Previously before this lesson we had listen through the song and roughly decided what was happening vocally and and a few day prior I had listened to track and with the head of costumes we started choreographing what if had to choreograph everything what id like to do. With my main focus trying to get as much as I can done as we don`t have much time. Due to this being the first song we really need this to make an impression on the audience which I am hoping for really cool lighting to add impact on the choreography

This is as far as we got and I'm really liking it so far, as assistant director I like the fact that I have been given the chance to help direct the first time seeing us on stage and how impactful and amazing it looks.

discussion on what I have planned for "worst pies" talking with the assistant director discussing setting and where I want people.

Include

Investigation of stylistic conventions used by Stephen Sondheim in Sweeney Todd

Overview of the themes, plot and roles

Analyse how the accompaniment / libretto conveys themes and messages

Provide examples of moments

Discuss other musical which also do similar things.

Have you

Analysed principal elements of the musical, and the techniques used by Stephen Sondheim to convey their message

Assessed which principal elements are commonly found in musical theatre works of each genre

Illustrated the use of each principle elements in the production

Explored composers/librettists who have also used relevant techniques

Evaluated how the use principal elements have changed throughout the evolution of musical theatre

Sweeney Todd who is also known as Benjamin Barker is our main character, we follow him back to London as he in looking for his wife and daughter. Todd is a skilled barber who uses these skills to kill his victims. As we follow the show Todd wants to get revenge on the Judge and he succeeds in doing so but in the end is killed by Tobias.

Mrs Lovett

Mrs Lovett is our second main character who runs a pie shop. She knowns to much about what happened to Todd's family and eventually discovers that he is Benjamin Barker. To help Todd she offers to turn people into pies from his victims, this works until Todd kills the beggar woman who is Lucy, Todd's wife. Mrs Lovett is killed by Sweeney Todd.

Anthony

Anthony is a sailor who sailed the world and has retuned back to London, he finds Mr Todd who he befriended on his travels. As he returns to London he finds this girl named Johanna and falls in love instantly. However Anthony runs in to trouble with Johanna's guardian the Judge which makes it difficult for him to get Johanna. In the end he gets Johanna and they can be together.

Toby

Toby is betrayed in many different ways, a young boy who works for Pirelli or a mentally ill adult. In this version he is a young boy who works for Pirelli helping him sell his elixir. After following Pirelli to Todd's barber shop he meets Mrs Lovett who offers to feed him and look after him. With Pirelli gone Toby is left by himself under the care of Mrs Lovett. Toby gets to work alongside Mrs Lovett down in the bake house helping to make the pies yet he sees somethings that cause him to hide. Toby kills Sweeny Todd after he seen him kill Mrs Lovett.

Johanna

Johanna is the daughter of Benjamin and Lucy Barker. After her father was sent away, her and her mother were taken under the care of the Judge. This led Lucy to kill herself leaving Johanna all by herself. Johanna is restricted to the Judges house and obeys the Judges every command. When Johanna meets Anthony they plan to run away together which the Judge sends Johanna away to a mad house. Anthony tries to get Johanna back and save her in which he does and they can be together.

Pirelli

Pirelli is a con artist selling an elixir as a magical elixir for you hair. His real name is Danny O Higgins. To prove his worth as the best barber he challenges Todd to contest . To Pirellis surprise he looses and gives Todd his £5. Pirelli goes after Todd wanting his money back and in which he his killed by Sweeny.

Beedle

The Beedle is the Judges accomplice and right hand man and our second antagonist he obeys the Judges every word and is the one who takes Lucy to the Judge and arrests Todd in the beginning. Beedle is killed by Todd.

Judge

The Judge is our main antagonist. Whilst Todd is absent in Johanna's life after being sent away Turpin becomes Johanna's main guardian. On Todd's return the Judge plans to marry Johanna as she becomes of age. Todd gets his revenge on the Judge and kills him.

Beggar woman

Beggar woman is what is left of Lucy Todd's wife after she drinks the poison and goes crazy. She is known as a beggar woman around London. She meets Todd in to which she gets pushed away. She is very cautious and warns people of dangers that happen yet people take her as just being crazy. She is killed by Todd.

