Sweeney Todd - A Little Priest Question

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 9:22pm

Can someone please explain why the following line is so funny - it brings down the house every time it is sung - i don't know why!!! :

"Since marine doesn't appeal to you, how about rear admiral?"
"No, no, it's too salty."

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 10:20pm

Admirals are on boats.

Boats are in salt water and salty air.

Admirals=salty.


Geeze!

[minicko88]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 11:25pm

I got that one, but the one I never understand is "Locksmith"?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 11:37pm

^That one is more in the delivery -- there's no rhyme and they are forced to abandon that round of the game.

[Glitter and be Gay]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 11:37pm

Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are trading rhymes back and forth, each one trying to top the other, then she throws out "locksmith" and stumps him. He can't rhyme it and she knows it. She takes a beat then changes tack and the song continues.

[minicko88]

Posted: 9/3/10 at 11:51pm

ahhh GOT YA!

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 2:14am

It took me a full year after I first heard the score to get the Locksmith joke...I was too embarrassed to ask anyone.

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 12:53pm

In British slang a sailor is a "salt". Retired sailors are often referred to as old salts.

[maggiemar142]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 1:22pm

not to be a prick, but it's "royal admiral". she's just using a british accent when she says it.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 1:29pm

^ ^ ^ ^

Are you quite sure? It's definitely "royal marine", but I'm pretty sure it's rear admiral".

[maggiemar142]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 1:34pm

i don't have a libretto, but i'm fairly sure it's "royal" both times.
Updated On: 9/4/10 at 01:34 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 1:59pm

Ask Angela ;)

[musikman]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 2:00pm

MRS. LOVETT: Since marine doesn't appeal to you, how about rear admiral?
TODD: Too salty. I prefer general.
MRS. LOVETT: With or without his privates? "With" is extra. (TODD chortles)

you might be confusing it with this? :

MRS. LOVETT:
Well, then, if you're British and loyal,
You might enjoy Royal
Marine.
(TODD makes a face)
Anyway, it's clean.
Though, of course, it tastes of wherever it's been.

[maggiemar142]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 2:17pm

yea, Angela does a very clear "rear" and Patti's sounds more like "royal". and it would be very unlike Sondheim to reuse a word like that. so i guess i was wrong. sorry, ghostlight. sorry, musicaldudepeter.
Updated On: 9/5/10 at 02:17 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 9/4/10 at 8:06pm

Edited so as not to be mean - but honestly, when you go to correct someone, you should first be sure you're right. Beyond that, when it's proven that you're wrong in your correction of someone else, graciously concede and admit your error. Don't grudgingly say that they're "probably right" when they definitely are.


Updated On: 9/4/10 at 08:06 PM

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 11:32am

In the "general--with or without his privates," I get that line, but I don't understand the "with is extra" line.

[iflip4musicals]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 11:36am

I always assumed she was saying that she would charge extra if someone wanted the general with his privates.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 11:46am

That's what I thought, but the laugh always comes after "with is extra", and I think it should come after "with or without his privates?".

[abitoftap]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 12:19pm

"with or without his privates?"....which is almost a classic carry on... line.

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 1:17pm

I had a prof. at school who said this song was perfect except for one mistake -- in England, politicians "stand" for office not "run" as in "Here's a politician so oily it's served with a doily have one. Put it on a bun, well you never know if it's going to run"

[A Little Priest]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 2:04pm

This is especially embarrassing considering my username, but I've never quite understood why the trouble with poet is, how do you know it's deceased?
Updated On: 9/5/10 at 02:04 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 2:45pm

Rhyming for the sake of rhyming. Porter did it all the time (see "You're the Top").

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 2:49pm

Think along the lines of the modern emo/goth poet, stereotypically shown as depressed, moping, and brooding. Many of the poets of the Romantic period were much the same.

So, is this poet just sitting around depressed and moping, or is he dead?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 2:51pm

^ ^ ^ ^

What AEA SM said. It is a great rhyme, though.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 9/5/10 at 3:07pm

BTW: jasonf, that's like when Henry Higgins sings "By law she should be taken out and hung / for the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue." A grammar nazi like he would know it's "hanged."

Also, in "An Ordinary Man" he keeps saying "... than to ever let a woman in my life." It really should be "... than EVER to let a woman in my life." But I suppose it hurts the music... or rhyme in the case above.

Still, it goes against character.

Updated On: 9/5/10 at 03:07 PM