Skip to main content
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Home For You Chat My Shows Register/Login Games Grosses

Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

New Post Search Report Abuse Rules

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

#1

Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:29pm

One thing I've always wondered about Sweeney and Lovett is if they ever ate the pies that Mrs. Lovett made?

They were the only two who knew what was in them. Sweeney had no problem killing his customers and Lovett had no problem baking them into pies...were they mad enough to eat them, too? Or did knowing what was in them make them impossible to eat?

At some point Sweeney and Lovett had to eat before her business picked up...did they sample the pies?
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#4

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:35pm

This isn't meant to be a funny question.

In all honesty...were both of them mad enough to be driven to the point of inhumanity where it didn't even phase them to eat the pies.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#6

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:36pm

mrs.l would of had to sample them to get the correct flavor and such
Attend the tale of Bovine Boy His party threads we all enjoy But does he have Mad Cow Disease? He doesn't eat beef - but cows skating? - oh please!!! With cocoa!?! And lemonade!?! The heifer-mad poster of Broadway (World)
#8

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:38pm

Taka, it's called character research.

Any good director would have the answer to that question. Or, the actor playing the part would have to make that decision for themselves. Is their Lovett inhumane enough to eat the pies...or is that too much even for her?
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#9

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:49pm

Foanatic, I think it's an extremely interesting question. Now I will question whether each production of Sweeney I see is communicating an answer through their subtext.

I'd like to see some clue that they've gone mad enough to eat the pies, in a production.

Dog eat dog, and all that.
[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.
#11

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 11:00pm

I never really pictured them going to that level... I really think infinitetheaterfrenzy is spot on in saying that it depends on the production/actor... for me I could not see Angela Lansbury's Lovett eating human pies.
#12

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 11:02pm

Yeah I sort of feel like their joy came out of watching other people do something so disgusting and inhuman. I don't think they wanted to try it themselves. It's like in the original "Snow White" when the Witch cooks Snow's "heart" into a pie and serves it to her father. It's the thrill of the other person not knowing what they're doing.
Madame Morrible: "So you take the chicken, now it must be a white chicken. The corpse can be any color. And that is the spell for lost luggage!" - The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken
#13

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 11:03pm

I don't think they would, personally. The joy seems to come from the hacking up/baking up, not from consuming the end product. [Insert cliche about the journey being more important than the destination.]
#14

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 11:48pm

Oh my gad, I'm glad I'm not the only person who's ever wondered that... I just always figured it was the sort of macabre sentiment you weren't supposed to express to other people :P
yr ronin,
joey
#16

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/24/07 at 11:58pm

The people pies aren't made yet during A LITTLE PRIEST. They both conceive the idea during PRIEST. And they imagine and fantasize about all the possibilities.

Updated On: 11/24/07 at 11:58 PM

#17

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 1:44am

ljay- Doesn't that depend on how the director directs PRIEST? They could very well be trying the pies, like a number that takes place over a course of many days. You can interpret it in different ways.
#18

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 2:05am

Not really. At the time of "A Little Priest" we know Sweeney has only murdered one person, Pirelli, and they are discussing what to do with him. They talk about how certain people would taste in pies, but they are certainly not actually sampling actual pies made of people. The whole song is just them joking with one another about such a sick and twisted subject.

There is no evidence in the actual show as it is written that they eat the pies, and I would seriously doubt that they actually do, but I would suppose it could be left open to personal interpretation. You will just be hard pressed to find any evidence to support this in the source material...
#20

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 4:58am

I also thought the song was moving forward in time during "A Little Priest." In the recent revival, I kind of remember a scene with Mrs. Lovett and a plate, and Sweeney was tasting from the plate.

Am I mis-remembering the scene?

Good, thought-provoking question, though! ^_^
#21

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 5:03am

See, that's the thing with Doylizing. Is Sweeney miming eating the pie or miming miming eating the pie?

Seriously, he's not eating the pie. No pies are consumed during "A Little Priest". They're joking about potential pies, and Sweeney brings it back to reality with the Judge and Beadle comments.
"Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"
#22

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 6:09am

I've wondered about this too!
"Writing is like prostitution. First, you do it for love, then you do it for a few friends, and finally you do it for money." ~ Moliere
#23

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 8:53am

It has never been confirmed in the history books that it actually took place. Names and places, yes, but actual events not fully confirmed.
A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!'' Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'
#24

re: Sweeney & Lovett - Did They Eat the Pies?

Posted: 11/25/07 at 9:40am

I have never actually thought about that. I don't think they would have cuz they actually knew what was in them.

However, I think Sweeney would have wanted a slice of the pie Turpin ended up in. After all, he did say:

I'll come again when you
Have JUDGE on the menu

But in A Little Priest, they're fantasizing about how people would taste. And how dare they say that actor arrives overdone.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you. --Cartman: South Park ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."

← Back to Message Board

BroadwayWorld TV

View all Videos

Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $95
More Hot Shows Discounts
Recommended For You