Analyzing the text of Sweeney Todd

How would one go about analyzing the text (libretto/lyrics) of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd...? There's lots to discuss from a music perspective (all of the influences involved in the score, etc.), but what can we discuss when it comes to the text/lyrics/libretto? I'm not saying that there is nothing to discuss, I'm having trouble analyzing the text for a project, and I'm wondering what would be a valid area to discuss within the script and lyrics?

Here I think Lehman Engel's "Words with Music" might be very helpful in framing an analysis, especially his explanation of standard elements of a libretto: plot, subplot, feeling, romance, comedy, etc.... this might inspire a review of how Sweeney incorporates all of them.

It may also be interesting to look at the text of the original play and examine the choices the librettist used in musicalizing the source material, what was left out, modified, expanded, etc., and how successful it was.

Updated On: 10/25/13 at 11:29 AM

Although while getting in-depth about the piece as the second replier suggests, you could touch on the first replier's topic in passing, so it's not bad to know about where analysis of the work might take you.

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If the style of language used is relevant, I remember reading something about the original play being partly in blank verse, which impressed Sondheim:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tuk9aSw7WWEC&q=blank+verse#v=snippet&q=blank%20verse&f=false

I read somewhere else that Hugh Wheeler decided to get rid of the blank verse in his version because he thought that together with the music it would make it all too over the top, but unfortunately I can't find that quote. (Anyone...?)

Anyway, Wheeler does give a brief comment on the adaptation here:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=abqI6I0t_BAC&pg=PT5&dq=sweeney+todd+robert+mack&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PxZrUpLRG82Argev-IHIBw&ved=0CDoQ6wEwAA#v=snippet&q=%22wonderful%20story%22&f=false

Glad I was helpful, musicaldude, btw Engel also has a chapter on adaptation that might be informative.

They posit that the song is Mrs Lovett's ruminations of what it WOULD BE LIKE by the sea in her fantasy scenario. And really, that is correct. They see no reason why the rumpled bedding line should be the one line excepted from that. Meaning that her fantasy life by the sea includes sleeping with Sweeney until the day they have a seaside wedding to legitimize it.

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Updated On: 10/26/13 at 06:46 PM

Thanks for the explanation; but Lovett cautions:

"We shouldn't try it,
Though, 'til it's legal for two-hoo!"

She says they can't even move to the sea until they are legally married, so the "rumpled bedding" can't be at the shore.

I imagine her sex life with Sweeney is like the rest of their interactions (except "Try Priest"): Mrs. Lovett takes the lead while Sweeney thinks about vengeance.

I think it's pretty obvious by Act II that Sweeney has moved in downstairs; otherwise he'd be sleeping in his shop.

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BTW, I should admit that I don't think the play succeeds or fails on this point.

Updated On: 10/27/13 at 01:05 PM

"We shouldn't try it,
Though, 'til it's legal for two-hoo!"

Or, this means that, after fantasizing in the earlier parts of the song about living together by the sea, it occurs to her that they shouldn't try it without getting married first. I think the word, "though" is the important word here. This is her ploy to really give HIM a reason he should marry her, which is her ultimate goal. She's stating that the idea of rumpled bedding could be legitimized simply by marrying instead...or so some would argue.

I also don't think it's really all that important to the success or failure of the play. Though I do think it adds interesting layers to it, depending on your point of view. I really don't have a terribly strong opinion one way or the other. Though I've seen many a ferocious debate about it and tend to side with those who think it's all wishful thinking on her part. It seems more fitting with the characters and I don't think the text decidedly supports either view in a definitive way.

I would like to think though, that if they were having sex, it would be just as you describe imagining it.

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Updated On: 10/27/13 at 02:15 PM

If they've been having sex, "By the Sea" is a far less interesting, fun and (creepy) song.

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For me, "By the Sea" is important because it was the moment when I realized Lovett is as crazy as Sweeney. ("Now and then you can do the guest in" and "Bring along your chopper".)

Joey, I don't see the problem with Lovett and Todd living in sin on Fleet Street. "By the Sea" isn't about sex so much as it is about middle-class propriety, and Sondheim is pointing out the irony of a mass-murderer/cannibal worrying that the neighbors will suspect her and Todd of petty impropriety. It's why ST is political with or without Prince's factory on stage.