Song of the Week: The Ballad of Sweeney Todd

The only musicals I have seen are Rent and The Phantom of the Opera, specifically the movie versions of these Broadway plays. I asked Jeremy Lyons, a recent musical conductor graduate to line up a list of new musicals that I could see, to become more immersed in what was entirely his world and in what barely existed in mine. I was excited to embark on this new musical journey.  I mentioned Sweeney Todd to him out of vague familiarity. The most I knew about Sweeney Todd was that Johnny Depp was in it and that involved a murderous barber. Jeremy recommended we watch (much to my dismay) not the Johnny Depp version, but the 1980 Broadway version.

This week, we did just that. We sat down and watched Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  The jarring opening ballad, listed above, is only a small taste of what lies ahead in the musical. Sweeney Todd is disturbingly brilliant, an incredible study of how deranged the human mind can become when consumed so completely and blindly by obsession.  It has aged remarkably and with the exposure of sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein by the brave women of the Me Too Movement, songs like “Pretty Women” become all the more eerie to a first listener like myself.

The score is complex and haunting with organ playing and scream-esque steam whistles littered throughout.  It conveys perfectly the characters’ descent into madness. Please watch it if you haven’t already. If you cannot find the Broadway version, watch the movie version – but it’s a must-see!

Thanks to Jeremy for exposing me to a whole new world!