For each character I had a specific costume colour in mind depending on who they were. This may have changed during the Sweeney Todd process due to what costumes I could find or afford. I also got each actor to buy their own costumes to make it more affordable for me personally.

Mrs Lovett: The owner of the pieshop below todd's barber shop. She is in love with mr todd and works alongside him throughout the show in hopes of gaining his affection. During the show, she also becomes a mother figure to Tobias. Once her lies about Lucy are revealed, she is killed by Sweeney Todd.

Judge Turpin: Judge Turpin is a judge of high ranking within London. He had strong feelings for Lucy Barker, and sends away Sweeney Todd to Australia for 15 years. During the years Todd is away, he raises Sweeney's daughter Johanna as his own. Once Todd returns, he plans on marrying Johanna. However, Todd gets his revenge and kills him. He is the main antagonist in the show.

Beadle: The beadle is the Judges right hand man, he accompanies him almost everywhere and is usually the one who takes out the judges orders. He is the one who brings Lucy to the Judges house, and also the one to arrest Sweeney Todd. They are the secondary antagonist. He is ultimately killed by Sweeney.

Anthony: Antony Hope is a young sailor who has just returned to London, whilst traveling he came across Sweeney, and assisted him home. Because of his good deed, he and Todd become acquaintances. One day he comes across Johanna, and the two fall deeply in love. The Judge, once he discovers this, threatens to hurt him if he ever comes near Johanna again. Antony often visits Mr Todd and talks about Johanna. Sweeney Offers to keep Johanna safe, using Antony as a means to get his daughter back. At the end, he is one of the few survivors.

Johanna: Johanna is the daughter of Benjamin and Lucy Barker. As a baby, the Judge tears apart her family and she is raised by him. She is raised in luxury and kept locked away in her home. When she is the age 16. She meets Antony Hope and the two form a strong relationship. After the judge discovers their plans to elope, she is sent to Fogg's Asylum. She is soon rescued by Antony and the two head for Todd's barbershop. There she is disguised as a boy, and witnesses Todd kill Judge Turpin. As Todd does not recognise her, he goes to kill her. But Due to mrs Lovett's screams, she is given the chance to escape. She is another of the few survivors at the end of the show.

Tobias: In some versions, he is portrayed as a mentally ill adult, whereas in others he is portrayed as a young boy. Tobias starts the story working under Pirelli. He is treated harshly and is often mistreated. When selling Pirellis miracle elixirs, he is continuously harassed and yelled at by the crowd, led on by sweeney and mrs lovett. When Pirelli and Tobias arrive at Mr Todd's Parlour, Tobias and mrs lovett head down to her pie shop. There he reveals that his hair is actually a wig. After Pirelli's death, tobias is taken in by mrs lovett and he starts working at the pie shop. Soon, he starts to become suspicious of Sweeney Todd. Him and Mrs Lovett form a close bond, with Toby even referring to her as mum in "Not whilst i'm around". In order to distract him, Mrs Lovett locks him in the bakehouse. Here he discovers the pies are made from people, and his suspicions are proved right. He slowly becomes insane and is the one who kills Sweeney at the end.

Pirelli: Pirelli is one of the minor antagonists in Sweeney Todd, he is the first victim of Sweeney. He is a very flamboyant italian barber, though this is revealed to be a sham and that he is in fact an irish con man named Daniel O'Higgins. When he was younger, he worked under Sweeney as an apprentice. He is quick to figure out who sweeney is and attempts to con him. However he is swiftly killed by Todd. Before the story, he takes tobias from the workhouse and takes him on as an apprentice, though he treats him very badly.

Lucy/Beggar Women: Lucy Barker is the wife of Sweeney Todd. At the start of the show it is presumed that she is deceased after taking poison, this is a lie made up by Mrs Lovett in order to trick sweeney. However at the end of the show, it is revealed that she has in fact been alive this whole time. Living life as the beggar women we see throughout the show. Throughout the show, she is one of the few character's suspicious of Mrs Lovetts and Sweeney Todd's actions, and in an attempt to figure out what she breaks into the barbershop. Sweeney bumps into her and becomes furious, and in a hurry due to the judges arrival, kills her. When Sweeney realises he has killed Lucy, he then kills Mrs Lovett because of her lies and deceit.

in the tale of sweeney todd, we follow benjamin barker who now goes by the name Sweeney Todd. Throughout the show he sets out to seek revenge against judge turpin for sending him away and hurting his wife. He does this by killing his customers and disposing of the bodys with the help of mrs lovett. He ultimately succeeds in his revenge but not long before he is killed himself by tobias.

