#1
Posted: 10/26/06 at 3:54pm
Since I started doing some research on the original production, I've just learned fascinating things about the show, so I thought since we all had been analyzing the revival for a while, it might be interesting to bring up some things I learned of the original production. It's really interesting--some of course, certainly apply to the revival, some nuances are different...Obviously a lot of this is well-known by most of you but still just wanted to get down all the thoughts running around in my head...
The analysis I'm focusing on in particular is the music, which I find most fascinating.
Bond was the first playwright who portrayed Sweeney with believable motives--a big reason Sondheim was drawn to his work in particular. In other stories, Sweeney was just greedy and murdered for the sake of it.
Sondheim incorporates modern musical aspects into his score, though also using music that mimics the time period, allowing the audience to buy into the time period but also perceive the connection to modern society.
Sondheim initially wanted solely to adopt it into an opera, but he couldn't figure out how to get it to a manageable size, and that's when he asked Hugh Wheeler to collaborate with him. Still, it's quite close to an opera.
Prince only agreed to direct Sweeney when he saw the comparisons to the Industrial Revolution.
The opening scene/set depicts the social order of nineteenth-century England. The shriek of the factory whistle serves not only to scare the audience, but to focus on the factory, where most of the workers were during the Industrial Revolution, and demonstrates the power of the owners.
Obviously, the use of "attending the tale" shows the audience we are seeing a legend that will teach of corruption, oppression and revenge, and like all moral tales, will have universal implications.
The song begins in the lowest possible register, reflecting the mood. As I remember Sondheim mentioning in Broadway: The American Musical, the opening chords have a building motion that goes nowhere--the audience waits for something but nothing happens, building the tension.
The chorus fuctions like the Dies Irae, high point of the Catholic funeral mass.
When Sweeney ascends, the accompaniment reflects the turbulence of Sweeney's emotions, and the frenzy of the machine age.
The gentle accompanyment to the beginning of No Place Like London purposely contrasts with the horrors that lie ahead in the show.
Every character except Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are represented in complete terms of melodramatic characterizations. Anthony is the naive optimist. His name of Hope is even symbolic.
Each character is identified with a particular musical theme--all their music evolves from that theme and each song depends on the one priot to it. Anthony's identity, good humor, and identity are reflected in his theme.
The Beggar Woman can be seen as a symbol of the effects of a corrupt society. The music and tone completely change from her pretty soprano begging for money, to when she offers herself.
A musical clue is also presented in this scene, as the raunchy tune she sings becomes the minuet later played in the scene that flashes back to the rape of Sweeney's wife.
As another hint, after she leaves them, Sweeney claims there are "ghostly shadows everywhere."
When Sweeney sings about London, he is so disgusted with it, he spits it out more than he sings about it. Heavily contrasted with Anthony's pretty expression of his view.
In Barber and His Wife, it is important to note the repititon of "she was beautiful." the repeated words and simple phrases contribute to a sense of his sheer commitment to his lost marriage, but everything in the song changes when he sings about how his life was destroyed. The word naive goes against what we expect in melody, and is a very low note, which reflects his descent into misery.
Sondheim also reflects how much when he wrote for Lovett, he knew he was writing for Angela...which makes it fascinating to think about what other actresses have accomplished with the part.
There was debate around the idea of contrasting Sweeney's gloom and misery with Lovett's humor. A few critics thought it was a mess, and disintegrated. (Simon was one of these critics--did he review the revival? I couldn't find it. I'm curious, since the humor was darkened, if he preferred that version).
However, most believe the combination of gloom and humor is effective--they reinforce each other without losing their importance. The comedy magnifies the horror. The humor in Sweeney distances the horror but does not trivialize it.
Lovett not only uses her recount to confirm that Sweeney is Barker, but also to seduce him ("he was beautiful.")
