#johanna barker

[little-lovett]

there is SO much depth and beauty in the stories we hear in sweeney todd. a murderer who was once a doting father, so blind with hatred and anger towards the world that he couldn’t even see his own wife and daughter, staring him right in the face. a woman down on her luck and in love, trying so desperately to make a connection with a deeply broken and disturbed human. an unfortunately innocent and unknowing boy who ended up being the one who could sense the dark truth. a love at first sight that refused to die, even when torn apart by the disgusting perversion of a greedy abuser. sweeney todd is about all of these people, doing absolutely horrible things, all out of some form of love. that’s the beauty of sweeney todd. sweeney killed for a father and husband’s love. lovett baked real people with real lives into pies to maintain a shallow, lustful relationship she impossibly dreamed would bloom into true romance. turpin destroyed an innocent family because he could not contain his ‘love’ for a pretty woman and her daughter. toby slit a throat because his mother figure was all he had, and he loved her, simply and purely, as an innocent child loves a mother. their love is the purest of all in the story.

but my point is — yes, sweeney todd is about a murderer and his accomplice who cannibalizes and sells his victims. but it’s not. sweeney todd is about love. how love is even stronger and more dangerous than the deepest hate. it’s about how love can destroy people. this show is so beautifully, deeply, disgustingly human. and this dark, telling tale is somehow warped into some of the most gorgeous music to ever be written and made hilarious, lovable, and entertaining. musical theatre is truly magic. human nature is love and filth and greed. sweeney todd perfectly embodies both of these ideas.

[lunarhobbits]

so i saw sweeney todd the other day and it's consuming my thoughts

+ bonus meta meme

[elliart7]

"..Are you screaming?"

✨ This is the companion piece to my new YT video that'll be coming out soon, concerning female representation in fictional media 👀. Be on the look out for that! Unfortunately there was a copyright issue but it should be up and running soon

[can-of-w0rmz]

The Sweeney Todd brainrot is real

[ashleyslorens]

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

forever thinking about johanna shooting fogg and what it says for both her and anthony as characters

because the whole show, from the very first scene, we've been set up to see anthony and sweeney as parallels of one another; anthony is sweeney back when he was benjamin, he's full of hope, he's in love (with a woman who looks almost identical to lucy), and then he gets that love brutally ripped away by judge turpin

in 'no place like london' sweeney says: "you are young, life has been kind to you-- you will learn" and by the point in the show where anthony is going to rescue johanna we're almost inclined to agree with him

except anthony cannot shoot the gun, he's not like sweeney in that he cannot kill another person even if it was to save someone he loved. anthony is never going to become sweeney todd.

and then we realize that we've been looking at the wrong person the whole show, and it's so obvious it's laughable: johanna shoots the gun.

johanna who has been raised to be silent and obedient and perfect, johanna who, without knowing the half of it, has had everything taken away from her by judge turpin, her mother, her father, and her freedom. johanna who we've been led to believe is the lucy to anthony's sweeney.

she is fully justified in shooting fogg, no one could fault her for it, but she doesn't even hesitate.

in that moment she is her father's daughter.

that isn't to say that I think johanna is going to go on a killing spree after the musical, obviously, but it's such a fascinating scene in terms of their development: because despite it all anthony is still the same, and because of it all johanna is not

anthony is the last bit of hope left in the story, and johanna is the last bit of sweeney

[trashpidgeon48]

I can’t believe my adopted father has suddenly proposed marriage to me, this sucks so bad i need to [remembers suicide jokes only worsen my mental health] marry Anthony Sunday.

[jesperr-fahey]

something about. the survivors in sweeney todd. about how it's the children. it's anthony and johanna and toby. the adults are parents and tormenters for these three, and at the end of the show, they're gone.

it's up to you now, kids.

you, anthony, do you realize what todd did? the man you trusted as much as your own limbs, the man who's life you saved. he's gone, now, and he was a killer all along, but he killed the judge before he went. and the judge would've killed you. so where do you go from here? who do you trust now? can you build that beautiful life with the woman you loved?

you, johanna, do you know what happened to your family? your mother, insane, begging, dead. your father, banished, killing, dead. the man who ruined them both, who tried to ruin you, dead. was he right, to put you in that place, with the mumbling and raving mad? the bird is free, but will she ever sing again?

you, toby, do you know what you've done? the razor in your hand, the blood on the floor. the man who gave you a job, murdered and shoved into a crate, cooked and served. the woman you swore to protect, thrown away and burnt like waste. the man who did it, the demon you warned her against, dead at your hand. can you see it? can you realize it? who's the demon now?

[come-see-our-show]

anthony compares johanna to a bird because she’s beautiful and melodic and mesmerizing not realizing she’s also a bird because she’s twitchy and flighty and anxiety-ridden

[nigft]

my cage has many rooms, damask and dark

[iambecomeahamburger]

Sweeney Todd (2023) + Onion headlines

[atimburtonfan]

[timegays]

I can’t take it here

[droughtofapathy]

Earlier today, several of Sarah Rice's close personal friends announced her death on social media. Sarah, the original Joanna in Sweeney Todd, was also a regular performer at the monthly Sondheim Unplugged cabaret series up until a little over a year ago. To celebrate this incredible actress, please enjoy a few of my audio clips from her time with Sondheim Unplugged, including her final performance of "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," a hilarious story about the late Angela Lansbury, and a sadly appropriate farewell song.

[ashleyslorens]

“The red on my nails is the result of Johanna's self harm that she puts herself through to kind of, you know, take her mind away from all the turmoil in her life, with, you know, being captive by Judge Turpin and that awful reality that she has. Me and Tommy Kail just kinda came together and thought this would be an interesting and gruesome little easter egg for Johanna.” - Maria Bilbao

[little-lovett]

yes i’m fine sorry i was just zoning out but right before sweeney kills lucy he says “the judge… i have no time!” and mrs. lovett represents the virtue of patience in the show and she had sang a whole song telling him to wait and take things slow and relax and think through his decisions.

the thing that destroys everyone in this show is impatience. if anthony had waited before intruding on sweeney and the judge, if sweeney had stopped obsessing when and where and how he could kill the beadle and judge, if sweeney hadn’t felt suffocated by the crushing, endless force of time and looked his own little girl and his wife in the eye and really thought and reached into the soul that was still in him, sweeney todd wouldn’t be the tragedy that it is. human nature bitches human nature