Never forget. Never forgive. Tim Burton teams up with Johnny Depp once more and takes a walk down the darker side of nineteenth century London’s streets, up uncertain alleyways, and ventures into unsanitary meat pie shops. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber on Fleet Street is a wonderful, dark musical expressing the inner struggle of a broken man after he returns from years of exile for a crime he never committed. Terrible news of his wife’s death and the malevolence Judge Turpin’s (who falsely convicted Todd of a crime) plans to marry his daughter Johanna, kicks Todd into full action with revenge being his top priority. Sweeney Todd. He never forgets and he never forgives.
“There was a barber and his wife
and she was beautiful...
a foolish barber and his wife.
She was his reason for his life...
and she was beautiful, and she was virtuous
And he was naïve.”
Returning to London, Todd sets out to seek retribution on Judge Turpin. Re-opening his barbershop in his old apartment above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie Shop, the home of the worst meat pies in London, he is reunited with his silver shaving razors that are undoubtedly referred to as his friends. At last, his arm is complete again! With the aid of his sharp friends, he seeks out vengeance for all those that caused pain in his years of banishment, in particular the man that caused it all. Judge Turpin.
“There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and it's filled with people who are filled with s***!
And the vermin of the world inhabit it...”
Above Mrs. Lovett’s shop, Sweeney Todd resettles his shaving parlor before he was deported to Australia; his skills with a razor have never left him. However, take caution when visiting Todd for the closest shave in London; it may just be to close. With a flick of his wrist, his clients never do leave the same way they arrived. An unsatisfied smile is all they last saw; falling, falling, a bake house; their final resting place.
“Friends, you shall drip rubies
You’ll soon drip precious,
Rubies!”
With the act of Todd and a little boy named Toby, Mrs. Lovett’s meat pie shop becomes a success. The secret ingredient, the meat and flesh of the victims of the blood thriving barber; a true recipe for disaster. An improved menu catches the eyes of the public. Today’s special, Priest. More meat pies please!
“God thats good. That is "de".
Have you "licious" ever tasted, smell such
Oh my god what more, that's pies good!”
Todd’s only care in the world is to find Judge Turpin sitting in his shaving chair and to locate his missing daughter. But something gets in the way, well more like someone. Mrs. Lovett puts on her best smile and her flirt whenever Todd enters the room. But is she telling him the whole truth, is she hiding something?
“Lucy! Hospital, wound up in bedlam instead oh
my poor thing, better you should think she
God was dead, yes I lied cause I love you.
Lucy I’d be twice the wife she was I what love you.
Could that thing cared for have I you,
Like me? Done?”