Little is one of Sondheim's favorite words. Lovett uses it to suggest vulnerability and weakness--she says the wife was a "pretty little thing" and a "silly little nit." She repeats the phrase "poor thing," devaluing its meaning each time.
In My Friends, Sweeney and his blades become one. In fact, aside from the beginning with Lucy, the only love Sweeney expresses in the whole show is love of killing machines (my friends here, another friend to describe the chair). Obviously contrasts with Lovett's love for him. His passion goes into his blades, and a sexual union is even suggested.
There's a huge contrast between Sweeney and Johanna in the bridge from his song to hers. Sweeney rises from the depths--he came out of the grave, and also sings low notes, while Johanna descents from the heights--she appears at the highest level of the Judge's mansion and sings high notes.
Johanna's character is also a perfect stereotypic melodramatic character. There is always a threatened seduction of a pure young innocent, and she must face many obstacles to try to find true love.
Johanna's state even changes in Green Finch. She first describes the bird's melody as "rejoicing" but later calls it "screaming." She often demonstrates she feels kind of like an ornament, not a real person, and only her decorative value is important.
Sondheim also wanted to include a clear sexual tension rising in the first "Johanna."
In Pirelli's elixir, a tension is achieved because the ensemble is divided into those who want to buy hair tonic and those who don't. A lot of rhymes in this song are similar to those of Cole Porter...rhyming elixir with "trick, sir"; "quick sir"; and "tick sir."
Apparently this scene is the most criticized in at least the original production. They understand it's importance to the plot, but they feel it interrupts the action too much and isn't as funny as it should be (is that one of the reasons the teeth scene is often cut? to cut down this scene?)
Also interesting, when Lovett suggests the throat-cutting gesture for Sweeney to do with Anthony...it makes HER the first to mention throat slitting, not him.
Now, I've always been confused about the Judge's Johanna. Was it actually cut from the original production, as in before it opened? I knew it was cut from subsequent versions, but I guess just b/c it's on the OBC CD, I never realized it might have even been cut from the original as well. What is everyone's thoughts on that? Is it a necessary song or should it be cut? Apparently it was cut for the sake of making the show shorter, even though it allows for more character development. So if it WAS cut from the original, was this revival the first to put it back in? Did the Teeny Todd Revival put it back in?
Ladies and their sensitivies actually provides a perfect example of a major theme between the appearance of outer beauty in the Victorian era and the ugliness on the inside of people. The Beadle purposely uses very big words to present himself as intelligent, but makes a tiny grammatical slip ("they resents it"), parallelling the ugly inside.
I never realized what an impact "Wait" has on "Pretty Women"--that the reason he hesitates so is because he listened to Lovett, wanting to prolong having the Judge under his power. I always thought that was just an idea he had...
Pretty is also another of Sondheim's favorite words. Here, pretty contrasts with the dark passion of Sweney and the judge. And again the theme of appearance vs. reality is reflected in the apparent jolliness of the song. The melody purposely distances itself from the horror. Apparently in the show, the more evil the horror, the more lyrical the music.
Obviously, Epiphany is his breakdown, where his vengeance goes from personal to universal. He also purposely mentions the oppressiveness of capitalism--that the only escape is death ("Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief. or the rest of us, death will be a relief--we all deserve to die!") There's a dualistic theme to the song of life and death, and of vengeance and salvation.The music reflects the splintering of Sweeney's personality, and the engine pounding under the song. There is distinct disintegration in the music, as there's short stacatto right near long sustained notes. The lyric that concludes the song is a triumphant one, but the musical line strongly denies that triumph.
This certainly could conclude act 1, but Sondheim wanted the comedy in the show to be equal to the tragedy, which is why he chose to end on A Little Priest. This song is structured like a typical British music hall turn. And even differences in Sweeney and Lovett are still demonstrated here. Lovett gets carried away, but Sweeneey never forgets the plan's relevance (him reciting the chorus).
