Sweeney Movie/Stage Differences (SPOILERS)

[Chason]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 9:09pm

Please! Please! Saw the film of Sweeney Todd last night (my only version) and absolutely thought it hung the moon! It was terrific - in so many ways. Can you tell me how it differs from the stage version? On stage did he actually throw Mrs. Lovett into the fire? Does it end the same? I know people have stated that songs were shortened/cut... but by how much and which ones were cut completely? I think I'm going to buy that stage version that has Angela Landsbury (is it still available?) so I guess I will find out soon enough... but I NEED to know now! The movie was just so incredible. I can't wait to someday see it on stage.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 9:48pm

The stage version with Lansbury is still available.

In the show (SPOILERS):

Pirelli is Irish when he reveals himself.
Lovett is thrown into the oven.
Johanna kills Fogg, not the inmates.
Pirelli also has a tooth pulling contest with Todd (not in the tour or recent revival).
Tobias goes crazy at the end, and has a short speech before killing Todd.
The songs Kiss Me, The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, City on Fire, and the choral parts in God That's Good and Pirelli's Miracle Elixir are in the show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 9:51pm

The movie is VERY similar and faithful to the stage version. *Spoiler* yes she still gets thrown into the oven. The Doyle revival changed that though. The stage version obviously has more songs, I think most of the differences would be in the act 2 portions. The movie's Lovett is much more fleshed out in which would be act 2 on stage. John Logan really developed her relationship with Toby and love for Todd. In the stage version Mrs. Lovett stalls the Beadle when he comes to check the Bakehouse, and they have a whole song.. "Parlor Songs." But in the film they get straight to his death. The biggest difference is probably the ending.

[Chason]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 9:51pm

Thank you! I know you must have loved the movie since it's your avitar. You gave me lots to go on... and I appreciate that a lot.

[Chason]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 10:39pm

"The biggest difference is probably the ending"
____________________________________________________
No WAY! You can't just SAY that and then not tell me HOW!!! Please?????

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 10:42pm

*Spoilers*

Well the ending is similar. Toby kills Todd. BUT in the stage version Toby goes crazy in the cellar/sewer (whatever) from witnessing all the bodies dropping and the death of Lovett. He comes out of the cellar with white hair from the shock, and he's completely insane now, and he slits Todd's neck. Then he goes on and on about the pies and the meat grinder, and then the police, Johanna, and Anthony bust in on him. Then they all break character and sing the final ballad. In the movie, Toby is very sure he wants to kill Todd.
Updated On: 12/31/07 at 10:42 PM

[Chason]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 5:56am

"In the movie, Toby is very sure he wants to kill Todd"
__________________________________________________________
And why SHOULDN'T he?
Thank you for those differences. I appreciate that.
I have had a couple of friends ask me "But what happened to Johanna (sic) and Toby?"
In the movie there is no reason to doubt that they followed through with their plans.
In the play? Tell me how it differs?
(SPOILER ALERT!) (BELLS & WHISTLES!) ("Don't be coming in here if you don't want to know!") (Door SLAMBS. Looking out PEEP HOLE: "You still there?") You HAVE been warned.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 10:19am

*Spoiler* On stage, Toby doesn't enter with the intention of killing Sweeney. He sort of stumbles in, happens upon Sweeney, who is ignoring Tobias this entire time, and then eventually sees the razor and then kills him. Also, a tiny bit of the dialogue is different in the Final Scene, most notbaly Sweeney in the movie just says "You knew she lived" and then the scene goes on from there. The line in the stage version, however, is "You knew she lived. From the moment I walked into your shop you knew my Lucy lived." It was probably just to make it a bit more clear to the audience who the Beggar Woman was.

Other differences:
-The Beggar Woman's first appearance on stage is in the first scene (First time she sings to Sweeney "Don't I know you, Mister?"). Also, in the show, the Beggar Woman's personality changes from begging for alms to becoming extremely sexual.
-Songs that were left completely intact in the movie: Worst Pies in London, A Barber and His Wife, My Friends, Johanna (Anthony's version), Wait, Pretty Women, Epiphany, and Not While I'm Around. Everything else either had a verse or two cut, or cut out the ensemble choral sections.
-Sweeney first strangles Pirelli, then slits his throat. Not the tea kettle bit in the movie.
-Lyric change in Poor Thing. Stage version:
There were these two, you see
Wanted her like mad
One of them a Judge, 'tother one his Beadle
Everyday they'd nudge and they'd weedle
But she wouldn't budge from her needle

Movie version:
There was this Judge, you see
Wanted her like mad
Everyday he'd send her a flower
But did she come down from her tower?
Sat up there and sobbed by the hour.

Every other change is really miniscule.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 11:37am

"Not While I'm Around" had a minor cut in it.

