that he come back under an assumed indistinguishability with only retaliation on his head .
He ’s like a pallid specter with unfinished business , going out of his way to make utterly sure that he correct the wrong that was committed when Turpin stole and then discarded his married woman while contain his daughter hostage . The ashen streak in his whisker is the last bit of animation and emotion he has left within him .
Stephen Sondheim Really Loves The Film
Going into the project , Sondheim ( above , far left over ) was not exactly enthused with the fact that one of hisfavorite projects was go to be converted to shoot . Perhaps a major factor in this is that a lot of dramatist do n’t like it that trifle ( musical or not ) have kind of fallen behind film , since they ’re two completely unlike sensitive . playwright simply do n’t think that film should get all the nimbus when the theater is still alive and well .
That being said , Sondheim was actually pleasantly surprised at the end mathematical product and also conceded that the adaptational changes made ( such as a few emasculated songs ) were important and well - done . In fact , Burton got Sondheim ’s thanksgiving to adapt the musical as far back as the ' 80s . In his bookFinishing the Hat , Sondheim praisedSweeney Toddand even gave it the honor of being the only cinematic adaption of his works that he loves .
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