As for God That's Good, Calvin, with your comparing Sweeney to the seven sins seems to take on a truth. The customers are referred to as "gluttonous." Go you! Also referred to as consuming greedily.
And I never realized the importance of Tobias' part in the song. The sales pitch is a complete satire on deceptive advertising.
It is also important because in this song, Sweeney's vision of cannibalism is realized, but he doesn't seem to care. But like he says in Epiphany, no single number amount of men will truly fulfill him, so it makes sense.
Once again, Sweeney sings a love song to a machine of death--in this case, the chair. He is being a sort of capitalist in his own right, perfecting and economizing the process of murder.
Johanna act 2...well, I knew there was a reason this is my favorite song in the show. Gah, the things that come out of it. First Anthony's lonely opening of the song illustrates that there still can be love in this corrupt world. But the whole point of Sweeney singing the song is to demonstrate how detached he has become of his own humanity (I'm fine Johanna...I miss you less and less), and it perfectly works in as he slits the throats. There's also a contrast in their words--Anthony's of hope, Sweeney's of good-bye.
The Beggar Woman here serves as the conscience of the city. It is also important to note she brings in a lot of religious references.
Lovett's complexity as a character is demonstrated in By the Sea. She is quite immoral, but still wants to be respectable--and married. The rhyming of proper and chopper in this song is particularly effective.
Apparently she plays here comes the bride at the end of the song. Didn't know that.
At this point in the show, the chorus begins to sound more-machine like.
Again obviously, in Not While I'm Around, Tobias casts Lovett as a Damsel in Distress, and tries to apply chivalristic principles. The music also reflects the song great, as everything gets much shorter and staccato and the notes ascend as he gets more anxious to convince Lovett that she is in danger. When Lovett repeats the love song, it takes on a menacing tone.
Then the chorus transforms itself into the inmates of Fogg's asylum (until now, the chorus has very much apparently served as a Brechtian chorus). A certain stylization exists in Sweeney, where climactic moments are intensified with intense theatrical devices.
City on Fire carries a very important theme. It is sung by the inmates, to show they are the only ones who know the truth about what's going on. This parallel's the Beggar Woman's refrain in Johanna--showing an idea that only the deranged can clearly see the truth behind appearances. It is also important that factory whistles are brought together with police whistles, showing the corruptness of both the law and the capitalists.
This is also Sondheim's first show where he makes wide use of reprises. He used to not think that as characters developed they should repeat previous emotional themes, but these reprieses occur to develop the characters and their relations. They come up more and more near the end of the show.
The show also kind of tricks you if you haven't realized the true identity of the Beggar Woman. You think the ultimate horror is going to occur, that Sweeney will kill Johanna, but then he doesn't, you think it's avoided. But then you realize by killing Lucy, it has already occurred.
After Sweeney kills Lovett, he repeats exactly what he sang at the beginning of the show. Nothing has changed. He still feels as hopeless as he did at the beginning.
When Tobias kills him, Sweeney can be seen as a tragic hero by him not resisting death. He must die because he understands how he has been both a victim and an instigator. The whole show is ambigious as good/evil, right/wrong cannot be clearly defined in Sweeney (sheds light on that thread asking if Sweeney is evil)
The repititon of the ballad once again signifies that this has been a story, not a series of real events. But of course there's the part where they point at everyone, accusing that they have a bit of Sweeney in them.
Some critics misunderstood this, and thought that the point was the audience was murderous like Sweeney, when the lyrics themselves show the tendency to want revenge is what is in us, not that we're gonna become homocidal murderers--that at times we can find cruelty and destruction appealing.
Another fascinating aspect of the show is that there is no simplistic moral that can be taken. Sweeney could have become a heroic figure of the underclass, and only disposed of the upper class, but he did not. His emotions override good/evil and he becomes more than human, but dehumanized.
I can't get over how most of Sondheim's works, but especially Sweeney has...just...so much to think about, so many decisions important meanings. Wow.
