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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 70 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Sweeney Todd
London. Yes, there's no place like London.
Bountiful. Sweeney was attempting escape from Botany Bay, Australia, used then as a British penal colony for hardened criminals. The ship is mentioned only once, in the first act (personally, I thought the other 'tissue paper' clues would help).
Foolishness. The unnamed charge was trumped up to remove him from the scene so Judge Turpin could seduce, and then abandon, Sweeney's wife Lucy.
Mrs. Mooney. She accuses Mrs. Mooney of using cats in her pies, and although Mrs. Lovett would also stoop that low, 'them pussycats is quick'. The role of Mrs. Lovett garnered a Tony award for Angela Lansbury.
Benjamin Barker. Barker lived with his wife, Lucy, and a daughter, Johanna.
She became his ward. One of the more nauseating twists in this show is the judge's unabashed (and truly sick) desire for Johanna, who he intends to marry. When he gets overzealous in his lust, he whips himself. The music piece relating to the whipping was deleted from the showing on PBS and HBO.
Signor Pirelli. Aside from cutting hair in the 19th century, a barber also doubled as a dentist. The 'tonsorial' contest included not only the closest shave, but the most painless tooth pulling. Todd won both, according to Beadle Bamford, who acted as judge at Todd's request.
He used to work for him. As O'Higgins, a self-professed 'down-on-his-luck Irish lad', he swept the floor as a boy working for Barker (Todd).
Anthony. A lovestruck Anthony has discovered Joanna and runs to tell Todd of the Judge's marriage plans, unaware that Todd has Turpin in the barber chair. The judge leaves in a huff, vowing never to return.
Mrs. Lovett. Both beneficial to protect Todd and further Mrs. Lovett's business, which has been short of good fresh meat for her pies. Thus, the theme is set for Todd to kill at leisure and he and Mrs. Lovett to reap in the meat pie profits. Includes one of the great songs in the show, 'A Little Priest'.
An insane asylum. Fogg's Asylum, to be precise.
A wigmaker. Wigmakers get their hair from the inmates in the asylum. After Sweeney trains him on various different shades of hair, Anthony retrieves Johanna, but drops the gun when confronted by Fogg. Johanna picks it up and shoots Fogg for her months of torment in the asylum.
Len Cariou. In the 1999 revival of the stage show, Grammer plays Todd opposite Chrsitine ('Cybil') Baranski as Mrs. Lovett and Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias.
Lucy. Todd's wife, not dead, but addled after an unsuccessful suicide attempt by taking poison.
| As Tobias mixes the meat for the pies in the cellar, he comes across various hints of what is truly happening (hair and nails). One more discovery drives the poor lad over the edge. What does he see? | 'Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street'
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The Beadle's body. His suspicions first surfaced when he sees Mrs. Lovett with the coinpurse. The Beadle's body in a locked cellar drove him over.
| Barbara Streisand's first 'Broadway Album' feature two songs from 'Sweeney Todd'...'Not While I'm Around' and another, used as a medley with 'The Ladies Who Lunch' from another Sondheim musical, 'Company'. What was the companion piece? | 'Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street'
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'Pretty Women'. Streisand wanted 'Pretty Women' on the album, but knew it wasn't a complete piece. She approached Sondheim with the suggestion of combining the two together.
Sweeney throws her in the oven.. Lovett knew that Todd's wife Lucy (the Beggar Woman) was still alive, but didn't tell him. Only when he was attempting to cremate the bodies did he recognize her face and knew the whole truth. He then dances with Lovett to maneuver her to the oven and toss her in.
Beadle, Beggar Woman, Judge, Lovett, Sweeney. Beadle Bamford dies first (for perjuring Todd to Australia). Todd kills the Beggar Woman (Lucy) and then finally gets his revenge on the Judge. After Sweeney kills Lovett, his throat is slit by a now-insane Tobias before the arrival of Anthony, Johanna and the police.
Nellie. Mrs. Lovett's is the only one in the play to ever refer to herself as Nellie.
tawny. Anthony must use this hair colour knowledge to get Johanna out of Fogg's asylum for the mentally deranged.
Ragg. Toby is a bit slow but is good at selling things that aren't worth buying.
| When Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are singing about different types of pie flavors and they are in a rhyming match in the middle of the song, which flavor stumps Sweeney? | The Quiz From Fleet Street
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locksmith. In this song, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett come up with the idea of putting human meat into pies.
attend. This first song is called "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and is sung by unnamed characters until Sweeney pops up.
Angela Lansbury. Ms. Lansbury was also in the children's movie, "Bed knobs and Broom Sticks."
Mr. Fogg. Anthony goes to Fogg's asylum pretending to be a wig maker.
rubies. Sweeney refers to his razors as "my friends."
beer. This line is from the song "A Little Priest."
Johanna. Johanna is actually his daughter who he has not seen for years.
hurry. From "The Worst Pies in London." Mrs. Lovette is having trouble selling her meat pies until Sweeney comes along and provides her with a disgusting substitute...human flesh.
| The introduction to the play is told by the chorus, with Sweeney Todd arriving just in time for the last verse. In that verse, he says to the audience, "What happens then..." How does he finish this? | "Sweeney Todd"
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"...well, that's the play". The entire line is: "What happens then? Well, that's the play, and he wouldn't want us to give it away. Not Sweeney. Not Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."
| After Sweeney fails to kill the judge the first time he has the opportunity, he rants about the injustice of the world. He sings "And my Lucy lies in ashes, and I'll never see my girl again. But..." But what? | "Sweeney Todd"
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"The work waits". The entire line is "But the work waits, I'm alive at last. And I'm full of joy!" He sings this as he decides to become a mass murderer. He plans to kill everyone who comes into his barber shop.
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