History Characters / SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:The audience certainly doesn't object to Sweeney killing him, but it's also a major KickTheDog moment in that this is how the secret of the pies is ultimately revealed to Toby, as he falls down the chute and into the evil basement Mrs. Lovett has locked him in.]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Sweeney's a raging SerialKiller, yes. However, the audience have no problems with him killing [[spoiler: Pirelli, who abuses Toby and tries to blackmail Sweeney. Or Beadle Bamford, who watched Turpin rape Lucy with a sick smile on his face and sadistically beats Anthony. Or even Mrs. Lovett, who lies to Sweeney about his wife's fate out of jealousy. And ''especially'' not Judge Turpin, who had Sweeney falsely imprisoned, raped Lucy, intends to do the same to Johanna and sends her to an asylum when she refused, sentences a child to death by hanging, and orders Beadle to beat Anthony.]]

* PayEvilUntoEvil: [[spoiler:When he kills Judge Turpin, the man who sent him into his downward spiral.]]

** In stage performances that include "The Contest (Part 2)", Pirelli strikes Toby in the face to demonstrate his (lack of) tooth-pulling skill.

* AdaptationalSkill: Some portrayals (like the movie) have him decent with the shaving razor, though still no match for Todd. However, he's often an absolutely pathetic barber, with his volunteer clearly in pain [[DangerouslyCloseShave while being shaved]].

* KickTheDog: Judge Turpin is a dog-kicking machine. He has an innocent barber transported for life so he can get at his wife, tricks said wife into coming to your mansion (where he has a wild party in progress) so he can rape her. He sentences an eight-year-old boy to death and doesn’t give a damn whether he was innocent. He keeps his adoptive daughter (the daughter of the woman he raped) locked in his mansion because he wants her for himself, and even throws the poor girl into a madhouse after she's made it abundantly clear she wants nothing to do with him and wants to marry a sailor boy.

* KickTheDog: Judge Turpin is a dog-kicking machine. Having an innocent barber transported for life so you can get at his wife? Check. Tricking said wife into coming to your mansion (where you have a wild party in progress) so you can rape her? Check. Sentencing an eight-year-old boy to death and not giving a damn whether he was innocent or guilty? Check. Keeping your adoptive daughter (the daughter of the woman you raped) locked in your mansion because you want her for yourself? Check. Throwing the poor girl into a madhouse after she's made it abundantly clear she wants nothing to do with you and wants to marry a sailor boy? CHECK.

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/VictorGarber (Original Broadway Cast), Davis Gaines (2001 Concert), Creator/JamieCampbellBower (2007 film), Jordan Fisher (2023 Broadway revival)

!!!'''Played by:''' Ken Jennings (Original Broadway Cast), Creator/NeilPatrickHarris (2001 Concert), Ed Sanders (2007 film), Creator/GatenMatarazzo (2023 Broadway revival)

* VillainHasAPoint: Throughout the play and the film, she advises Todd to stop obsessing over the past and move on with his life. Granted, what she really wants is for Todd to move on and start a new life with ''her'', and she's [[spoiler: lying about Lucy being dead]], but she's also not wrong in suggesting that Todd would be better off if he wasn't fixated on revenge.

* WrongGenreSavvy: He fancies himself the hero of a RescueRomance, saving the DamselInDistress Johanna from the clutches of her evil guardian, and expects a HappilyEverAfter. He ''might'' get it, but we don't know for sure -- and even if he does, Johanna has a ''lot'' of emotional damage she's going to need help with. At least he's the kind of guy who will always be willing to do so.

* SlashedThroat: He kills all of his victims this way, [[spoiler:excluding (in the film) Judge Turpin, who he repeatedly ''stabs'' in the throat, and Mrs Lovett, who he pushes into the oven. He eventually falls victim to his himself at the hands of Toby in the film's climax.]]

* AdaptationDyeJob: The penny dreadful version has dark hair. The musical and film versions are blonde, though there ''are'' alternate lyrics available for if she's played by a woman of color or just someone who isn't blonde hair.

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/LenCariou (Original Broadway Cast), George Hearn (2001 Concert), Creator/JohnnyDepp (2007 film), Michael Ball (West End, 2012), Music/JoshGroban (2023 Broadway revival)

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/AngelaLansbury (Original Broadway Cast), Creator/PattiLuPone (2001 Concert, 2005 Broadway revival), Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (2007 film), Creator/ImeldaStaunton (West End, 2012), Creator/AnnaleighAshford (2023 Broadway revival)

Character page for ''[[Franchise/SweeneyTodd Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' (the [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet musical]] by Music/StephenSondheim and the [[Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet 2007 film]] by Creator/TimBurton).

** In "The String of Pearls", the penny dreadful the play is based on, Sweeney Todd is an unrepentant murderer motivated by {{greed}} and bloodlust with no sympathetic or redeeming qualities. In this musical, he's a tragic character. He used to be a normal family man, until a corrupt judge deported him to Australia for a crime he didn't commit to get at his wife. When he comes back, he initially only wants to take revenge on said judge and his beadle, but unfortunate circumstances and his own increasing insanity drive him to commit worse and worse crimes. To top it all off, he's absolutely horrified when [[spoiler:he realizes that he unwittingly killed his wife]].

* AgeLift: In ''The String of Pearls'' she's probably in her late twenties, but in the musical she's in her forties, according to the libretto.

* AdaptationNameChange: Downplayed. In the original story and all other adaptations, "Sweeney Todd" was by all accounts his real name. In this specific adaptation, it is an alias.

* InformedAttribute: He is stated to be a beadle, but given the lack of uniform in the film or any filmed stage production. He is shown doing his job a few times, but without the uniform he bears a stronger resemblance to a Victorian era plainclothes policeman.

* {{Expy}}: To Judge Claude Frollo of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''. Both men are aging and morally bankrupt judges who become father figures at late points in life. They didn't plan on it, but it's their own damn fault. They both do a completely abysmal job of it by keeping their "child" locked up. And most disturbingly of all, they both lust after a woman young enough to be their granddaughter.

* ChekhovsGunman: As it turns out, Sweeney ''does'' know her. [[spoiler:''She's his long lost wife.'']]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: It speaks to how dark the play is. He cons people into buying a bullshit product, abuses his assistant, tries to blackmail his old boss, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking fakes a ridiculous Italian accent]]. All horrible things, but compared to corrupt ephebophillic rapist Judge Turpin and crazed SerielKiller Sweeney Todd, he doesn't come off quite as awful.

* PrisonChangesPeople: By the start of the musical, fifteen years spent unlawfully imprisoned in an Australian PenalColony have turned the title character from a naive and "foolish" barber into a bitter, vengeful, and deeply cynical man with no moral qualms about killing to keep his secrets. This his is before he snaps and becomes a full-blown SerialKiller, by the way.

Character page for ''[[Franchise/SweeneyTodd Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' (the [[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet musical]] and the [[Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet 2007 film]]).

* TheSouthpaw: As played by Len Cariou and George Hearn; relevant because his original line in the script is "My right arm is complete again"; but because his actor was left-handed, it was changed to the now-iconic "At last, my arm is complete again".