I am not becoming a Sondheim fanatic
I am not becoming a Sondheim fanatic
No, I am not unworthy of his words...
(Anyone buying this?)
The analysis I'm focusing on in particular is the music, which I find most fascinating.
Bond was the first playwright who portrayed Sweeney with believable motives--a big reason Sondheim was drawn to his work in particular. In other stories, Sweeney was just greedy and murdered for the sake of it.
Sondheim incorporates modern musical aspects into his score, though also using music that mimics the time period, allowing the audience to buy into the time period but also perceive the connection to modern society.
Sondheim initially wanted solely to adopt it into an opera, but he couldn't figure out how to get it to a manageable size, and that's when he asked Hugh Wheeler to collaborate with him. Still, it's quite close to an opera.
Prince only agreed to direct Sweeney when he saw the comparisons to the Industrial Revolution.
The opening scene/set depicts the social order of nineteenth-century England. The shriek of the factory whistle serves not only to scare the audience, but to focus on the factory, where most of the workers were during the Industrial Revolution, and demonstrates the power of the owners.
Obviously, the use of "attending the tale" shows the audience we are seeing a legend that will teach of corruption, oppression and revenge, and like all moral tales, will have universal implications.
The song begins in the lowest possible register, reflecting the mood. As I remember Sondheim mentioning in Broadway: The American Musical, the opening chords have a building motion that goes nowhere--the audience waits for something but nothing happens, building the tension.
The chorus fuctions like the Dies Irae, high point of the Catholic funeral mass.
When Sweeney ascends, the accompaniment reflects the turbulence of Sweeney's emotions, and the frenzy of the machine age.
The gentle accompanyment to the beginning of No Place Like London purposely contrasts with the horrors that lie ahead in the show.
Every character except Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are represented in complete terms of melodramatic characterizations. Anthony is the naive optimist. His name of Hope is even symbolic.
Each character is identified with a particular musical theme--all their music evolves from that theme and each song depends on the one priot to it. Anthony's identity, good humor, and identity are reflected in his theme.
The Beggar Woman can be seen as a symbol of the effects of a corrupt society. The music and tone completely change from her pretty soprano begging for money, to when she offers herself.
A musical clue is also presented in this scene, as the raunchy tune she sings becomes the minuet later played in the scene that flashes back to the rape of Sweeney's wife.
As another hint, after she leaves them, Sweeney claims there are "ghostly shadows everywhere."
When Sweeney sings about London, he is so disgusted with it, he spits it out more than he sings about it. Heavily contrasted with Anthony's pretty expression of his view.
In Barber and His Wife, it is important to note the repititon of "she was beautiful." the repeated words and simple phrases contribute to a sense of his sheer commitment to his lost marriage, but everything in the song changes when he sings about how his life was destroyed. The word naive goes against what we expect in melody, and is a very low note, which reflects his descent into misery.
Sondheim also reflects how much when he wrote for Lovett, he knew he was writing for Angela...which makes it fascinating to think about what other actresses have accomplished with the part.
There was debate around the idea of contrasting Sweeney's gloom and misery with Lovett's humor. A few critics thought it was a mess, and disintegrated. (Simon was one of these critics--did he review the revival? I couldn't find it. I'm curious, since the humor was darkened, if he preferred that version).
However, most believe the combination of gloom and humor is effective--they reinforce each other without losing their importance. The comedy magnifies the horror. The humor in Sweeney distances the horror but does not trivialize it.
Lovett not only uses her recount to confirm that Sweeney is Barker, but also to seduce him ("he was beautiful.")
Little is one of Sondheim's favorite words. Lovett uses it to suggest vulnerability and weakness--she says the wife was a "pretty little thing" and a "silly little nit." She repeats the phrase "poor thing," devaluing its meaning each time.