Throughout the show we see several themes. Those themes include death, murder, revenge, obsession, corruption and loss of innocence. The majority of themes throughout the show are dark. The main message in Sweeney Todd is how seeking revenge may seem good, but is futile in the end. Though Sweeney gets his revenge, he is made blind by it, and ultimately ends up loosing more then he gains.

pre contemporary

USA

Rent (musical) aids crisis 1996

suspicion. This also stuck with the existing Victorian fears as barbers were also surgeons on the side. It is also linked with the many fears from today such as cannibalism, desecration of bodies and taking part of it all unknowingly. It also asks the irrational fear of “is the food we eat safe” especially with covid we are all more on edge.

Mrs Lovett can also be linked with a particular murderer who turned his victims into burgers. ‘Though police only connected him to three murders, Joseph Roy Metheny claimed to have slaughtered a total of 13 victims, some of whom he allegedly turned into patties that he sold to unwitting customers on a Baltimore roadside.’

He raped and dismembered many sex workers and turned them into burgers to sell all with a common victim in mind-his runaway girlfriend who took their six year old child and ran away while he was off at work. Not only did he partake in selling the burgers to unknowing victim he also partook in cannibalism as her ate the victims he killed Aswell. this left him with a sense of loneliness but also blind rage and revenge for his girlfriend driving him to chaos when he is still in love which can link with Mrs Lovett as she was blindly in love for Sweeney she would do anything to cover up his murders. He also had a common goal in mind such as joey which was the judge who took his child and wife away. It all sounds very familiar.

References

london, victroian (no date) the strong of pearls ( sweeney Todd ), The string of pearls - the original Penny Dreadful featuring Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of fleet street. Available at: https://www.victorianlondon.org/mysteries/sweeney_todd-01.htm (Accessed: 05 December 2023).

entertainment , merlin (2020) Sweeney Todd and the penny dreadful, The London Dungeon. Available at: https://www.thedungeons.com/london/information/news/sweeney-todd-and-the-penny-dreadful/ (Accessed: 05 December 2023).

History, T.O. (2021) Dispelling some myths: Sweeney Todd, Tastes Of History. Available at: https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/dispelling-some-myths-sweeney-todd (Accessed: 05 December 2023).

Serena, K. (2023) Joe Metheny made his victims into burgers - and sold them to unsuspecting customers, All That’s Interesting. Available at: https://allthatsinteresting.com/joe-metheny (Accessed: 05 December 2023).

However from a performers point of view it also give me inspiration to what I can do to embody my character using inspiration from what Suzy is doing and how the theme of steam punk is being followed without pushing it too far.

From a production side of things it just moves it along as we didn't have to show each other but then the directors knew the plan for the major events and we could skip ahead and the rehearsals for these songs will mostly be in our own time.

Physical and vocal practice

Importance of warm up

Why did I choose to do Sweeney in a certain way

Stylistic intentions – plot construction , character development, dialogue creation

The rehearsal process began with us separately blocking our individual songs. This meant I blocked the chorography for Worst pie and Poor thing. It gave me chance to be more creatively free and physical in my songs which I hadn't seen in many musical versions online.

After blocking I would then proceed to show and teach the group the choreography and practice it until they understood. This made it easier to learn songs as everyone had their own ideas and gave them time to know their song more to connect with it better when choreographing.

We then proceeded to block the scenes to the upcoming choreographed songs. most scenes were short and split between songs so it was easier to do once the songs were learnt.

lastly we would then run the scenes along with the songs to see our progress and add to it each week.

Right - Themes/ If you are suggesting that there are certain themes that are running throughout the musical, you need to ensure you are referencing moments from the show and the conventions that are being used to do this. Example, is there something in the music? The Characters? The dialogue? What conveys the dark messages? 

