SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (TV)
Summary
A television presentation of the Tony Award-winning musical "Sweeney Todd," starring Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. Stephen Sondheim composed the score for the musical, which is based on a Victorian melodrama. The grisly tale concerns a mad barber who returns to London after fifteen years of unjust exile, to exact gruesome revenge upon the corrupt lawmen who banished him in order to steal his beloved wife and child. In Act I, Benjamin Barker, who has changed his name to Sweeney Todd, returns to London from exile in Australia. His return was aided by the heroism of a kind-hearted sailor, Anthony Hope, who pulled the barber aboard the ship Bountiful from his small, makeshift raft. As the two men bid each other farewell, a beggar woman passes by and believes that she recognizes Sweeney Todd. Sweeney shoos her away and proceeds to Fleet Street, his former home. At Fleet Street, he encounters Mrs. Lovett, owner of a meat pie shop. He induces her to tell the story of her former upstairs neighbors, Benjamin and Lucy Barker: Benjamin was ostracized by two foul officials, Judge Turpin and the Beadle, who had designs on his wife; when the barber was sent away on a trumped-up charge, the fragile Lucy committed suicide, leaving her one-year-old daughter, Johanna, as the ward of the unscrupulous judge. Sweeney Todd grows distraught at this news, clueing Mrs. Lovett in to his true identity. She promises to help Sweeney exact revenge. He opens a new barber shop after impressing the townsfolk with his skills in a contest with the "King of the Barbers," Adolpho Pirelli. Meanwhile, Johanna, now grown, is still in the clutches of Judge Turpin, who plans to marry his charge. However, the sailor Anthony also intends to marry the beautiful Johanna. The judge overhears Anthony's plans while in Todd's barber's chair, and he bolts angrily just as the barber is about to slit his throat with a razor. His vengeance foiled, Sweeney Todd loses his sanity completely, now vowing that all those who enter his shop, whether innocent or guilty, will meet with death. Mrs. Lovett savors this news and makes plans to put the meaty remains to use. Musical highlights include "The Worst Pies in London" and "Wait" (Lansbury), "My Friends" and "A Little Priest" (Lansbury and Hearn), "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" (cast), and "Ladies in Their Sensitivities" (Calvin Remsberg).
In Act II, business is flourishing at both the barber shop and the meat pie store. Sweeney Todd has yet to enact his plan for vengeance upon Judge Turpin and the Beadle, but he has been "practicing" his hideous craft with his razor upon innocent throats. Judge Turpin and the Beadle have meanwhile carried out further treachery: they have committed the barber's daughter, Johanna, to Mr. Fogg's Asylum for the Mentally Deranged so that she cannot marry Anthony. The innocent sailor follows a rescue plan devised by Sweeney Todd, who has become increasingly obsessed with murdering those who have wronged him. As the barber's plans for revenge comes closer to fruition, he begins to lose all control, killing all in his path who threaten to stop his bloody schemes or reveal his true identity. But when a secret about one of his victims is revealed, Sweeney Todd is left distraught, begging for forgiveness. Musical highlights include "By the Sea" (Lansbury) and "Johanna" (Hearn and Chris Groenendaal).
(This program also aired on Showtime on March 11, 1984, at 8:00 p.m.)
Details
- NETWORK: Entertainment Channel
- DATE: November 30, 1981
- RUNNING TIME: 2:20:04
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29496
- GENRE: Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Musical revues, comedies, etc.; Music, popular (songs, etc.)
- SERIES RUN: Entertainment Channel - TV, 1982
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ellen M. Krass … Executive Producer
- Archer King … Executive Producer
- Arnold M. Huberman … Executive Producer, For The Entertainment Channel
- Bonnie Burns … Producer
- Phyllis Nelson … Associate Producer
- Harold Prince (See also: Hal Prince) … Director, Directed for the stage by
- Terry Hughes … Director, Directed for television by
- James Rich … Production (Misc.), Executive in Charge of Production
- Richard King … Production (Misc.), Production Coordinator
- Bruce Malter … Production (Misc.), Production Coordinator
- Richard Barr … Producer, Originally produced on Broadway by
- Charles Woodward … Producer, Originally produced on Broadway by
- Robert Fryer … Producer, Originally Produced on Broadway by
- Mary Lea Johnson … Producer, Originally produced on Broadway by
- Martin Richards … Producer, Originally produced on Broadway by
- Dean Manos … Production (Misc.), Originally produced on Broadway, in association with
- Judy Manos … Production (Misc.), Originally produced on Broadway, in association with
- Stephen Sondheim … Composer, Lyricist
- Hugh Wheeler … Librettist, Book by
- Christopher Bond … Writer, Based upon the play by
- Paul Gemignani … Music (Misc. Credits), Musical Director
- Jim Coleman … Conductor
- Jonathan Tunick … Music (Misc. Credits), Orchestrations by
- Larry Fuller … Choreographer, Dance and movement by
- George Hearn … Cast, Sweeney Todd
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Mrs. Lovett
- Chris Groenendaal … Cast, Anthony Hope
- Sara Woods … Cast, Beggar Woman
- Edmund Lyndeck … Cast, Judge Turpin
- Calvin Remsberg … Cast, the Beadle
- Betsy Joslyn … Cast, Johanna
- Ken Jennings … Cast, Tobias Ragg
- Sal Mistretta … Cast, Pirelli
- Spain Logue … Cast, the Birdseller
- Walter Charles … Cast, the Passerby
- Michael Kalinyen … Cast, Jonas Fogg
- Roy Gioconda … Cast
- Skip Harris … Cast
- Duane Morris … Cast
- Patricia Parker … Cast
- Meredith Rawlins … Cast
- Stuart Redfield … Cast
- Candace Rogers … Cast
- Dee Etta Rowe … Cast
- Carrie Solomon … Cast
- Melanie Vaughan … Cast
- Joseph Warner … Cast