Sweeney Todd Context
Introduction
“Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is a well known play and musical capturing the audience’s attention as to what can happen behind closed doors. I will be reporting the background context of the musical and how Victorian life could influence the storyline and characters. I will cover historical, social, political, economical, cultural and technical aspects of the musical. “Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (which I will now refer to as “Sweeney Todd”) originated from a play by Christopher Bond, then a musical with a book. The music and lyrics for the musical was written by Stephen Sondheim and was first performed in 1979. The book was written by Hugh Wheeler. “Sweeney Todd” is set in Victorian London, primarily Fleet Street. The main characters are; Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Nellie Lovett, Judge Turpin, Beadle Bamford, Johanna, Anthony and Tobias (Toby). The themes of “Sweeney Todd” are mainly love and revenge but other themes are underlying throughout the story. To start reporting my research I will discuss the historical findings and its origins in greater depth.
Historical
The first stimulus for the story of “Sweeney Todd” was thought to be based around the 14th century French ballad. It was based on a tale that crossed the English Channel and back again of a barber would kill his customers and feed them to the local pastry merchant.
The story of the Sawney Bean family is one of the most gruesome Scottish legends and dates back to the 1600’s. Alexander Sawney Bean was the head of a family of cannibals, who oversaw a 25-year reign of murder from a hidden sea cave on the Ayrshire/Galloway coast in the 15th century. There are numerous written sources detailing the account of Sawney and his family, and it has been suggested that the legend has its roots in real events. This could be a contributing factor to the story of “Sweeney Todd”.
Joseph Fouche served as Minister of Police in Paris from 1799 to 1815. He documented a
“Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is a well known play and musical capturing the audience’s attention as to what can happen behind closed doors. I will be reporting the background context of the musical and how Victorian life could influence the storyline and characters. I will cover historical, social, political, economical, cultural and technical aspects of the musical. “Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (which I will now refer to as “Sweeney Todd”) originated from a play by Christopher Bond, then a musical with a book. The music and lyrics for the musical was written by Stephen Sondheim and was first performed in 1979. The book was written by Hugh Wheeler. “Sweeney Todd” is set in Victorian London, primarily Fleet Street. The main characters are; Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Nellie Lovett, Judge Turpin, Beadle Bamford, Johanna, Anthony and Tobias (Toby). The themes of “Sweeney Todd” are mainly love and revenge but other themes are underlying throughout the story. To start reporting my research I will discuss the historical findings and its origins in greater depth.
Historical
The first stimulus for the story of “Sweeney Todd” was thought to be based around the 14th century French ballad. It was based on a tale that crossed the English Channel and back again of a barber would kill his customers and feed them to the local pastry merchant.
The story of the Sawney Bean family is one of the most gruesome Scottish legends and dates back to the 1600’s. Alexander Sawney Bean was the head of a family of cannibals, who oversaw a 25-year reign of murder from a hidden sea cave on the Ayrshire/Galloway coast in the 15th century. There are numerous written sources detailing the account of Sawney and his family, and it has been suggested that the legend has its roots in real events. This could be a contributing factor to the story of “Sweeney Todd”.
Joseph Fouche served as Minister of Police in Paris from 1799 to 1815. He documented a