Inspiration for Sweeney Todd - IS this the single, only inspiration for the show?>

What about the dark history of the role? The Penny dreadfuls he was featured in? The relation to Jack the Ripper and other notorious serial killers of the time? Was he not a myth? But made real through discussion?

Music Choice - Break this section down to talk specifically about a Role - A song  - Then explain why it is the way it is. Describe what the music does. What the lyrics are like. Provide examples. The explain why a theme was coming through.. 

You have yet to talk about the stylistic conventions used by Stephen Sondheim - Choice of lyrics, Type of music, How the music reflects the theme/style, The choices of key, the time signature. You will then need to explore his choice against another practitioners choice/ 

Follow the guide i provided and make sure you have discussed each topic in turn, 

Your essay has the right topics and substance, just need to be written now. 

So straight of the bat, you need to make sure the essay is being written using appropriate essay structure. - 12point font, double spacing, indented paragraphs etc etc, 

Well done on introducing the partitioners - Larson, Webber and Miranda. You now need to make sure you approach the changes they have made to musical theatre. and discuss what they have done to change the face of musical theatre. 

Don't forget, this essay is all about trying to explain how musical theatre gas chganged over the past decades 

So you need to make sure you are finding things practitioners have done to change the face of T

MT*

User @HowtobeBrooklyn on reddit said:

" Hamilton raps in most of the songs, which suits him. The rapid and quick music style matches how he rushed through his life and everything in it. However, by not rapping, Eliza is allowed more time. And that's her whole thing, right? She constantly telling Alexander to slow down and take his time and be satisfied with what he has, as she is. I'm sure this has already been pointed out but still."

whereas @TheIrishninjas responded with:

"I see it like rapping represents characters trying to debate with an enemy or impress others, as there’s very little rap influence in solo songs or songs sung between characters with close, honest relationships, tending to be more melodic in style (One Last Time, Wait For It etc.), and since Eliza doesn’t really have many enemies and doesn’t seem to worry much about impressing, she doesn’t need to rap."

Overall, its up to your interpratation. But the overall idea of using stylistic conventions to portray different ideas is used in every musical:

REDDIT ARTICLE:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hamiltonmusical/comments/8r8cyq/why_eliza_is_one_of_the_only_characters_who/

Each Character's dialogue and songs help to portray their intentions and themes in the show. For example my friends and epiphany help to showcase Sweeney's inner desire for revenge and help to convey the same theme. Sweeneys songs throughout the show slowly change as he starts to loose him self to the thought of revenge, whilst Mrs Lovetts songs are more comedic to hide her true intentions and her lies. During the show, the character of the beggar women/lucy barker helps to represent the themes of death and revenge. As once killed by Todd, he realises how futile his efforts were as they led to the very person he longed for's demise.

example in the show:

Throughout the show, there is a repeated piece of music. This music can be heard in the Ballad of Sweeney Todd and other songs. Particularly the following section. From 1:00 to 1:18 in the linked song. This motif is often repeated throughout the show at integral plot points, such as when he kills for the first time and when he receives his razors. "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd provides crucial insights into the character of Sweeney Todd, showcasing his desire for revenge and the depths of his anguish. It sets the foundation for the audience’s understanding of Todd’s motivations and serves as a catalyst for his descent into darkness."(Galloway, 2023)

This is similar for other character's, such as Tobias having a repeated motif in Pirelli's miracle elixir and God! that's good!. Anthony also has a motif that is used in Johanna, and Johanna Pt 2

Galloway, A. (2023) The meaning behind the song: The ballad of sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim, Old Time Music. Available at: https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-the-ballad-of-sweeney-todd-by-stephen-sondheim/ (Accessed: 01 May 2024).

The musical is based on a penny dreadful called 'The String of Pearls.' Penny dreadful is also known as penny blood and there are sensational stories about dark, thrilling themes which were put in newspapers or pamphlets and sold for a penny in the 1800s and early 1900s.

https://bookriot.com/sweeney-todd-origins/

https://taryntyler.com/pennydreadful/

When I learned my lines for this musical, I recorded myself saying other lines in between with a gap for me to say my line when I play it back. This was for me to also learn my cues and know when I am supposed to be speaking.

For meeting deadlines with my character role, every night at home I would go over lines and songs, making sure I know everything and going over anything I may have been struggling with.