[roseaddams]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 11:44am

There's also quite a bit more to the Johanna / Anthony relationship. Like, they actually speak to each other before Anthony comes to take her. They have a song together in which they both decide together to run off and get married. Also, Johanna doesn't have that line near the end saying that "The ghosts never go away." The relationship is a lot more silly and mutually happy on stage.

Also, as far as complete songs, Sweeney's second-act Johanna is complete as well.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 12:06pm

Well, we on stage we get to see Johanna and Anthony's first interaction-we only hear about it in the film. And no, Sweeney's "Johanna" isn't complete, given that Johanna's section is cut out.

And yes, "Not While I'm Around" cut out the "two quid was in it" section.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 12:27pm

"-Sweeney first strangles Pirelli, then slits his throat. Not the tea kettle bit in the movie."

In one of the trailers, it was probably the second one, there was a brief shot of Todd strangling Pirelli. So maybe that was filmed, but replaced with something else.


They cut Johanna out of the "Johanna" reprise, so instead of a quartet, it's a trio with Todd, Anthony, and The Beggar Woman.

It's funny because my sister loves Tobias's monologue at the end of Sweeney and she was a bit peeved that they cut it out of the movie.

[Studmuffn520]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 1:08pm

i hope they did film alot of these things but just didnt put them in the movie. hopefully they'll be on special features on the dvd or something.

[masterthes]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 1:20pm

Also, Turpin's version of "Johanna" is cut from the film

[Pippin]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 1:37pm

well, Chason, I'm very glad that you loved the movie so much, especially after you had THIS to say about it about it a few months ago.
Chason's Sweeney rant

[roquat]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 2:20pm

In the stage version, at the end, when Sweeney is about to kill Johanna, Mrs. Lovett's screams from the bakehouse (the dying Judge is clutching at her skirt) distract him, and Johanna manages to get down the stairs and escape. He doesn't suddenly have a complete change of heart and just release her.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 2:33pm

*spoilers* As amazing as it would have been to have seen Tobias gone mad and grinding them up (I believe that's what happens, at least in the revival, right?)... that last shot at the end of the movie was just too beautiful to mess with, I think. I mean, it was morbid, but still just a gorgeous picture (and very romantic in a.. incredibly bittersweet way) and I think had they kept the actual ending from the stage production... well, it would have messed with Burton's vision and what he wanted the audience to walk away from the film feeling. Hopefully that makes sense?

[roquat]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 3:05pm

Actually, in the stage version, I never understood why Anthony and Johanna return to the shop with the police at the end. They're still wanted themselves for Fogg's death--how on earth are they going to explain all of this?

[piperlacyboo]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 3:05pm

I didn't buy Sweeney releasing Johanna unless he really recognized her, but it sure didn't seem that way. I'm glad it didn't end with Tobias because that final picture was absolute perfection.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 3:47pm

I don't think in the film that Sweeney has a totaly change of heart. This is probably just me who notices this, but in Sweeney's lyrics after he *not really a spoiler* kills Judge Turpin*end not real spoiler*, he sings to his razor "Rest now, my friend. Rest now forever." So releasing Johanna was a way of sort of keeping that promise he just sang. Call him crazy and morbid (which he is), but Sweeney is a man of his word. When he says he's going to do something, he does it. And that lyric about resting his razors forever I felt was no exception.

[James885]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 4:46pm

There are also some minor lyric changes in the first part of The Contest.

In the stage show, the lyrics are:

To shave-a da face,
To pull-a da toot',
Require da grace
And not-a da brute,
For if-a you slip,
You nick da skin,
You clip-a da chin,
You rip-a da lip a bit
And dat's-a da trut'!

To shave-a da face
Or even a part
Widout it-a smart
Require da heart
It take-a da art —
I show you a chart —
I study-a starting in my yout'!


In the movie, the lyrics are:

To shave-a da face
To cut-a da hair
require da grace
require da flair
for if-a you slip,
you nick-a da skin
you clip-a da chin
you rip-a da lip a bit
beyond-a repair!

To shave-a da face
Or even a part
Widout it-a smart
Require da heart
Not just-a da flash,
It take-a panache,
It take-a da passion
For da art!

The lyrics were probably changed for the movie because the tooth pulling sequence was cut from the stage show, and since Sweeney only challenges Pirelli to a shaving contest in the film, it would have been strange to have Pirelli singing about pulling teeth.

Updated On: 1/1/08 at 04:46 PM

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 10:04pm

Did Laura Michelle kelly play Lucy in the flashbacks as well as the Beggar Woman?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/1/08 at 10:36pm

Yes.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 1:27am

Yeah, and I could tell right through that make-up job that it was the same actress. I wonder if that was Burton's intent, to have you know it was Lucy through the whole thing?

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 1:29am

No, that was not Burton's intent. I think they did pretty good job of disguising her.