Sweeney mistake?

Oh, and while I'm at it, I might as well post my thoughts on the white coffin here too - which I didn't see mentioned elsewhere....

People are saying that it's too heavy-handed as the barber's chair - but I saw it as so much more than that. The white coffin represented the death of Sweeney's previous life, his "innocence" if you will. Remember, the coffin doesn't come on until the second act - after he's had his break with reality in epiphany. At this point he's sort of sealing his own fate, and the coffin which is cradled at appropriate times, represents his connection with the past. At some point (and I can't remember now when it was, I know it was VERY close to the end of the show - possibly even right before he himself gets killed) he lays the white coffin in the black one as though he's laying to rest his past.

It's also VERY appropriate that the judge gets killed while sitting on that coffin - the very thing he stole from Sweeney - it's the ultimate poetic justice.

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of all of the whole human race, Mrs. Lovett, there are two kinds of men- only two!

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I was thinking the over-looked part, myself...

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The line was NOT overlooked, people. Make of it what you will, its inclusion in this production is very much intentional.

Doyle has everything covered in the production. I'm sure it wasn't an oversight.

Smartpenguin, it seems that your reasoning makes complete sense that the physical image we see of the people onstage 'acting' out the part of the real characters may not match up with how they really were. The Lovett onstage is not necessarily the one that Toby had actually come in contact with onstage, idk.
If it was from his mind then and thats how they really looked than that is careless on their part, but I somehow doubt that.

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I think there is a little of both, that he sees the real people around him, and puts them into the roles. So they do look like the real people, but are not them, and may have physical distinctions.

(ie. I think "Sweeney" was actually bald, so when Toby sees the "bald guy" he automatically puts him in the role. I also see this as why Toby has the autoritarian Doctor "play" Pirelli.)

- Very nice example with the brunette Johanna, I thought I had read about that as well. To me it really adds to the nature of the production.

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Updated On: 4/30/06 at 01:27 AM

I saw the production in London and Johanna definitely had blonde hair...so maybe that was an u/s.


umm...other than that, I think I've decided I'm too dumb to figure out a lot of Sondhiem's stuff, I'll just enjoy my ignorance :)

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I asked. It was overlooked.