In My Friends, Sweeney and his blades become one. In fact, aside from the beginning with Lucy, the only love Sweeney expresses in the whole show is love of killing machines (my friends here, another friend to describe the chair). Obviously contrasts with Lovett's love for him. His passion goes into his blades, and a sexual union is even suggested.
There's a huge contrast between Sweeney and Johanna in the bridge from his song to hers. Sweeney rises from the depths--he came out of the grave, and also sings low notes, while Johanna descents from the heights--she appears at the highest level of the Judge's mansion and sings high notes.
Johanna's character is also a perfect stereotypic melodramatic character. There is always a threatened seduction of a pure young innocent, and she must face many obstacles to try to find true love.
Johanna's state even changes in Green Finch. She first describes the bird's melody as "rejoicing" but later calls it "screaming." She often demonstrates she feels kind of like an ornament, not a real person, and only her decorative value is important.
Sondheim also wanted to include a clear sexual tension rising in the first "Johanna."
In Pirelli's elixir, a tension is achieved because the ensemble is divided into those who want to buy hair tonic and those who don't. A lot of rhymes in this song are similar to those of Cole Porter...rhyming elixir with "trick, sir"; "quick sir"; and "tick sir."
Apparently this scene is the most criticized in at least the original production. They understand it's importance to the plot, but they feel it interrupts the action too much and isn't as funny as it should be (is that one of the reasons the teeth scene is often cut? to cut down this scene?)
Also interesting, when Lovett suggests the throat-cutting gesture for Sweeney to do with Anthony...it makes HER the first to mention throat slitting, not him.
Now, I've always been confused about the Judge's Johanna. Was it actually cut from the original production, as in before it opened? I knew it was cut from subsequent versions, but I guess just b/c it's on the OBC CD, I never realized it might have even been cut from the original as well. What is everyone's thoughts on that? Is it a necessary song or should it be cut? Apparently it was cut for the sake of making the show shorter, even though it allows for more character development. So if it WAS cut from the original, was this revival the first to put it back in? Did the Teeny Todd Revival put it back in?
Ladies and their sensitivies actually provides a perfect example of a major theme between the appearance of outer beauty in the Victorian era and the ugliness on the inside of people. The Beadle purposely uses very big words to present himself as intelligent, but makes a tiny grammatical slip ("they resents it"), parallelling the ugly inside.
I never realized what an impact "Wait" has on "Pretty Women"--that the reason he hesitates so is because he listened to Lovett, wanting to prolong having the Judge under his power. I always thought that was just an idea he had...
Pretty is also another of Sondheim's favorite words. Here, pretty contrasts with the dark passion of Sweney and the judge. And again the theme of appearance vs. reality is reflected in the apparent jolliness of the song. The melody purposely distances itself from the horror. Apparently in the show, the more evil the horror, the more lyrical the music.
Obviously, Epiphany is his breakdown, where his vengeance goes from personal to universal. He also purposely mentions the oppressiveness of capitalism--that the only escape is death ("Because the lives of the wicked should be made brief. or the rest of us, death will be a relief--we all deserve to die!") There's a dualistic theme to the song of life and death, and of vengeance and salvation.The music reflects the splintering of Sweeney's personality, and the engine pounding under the song. There is distinct disintegration in the music, as there's short stacatto right near long sustained notes. The lyric that concludes the song is a triumphant one, but the musical line strongly denies that triumph.
This certainly could conclude act 1, but Sondheim wanted the comedy in the show to be equal to the tragedy, which is why he chose to end on A Little Priest. This song is structured like a typical British music hall turn. And even differences in Sweeney and Lovett are still demonstrated here. Lovett gets carried away, but Sweeneey never forgets the plan's relevance (him reciting the chorus).
As for God That's Good, Calvin, with your comparing Sweeney to the seven sins seems to take on a truth. The customers are referred to as "gluttonous." Go you! Also referred to as consuming greedily.
And I never realized the importance of Tobias' part in the song. The sales pitch is a complete satire on deceptive advertising.
