Wednesdayis the new hit for directorTim Burton, but it’s missing a mature darkness.Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street(2007)captures what the Netflix YA series could use more of. Burton’s take on the story is the only version adapted from the Broadway show from the lateStephen Sondheim. Celebrating its fifteen-year anniversary, this horror-musical movie keeps a razor sharp edge to it. Taken away from the stage, there could be something lost. But with Burton’s touch and his cast, it stands on its own. God, that’s good!
What Is Burton’s ‘Sweeny Todd’ About?
Sweeney (Johnny Depp) escapes from imprisonment and returns to London. There, he finds Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who runs a pie business under his old barber shop. He’s come back to seek revenge on the man who destroyed his life, Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). A simple act of revenge ends up going wildly off course. Sweeney decides to slice the throats of nearly any man who enters his shop and Mrs. Lovett helps in how to clean up more efficiently. This is a horror musical with great darkness and even greater sadness to it. Watching the movie, it’s closer to the slow burn tragedies ofMike Flanaganthan the shocks ofRyan Murphyor jump scares ofJames Wan.
Musicals and slasher movies were a favorite of mine to watch growing up. But those were always very separate.Cinderella(1997) starringBrandyandWhitney Houstonhad me under its spell. TheHalloweenseries with the persisting struggle between Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Myers, had me rooting for the Final Girl each time. Suddenly, there wasSweeney Todd, a hybrid of the musical and horror, one that mixed the whimsical in with the macabre.
RELATED:How ‘Sweeney Todd’ Avoids The Musical Adaptation Pitfalls Sondheim Warned Against
So Many Tales, But Only One Musical
SeveralSweeney Toddmovies exist out there. A 1936 movie has a cackling demon barber in the terrifically named actorTod Slaughter. In 1997, Showtime hadSir Ben Kingsleyas the lead. There are more, yet what all of them have in common is the absence of the Sondheim musical. The result is a tedious watch. All are bleak and missing a key ingredient. No surprise the songs by the late Stephen Sondheim remain the strongest element. Complex lyrics and a delirious score find beauty in the treacherous chaos. While Tim Burton did alterations, the music is still what carries the movie. On this,Sondheim said in a 2007 interview, “Numbers have been reshaped, changed, cuts have been made, little sections have been rewritten to make it a movie, and not merely a film of the stage musical. That’s the essential difference, I think, between this movie musical and others based on stage musicals.”Whether it upset his own fans, he doubled down on it, saying, “–on the screen, at least I as a movie fan, I want a story to be told; I want it to go swiftly. So, that meant that we had to excise certain parts of the songs and excise certain songs.” Excluding the opening “Ballad” and a campy Mrs. Lovett, the viciousness to the tale remains. Much of the main cast find no peace. Thankfully, gallows humor keeps it from being too bleak. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett realize their murderous plans have its perks too, singing it will “save a lot of graves, do a lot of relatives favors!”
To adapt the musical, it leaves out several big elements. The opening is redone, turning “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” completely instrumental. The choir associated with this number, an ensemble which frequently returns, is left behind. “Ballad” is stripped down to the bare essentials: an orchestral arrangement of the screeching, thundering score. By removing the ensemble, it ends up strengthening one of the narrative themes. Criticizing the class system is in the DNA, all the way back to the story’s origin as a penny dreadful. Sondheim purposely chose to focus on the themes of revenge and loss, although the class system criticism persisted.
Such as in the lyrics for “A Little Priest.” If Sweeney wants to kill, Mrs. Lovett could dispose the bodies into her baking. “How gratifying for once to know. That those above will serve those down below!” The public ignores her pies, turn up in crowds to consume new ones made of human meat, and in the end will probably forget the massacre altogether. Without bringing in the public as actual talking (or singing) heads, it remains a subtle and disturbing theme. For the main players, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett’s crimes are ideal for grisly, salacious headlines. Which means the crimes of “vulture of the law” Judge Turpin will surely go unpunished and ignored. A place governed by the lawless will end up just as corrupt.
Let Them Sing Their Dark Hearts Out
The late, greatAngela Lansburygave life to the campy, zany legacy of Mrs. Nellie Lovett. In the hands of Lansbury and other actresses, Lovett has been the comedic relief.Christine Baranski, boozy queen ofMamma Mia!(2008) andImelda Staunton, royal queen toThe Crown(2022) have taken on the role. InHelena Bonham Carter’s interpretation, the campiness is gutted, leaving behind a hollow woman to match Sweeney’s hollow man. Close up camera angles hint at what is happening in her head. Early on, eyebrows crinkle as she registers the man before her, recognizing Sweeney from the past. She is hollow, but unlike Sweeney, her desires are warmer. She keeps orphan Toby (Ed Sanders) close by and attempts to do the same with Sweeney, all to create a family.
