History Characters / SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet

!!!'''Played by:''' Victor Garber (Original Broadway Cast), Davis Gaines (2001 Concert), Creator/JamieCampbellBower (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Edmund Lyhdeck (Original Broadway Cast), Timothy Nolen (2001 Concert), Creator/AlanRickman (2007 film)

* AmbiguousDisorder: In the stagings that portray him as a mentally ill adult.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Johanna's family name in Literature/TheStringOfPearls is Oakley, and she comes from a well-off family where her father is a spectacle maker. In the musical and film, she is the daughter of Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd.

* AdaptationalWimp: Doesn’t shoot Jonas Fogg in the 2007 film. She’s also this compared to her counterpart in the original story.

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/LenCariou (OBC), George Hearn (2001 Concert), Creator/JohnnyDepp (2007 film), Michael Ball (West End, 2012)

!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/AngelaLansbury (OBC), Creator/PattiLuPone (2001 Concert), Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (2007 film), Creator/ImeldaStaunton (West End, 2012)

!!!'''Played by:''' Merle Louise (OBC), Victoria Clark (2001 Concert), Laura Michelle Kelly (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Victor Garber (OBC), Davis Gaines (2001 Concert), Creator/JamieCampbellBower (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Sarah Rice (OBC), Lisa Vroham (2001 Concert), Jayne Wisener (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Edmund Lyhdeck (OBC), Timothy Nolen (2001 Concert), Creator/AlanRickman (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Jack Eric Williams (OBC), John Aler (2001 Concert), Creator/TimothySpall (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Joaquin Romaguera (OBC), Stanford Olsen (2001 Concert), Creator/SachaBaronCohen (2007 film)

!!!'''Played by:''' Ken Jennings (OBC), Creator/NeilPatrickHarris (2001 Concert), Ed Sanders (2007 film)

* SupremeChef: Once she gets her hands on some decent meat, that is.

* UncannyValleyMakeup: Sported by [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/c3ae158569b85751a135e945c9a8df94/tumblr_ml2pchLUDy1qgyefyo1_1280.jpg Angela Lansbury in the original production]], to the extent where [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/395844131374497803/920427431691702282/rare-angela-lansbury-sweeney-todd-photo_1_7449b5e4ee97b5ab18933bdc12977d01.jpeg pictures of her rehearsing in costume with her normal daytime makeup]] don't even look like the same woman. Later Mrs. Lovetts zigzag this trope- [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/dd04a3c92e9c3ff7390061c8aab40643/tumblr_oujwkrZTZt1w97lewo1_640.jpg Dorothy Loudon]] averted it, while [[https://bsp-static.playbill.com/dims4/default/2c8f1cf/2147483647/crop/732x412%2B0%2B12/resize/970x546/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpb-asset --replication.s3.amazonaws.com%2F65%2F8c%2F7d8d244146daa56105989df17099%2Fnypl.digitalcollections.60f244b0-db72-0130-fd0d-58d385a7bbd0.001.w.jpg June Havoc]] leaned right back into it.

* TheIngenue: Subverted -- living more as Judge Turpin's prisoner (and the target of his perverse lust) than his daughter has left Johanna brittle, anxious, and more than a little cynical, and when Anthony rescues her from the asylum, in the musical [[spoiler:she's the one who actually shoots and kills Fogg]].
** She also tosses Anthony the key to her house from her window, and in some productions [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex sleeps with him]] ''before she even knows his name''!

* NoHoldsBarBeatdown: Delivers a particularly ''nasty'' beat down on Anthony on Turpin’s orders.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Her affection for Toby in the movie is sincere (even including him in her 'By The Sea' fantasy), where in the play he's just the expendable help.

* FingerlessGloves: Wears these whenever he’s outside.

* FingerlessGloves: Wears these pretty much the entire film.

* NoHoldsBarBeatdown: How he deals with Pirelli, [[spoiler: but when this doesn’t kill him, he slashes his throat to finish the job]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: He sings about how being flashy is a bad thing for a barber even though he's showing off while he's singing.

* MercyKill: How he views killing innocent men, as it means they will find “release”.

* WouldHurtAChild: Shows no hesitation to put children like Yoby at the end of razor, though he thankfully never gets the chance.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Sweeney's a raging SerialKiller, yes. But 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.]]

* NoHoldsBarBeatdown: How he deals with Pirelli, [[spoiler: but when this doesn’t kill him, he slashes his thirst to finish the job]].

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Gets his head bashed in and is shoved into a box by Sweeney. He’s unfortunately still alive and in agony before Todd finally puts him out of his misery by brutally slitting his throat.

* NiceGuy: Depending on the adaptation he can be the nicest character in the movie. Downplayed in works that acknowledge the possible stalker-ish intent with Johanna.

* CrossCastRole: It's not unheard of for Pirelli to be portrayed by a woman to help balance the sexes slightly better among the principal cast (and as a somewhat easier approach to those high notes, especially for non-professional productions). Most notably, Donna Lynne Champlin took the role in the 2005 Broadway revival. It'd be quite a change-up for Pirelli to actually be switched to a female character, though.
** Averted in the film, where he is played by Creator/SachaBaronCohen.

* {{Determinator}}: A less cynical reading of Anthony makes him out to be this, especially in the movie adaptation. Yes, he's enamored with Johanna, but when describing her the first words out of his mouth are "There's a girl who needs my help!" And he takes that duty ''very'' seriously throughout the story, refusing to be deterred by beatings, threats, or her being shipped off to an insane asylum once she makes it clear that she ''wants him'' to help her.

* {{Sadist}}: Enjoys being a bastard, beating up Anthony with a smile on his face.

* TragicDream: Spent 15 years rotting in Australia so he could return to his wife and child, only to find on had poisoned herself and the other was held captive by the man who ruined him.

* TooDumbToLive: With a dash of LoveMakesYouStupid: [[spoiler: to summarize, she has just revealed that she had tricked Todd into thinking his beloved wife had been dead, unknowingly setting the stage for his AccidentalMurder of her. Todd, a man defined by his misanthropy and murderous, vengeful fury, responds to this revelation by [[OutOfCharacterAlert singing joyously about letting bygones be bygones and learning to forgive and forget.]] If she hadn't been so over-the-moon at Todd apparently returning her feelings at long last, she would have realized that there was something very, ''very'' wrong with the situation and booked it out of there as fast as she could run.]]
** Some productions play around with this by having her realising that something is up when Todd suddenly starts preaching forgiveness and either starting to dance with him in an attempt to calm Todd down or else spending her final minutes on stage actively trying to leave, only for Todd to grab her or otherwise prevent her from leaving. Dorothy Louden's Mrs Lovett would even regularly begin pleading with George Hearn's Todd to let her go as he danced her closer to the oven.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted ''horribly''. [[spoiler:Fifteen years of poison-induced insanity have not been kind to her at all.]]

* StalkerWithACrush: The more cynical readings of Anthony's character make him out to be this for Johanna. The lyrics of the second half of "Johanna" definitely don't help things, nor his rather creepy bloody face as he sings it in the movie. Judge Turpin, on the other hand, is ten times worse.

* GoAmongMadPeople: [[spoiler:After she was raped by Judge Turpin and drank the arsenic to try to kill herself, Lucy was sent to BedlamHouse (the actual one) instead of the hospital, which, along with the effects of the arsenic, drove the woman quite insane, leaving her the crazed Beggar Woman. And Mrs. Lovett knew about this all along, and didn't tell Sweeney about it until after he had killed her and recognized her corpse. Needless to say, Sweeney does not take it well.]]