It is also important because in this song, Sweeney's vision of cannibalism is realized, but he doesn't seem to care. But like he says in Epiphany, no single number amount of men will truly fulfill him, so it makes sense.
Once again, Sweeney sings a love song to a machine of death--in this case, the chair. He is being a sort of capitalist in his own right, perfecting and economizing the process of murder.
Johanna act 2...well, I knew there was a reason this is my favorite song in the show. Gah, the things that come out of it. First Anthony's lonely opening of the song illustrates that there still can be love in this corrupt world. But the whole point of Sweeney singing the song is to demonstrate how detached he has become of his own humanity (I'm fine Johanna...I miss you less and less), and it perfectly works in as he slits the throats. There's also a contrast in their words--Anthony's of hope, Sweeney's of good-bye.
The Beggar Woman here serves as the conscience of the city. It is also important to note she brings in a lot of religious references.
Lovett's complexity as a character is demonstrated in By the Sea. She is quite immoral, but still wants to be respectable--and married. The rhyming of proper and chopper in this song is particularly effective.
Apparently she plays here comes the bride at the end of the song. Didn't know that.
At this point in the show, the chorus begins to sound more-machine like.
Again obviously, in Not While I'm Around, Tobias casts Lovett as a Damsel in Distress, and tries to apply chivalristic principles. The music also reflects the song great, as everything gets much shorter and staccato and the notes ascend as he gets more anxious to convince Lovett that she is in danger. When Lovett repeats the love song, it takes on a menacing tone.
Then the chorus transforms itself into the inmates of Fogg's asylum (until now, the chorus has very much apparently served as a Brechtian chorus). A certain stylization exists in Sweeney, where climactic moments are intensified with intense theatrical devices.
City on Fire carries a very important theme. It is sung by the inmates, to show they are the only ones who know the truth about what's going on. This parallel's the Beggar Woman's refrain in Johanna--showing an idea that only the deranged can clearly see the truth behind appearances. It is also important that factory whistles are brought together with police whistles, showing the corruptness of both the law and the capitalists.
This is also Sondheim's first show where he makes wide use of reprises. He used to not think that as characters developed they should repeat previous emotional themes, but these reprieses occur to develop the characters and their relations. They come up more and more near the end of the show.
The show also kind of tricks you if you haven't realized the true identity of the Beggar Woman. You think the ultimate horror is going to occur, that Sweeney will kill Johanna, but then he doesn't, you think it's avoided. But then you realize by killing Lucy, it has already occurred.
After Sweeney kills Lovett, he repeats exactly what he sang at the beginning of the show. Nothing has changed. He still feels as hopeless as he did at the beginning.
When Tobias kills him, Sweeney can be seen as a tragic hero by him not resisting death. He must die because he understands how he has been both a victim and an instigator. The whole show is ambigious as good/evil, right/wrong cannot be clearly defined in Sweeney (sheds light on that thread asking if Sweeney is evil)
The repititon of the ballad once again signifies that this has been a story, not a series of real events. But of course there's the part where they point at everyone, accusing that they have a bit of Sweeney in them.
Some critics misunderstood this, and thought that the point was the audience was murderous like Sweeney, when the lyrics themselves show the tendency to want revenge is what is in us, not that we're gonna become homocidal murderers--that at times we can find cruelty and destruction appealing.
Another fascinating aspect of the show is that there is no simplistic moral that can be taken. Sweeney could have become a heroic figure of the underclass, and only disposed of the upper class, but he did not. His emotions override good/evil and he becomes more than human, but dehumanized.
I can't get over how most of Sondheim's works, but especially Sweeney has...just...so much to think about, so many decisions important meanings. Wow.
I am not becoming a Sondheim fanatic
I am not becoming a Sondheim fanatic
No, I am not unworthy of his words...
(Anyone buying this?)
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
What was the reason, was he sick or had a prior engagement? I know Hearn was a last minute replacement for him.
