History Characters / SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet

* {{Jerkass}}: He abuses his child assistant and attempts to blackmail Sweeney.

* MotorMouth: In Mrs. Lovett’s introductory song ''The Worst Pies In London'', she goes from talking about how little customers she’s getting, bemoaning the taste of her pies, explaining that the price of meat has increased, and gossiping about how her competitor Mrs. Mooney May be using cats in her pies in a matter of seconds.

* TheBarber: He was a straight version when he was still Benjamin Barker, friendly and respected among his customers. His exile and returning to find his wife has died changes his attitude, but not his skill with the razors.

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

* SplitPersonality: Is portrayed as having Dissociative Identity Disorder in the 2023 revival, an idea developed by her actress, Ruthie Ann Miles

* PerkyFemaleMinion: In the stage musical. She is much more obviously batshit in the movie.

* 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.

[[folder:Jonas Fogg]]

* FreudianExcuse: "Johanna (Mea Culpa)", his ObsessionSong, reveals that Judge Turpin genuinely believes that SexIsEvil to an extremely unhealthy degree. He regularly flagellates himself as punishment for impure thoughts, and it's suggested that his marrying Johanna is the only way he can think of to "purify" himself. Sondheim himself wrote that without the song, Turpin come across as much more of a one-note villain who is simply evil for evil's sake, as opposed to someone who, though still an utterly loathsome rapist and murderer, has at least a shred of reasoning behind his actions.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Gives off the air of refunded Judge, but in a truth a sexually depraved bastard who sentences children to death for crimes they might not have even committed.

* TheSociopath: Turpin is a cold, unfeeling man who only cares about satisfying his lust and dispensing his own self righteous view of justice.

!!!'''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 (Broadway revival 2023)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* AdaptationalHeroism: 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]].

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Depending on the staging, he ranges from worn-out and burly (but with a ''great'' head of hair) in the original production, to young-middle-aged and intense but fairly handsome still (arguably both Michael Cerveris in the 2005 revival and Johnny Depp in the film).

** The stage version implies that this happened too, with the original stage version giving him thick, wavy (if unflatteringly parted) hair that suggests [[IWasQuiteALooker he was once a handsome young man]], or conversely Michael Cerveris's Sweeney still being relatively young and handsome, but hollow-eyed, dour, and [[BaldOfEvil completely bald]].

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Dies the same way he kills his victims, by having his throat slashed with a razor.]]

* NiceGuy: Used to be a loving father and husband until Turpin had him arrested and shipped off to Australia.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Zigzagged; she is described in the libretto as a "vigorous, slatternly woman in her forties", and the "slatternly" (which just means unkempt and/or ReallyGetsAround) part is fairly open to interpretation, ranging from Creator/AngelaLansbury's matronly dustmop to Dorothy Loudon, her first replacement, playing her as simply pretty, and onto to Creator/PattiLuPone's 2005 Lovett being TheVamp in torn stockings and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter's UnkemptBeauty interpretation. However, in ''Literature/TheStringOfPearls'', the original penny dreadful that began the Sweeney Todd legend in the first place, she is explicitly young and beautiful, which makes all of the portrayals that lean her toward plainness mild AdaptationalUgliness.

* CuteAndPsycho: Well, how cute she is depends on the actress, but as played by Helena Bonham Carter, she's ''stunning''. And murderously insane (or, alternatively, sane but ''absolutely'' lacking in any moral compass whatsoever).

* TheIngenue: Subverted -- living more as Judge Turpin's prisoner (and the [[LustObject 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 [[CoitusEnsues sleeps with him]] ''before she even knows his name''!

* MeaningfulName: He's the most optimistic character in the entire work.

* {{Determinator}}: Anthony ''will not give up'', ever. 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 given she gave him the key to her house, she definitely ''wants'' him to, too). 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.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: The judge sent Benjamin off to Botany Bay on a false charge so that he could get at his wife Lucy.

* {{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.
** The [[StalkerWithACrush otherwise kind of creepy]] lyrics of 'Johanna' are rendered decidedly sweeter and more genuine with context and this interpretation. Yes, under normal circumstances it would not be particularly romantic to swear you're going to track a young girl down and kidnap her away, and that in the meantime you'll imagine what it would be like to be holding her. When the girl in question is currently huddled in a filthy corner, terrified and alone, however... it can be read less as an unhealthy obsession and more as [[YouAreNotAlone an oath to a frightened young woman]] that he's not going to give up on [[RescueRomance saving her]] just because their path to freedom has gotten harder. Plus, she gives him her key in the movie, making clear that she wants him to help her.

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

* ObsessionSong: A good number of people cite "Johanna," particularly the second half, as this.
* OfficialCouple: While Benjamin/Lucy and Sweeney/Mrs. Lovett fans are fiercely divided over who is the first OfficialCouple, Anthony/Johanna is very much the second.
* PrettyBoy: Bamford even says he has a "pretty little head" while beating him up and threatening him for Turpin.

* 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.
** Completely averted in the musical. In "Kiss Me", they plan their escape together, and it’s clear they both have a serious case of LoveAtFirstSight. Johanna can’t wait to elope and marry Anthony right away.

'''Johanna''' : I loved you, even as I was you, even as it doesn’t matter that I still don’t know your name.
* TenorBoy: In the movie. Onstage, surprisingly, he's usually a baritone.

* WideEyedIdealist: As Sweeney tells him near the beginning, "You are young. Life has been kind to you. You will learn." Johanna says a variant of the same thing to him near the end.
* 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.

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

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

* SupremeChef: Once she gets her hands on some decent meat, that is. Otherwise they're just "''the worst pies in London''"