Campiness aside, “The Worst Pies in London” finds a way to keep it the showstopper it is. Lovett plays a game of pest control, squishing and stepping on the critters that roam around her cooking space, exhilarated she’s got a customer. Bonham Carter plays a woman with “limited wind” but damn it, she carries herself through the Sondheim sequence. Hands pound into dough, beating and rolling it out to the song’s beat. Sixth grade me was enthralled by it. Before iTunes and Spotify, the movie’s CD album kept the show tunes alive around me. Play-Doh that had been squished into little cans, collecting dust on a shelf somewhere, took on a new life.
The cast of familiar faces is a noteworthy addition. Pros are found where cons should be by using these actors, who aren’t professional singers. During a song, you recognize each voice belonging to the many talents involved, like Alan Rickman and his deep vocals. The same for Depp and Bonham Carter. Their voices never get lost in the sound recording.Jamie CampbellandJayne Wisenerare the light in this abyss, sweetly singing love songs. But it’s the darkness that is intoxicating.
Monsters And Mayhem
Theater can offer its own kind of immersive experience. But if one looks away from the stage or when the lights come on for intermission, reality sets in. Watching Burton’s movie, it’s another kind of experience. The director seamlessly blends Sondheim’s classic with his own signature style of gothic horror and human monsters. Color is drained except for a flashback and the brick-red tint to the blood that spills.In an interview, Burton saidhow “old horror movies” were a big inspiration. For the demon barber, his coal-black hair has a lightning streak of white. The aesthetic resembles the titular character to theBride of Frankenstein(1935). When Sweeney constructs his death chair, the surgeon-like precision is something Dr. Frankenstein would approve of.
Each throat slashing is a lethal work of art. Victims gurgle on their blood, when it isn’t splashing out from gaping wounds. In the stage show’s 1979/1980 beginning, the chair collapsed forward. Onscreen, the chair drops backwards, following with an intense use of visuals and sound design. Something theater can’t do justice on, is the impact of victims plummeting down the trapdoor chute. There are cracked skulls galore. Still, there’s a playfulness. Why does Sweeney go the extra length to put shaving cream on his victims, killing them only seconds later? Try as he might, he can’t take “barber” out of “demon barber.”
Depp’s Sweeney Todd is distinct and menacing, but also familiar to fans of Burton. The appearance and attitude is likeBeetlejuice(Michael Keaton) and Depp’s ownEdward Scissorhandswhisked together in one of Lovett’s cooking bowls. Unlike them, Sweeney is a slasher. Yes,Burton has said the opposite,“– it is nice to be able to do something like that that doesn’t fit into the musical or slasher movie categories. It is in its own category.” This is a musical slasher, there is no denying it.
A Razor Sharp Legacy
Sweeney’s collection of straight razors are an extension of his arm. “My Friends” is an ode to what he’s lost and his vengeful desires. Melancholy runs through the song’s veins. “Speak to me, friend. Whisper, I’ll listen.” One can’t imagine what a song from other slashers would be like; Jason Voorhees tenderly performing one for his rusted machete. Sweeney is a wrathful barber, ready for his razor to “drip precious rubies.” He is absolutely a slasher and he has followed me everywhere I’ve gone.
On TV, imagine my surprise at seeing Angela Lansbury.She was solving crimes onMurder, She Wrote, not committing them like Mrs. Lovett. For a Halloween episode,Will & Gracedropped in a reference. Jack (Sean Hayes) drags Karen (Megan Mullally) to experience NYC’s gay scene. Karen fears being robbed, but Jack assures her she won’t. A core memory suddenly hits him, and he sings, “Not While I’m Around.” Karen rolls her eye at it: “You’ll frighten them away with an Angela Lansbury ballad.” Being a kid, my oddball imagination pushed me to draw pictures merging Sweeney Todd imagery with Spongebob, a bombastic collision. But behold, Sweeney Bob! A demented fry cook, who found a new ingredient for Krabby Patties. Fifteen years on,Sweeney Toddcontinues to follow me. In a dark spot in NYC, I ate at Beetle House. My dinner for the night is plucked off from the Tim Burton-themed menu. On the white ceramic plate, there’s a slab of meat, a scarlet sauce drizzled across it. Sweeney Beef, a straight razor (plastic, sadly) perched on it, confirmed to be absent of human meat.
Sweeney Toddisn’t a movie for kids, but it is a great introduction to the horror musical. Having Tim Burton’s brand on it gives it another aspect.Beetlejuice(1988), hisBatmanmovies,Corpse Bride(2005), and more, have a dark curiosity to them. The same is there inSweeney Todd. For Burton’s adaptation on Stephen Sondheim’s classic, it makes for a version of the Demon Barber as unique as the original show itself. To celebrate its anniversary, there’s no better time to bake your own meat pie. Or you can just get one of the Table Talk mini fruit pies from the food store.
