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* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Sweeney is still a vengeance-crazed mass murderer who will never be over the loss of his wife, but as played by Josh Groban, he is a ''much'' gentler and sadder figure who even seems to mildly return Mrs. Lovett's affections [[spoiler:until he finds out she concealed Lucy's survival from him]].
** Mrs. Lovett herself is much more genuinely affectionate toward Toby from the start. Even more noticeably, she seems to recall the late Lucy Barker with fondness and genuine sadness over what happened to her. [[spoiler:This leads to the impression that Mrs Lovett regards the Beggar Woman as a grotesque and unlovable SoullessShell that ''used to be'' Lucy, or a kind of CameBackWrong version of her, and that she ''really did think'' that because she can't stand to see her that way, neither could Sweeney. She's [[StealthPun dead wrong]].]]

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* AdaptationalNiceGuy: AdaptationalNiceGuy:
**
Sweeney is still a vengeance-crazed mass murderer who will never be over the loss of his wife, but as played by Josh Groban, he is a ''much'' gentler and sadder figure who even seems to mildly return Mrs. Lovett's affections [[spoiler:until he finds out she concealed Lucy's survival from him]].
** Mrs. Lovett herself is much more genuinely affectionate toward Toby from the start. Even more noticeably, she seems to recall the late Lucy Barker with fondness and genuine sadness over what happened to her. [[spoiler:This leads to the impression that Mrs Lovett regards the Beggar Woman as a grotesque and unlovable SoullessShell that ''used to be'' Lucy, or a kind of CameBackWrong version of her, and that she ''really did think'' that because she can't stand to see her that way, neither could Sweeney. She's [[StealthPun dead wrong]].]]
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* StrawNihilist: In the songs "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest", Sweeney justifies his actions based upon the utter corruption of the world. He even states that all HumansAreBastards who deserve to die.

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* StrawNihilist: In the songs "Epiphany" and "A Little Priest", Sweeney justifies his actions based upon the utter corruption of the world. He even states that all HumansAreBastards who deserve to die.humans are either bastards for whom death would be justice, or miserable wretches for whom death would be mercy.
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A Broadway revival -- the first full-scale version on Broadway since the original production[[note]]The now-defunct New York City Opera produced the original Harold Prince staging multiple times between the 1980s and the early 2010s, and there have been two very pared-down Broadway revivals as well as two major concert stagings with the New York Philharmonic, plus an even more scaled-down version performed off-Broadway in an actual pie shop -- but this is the first to be on Broadway specifically, with a full-sized ensemble and orchestra and fully fleshed-out sets and costumes, since the original closed in 1980.[[/note]] -- opened on March 26, 2023 (after beginning previews on February 26) and features Music/JoshGroban as Sweeney, with ''Theatre/KinkyBoots'' and ''Series/MastersOfSex'' star Creator/AnnaleighAshford as Mrs. Lovett, Creator/JordanFisher as Anthony, and ''Series/StrangerThings'''s Creator/GatenMatarazzo as Toby. Groban and Ashford will be succeeded by Creator/AaronTveit and Creator/SuttonFoster as Todd and Mrs. Lovett, respectively, beginning in February 2024.

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A Broadway revival -- the first full-scale version on Broadway since the original production[[note]]The now-defunct New York City Opera produced the original Harold Prince staging multiple times between the 1980s and the early 2010s, and there have been two very pared-down Broadway revivals as well as two major concert stagings with the New York Philharmonic, plus an even more scaled-down version performed off-Broadway in an actual pie shop -- but this is the first to be on Broadway specifically, with a full-sized ensemble and orchestra and fully fleshed-out sets and costumes, since the original closed in 1980.[[/note]] -- opened on March 26, 2023 (after beginning previews on February 26) and features Music/JoshGroban as Sweeney, with ''Theatre/KinkyBoots'' and ''Series/MastersOfSex'' star Creator/AnnaleighAshford as Mrs. Lovett, Creator/JordanFisher as Anthony, and ''Series/StrangerThings'''s Creator/GatenMatarazzo as Toby. Groban and Ashford will be were succeeded by Creator/AaronTveit and Creator/SuttonFoster as Todd and Mrs. Lovett, respectively, beginning in February 2024.



* BeardOfEvil: Josh Groban kept his beard to play the mass-murdering Sweeney.

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* BeardOfEvil: Josh Groban kept his beard to play the mass-murdering Sweeney.Sweeney, as did Aaron Tveit, his replacement.
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** Anthony is a surprising aversion (except in the movie, where his part was transposed higher). Despite perfectly fitting the character archetype- the young, naive, innocent male half of the OfficialCouple alongside the InnocentSoprano with whom he falls in LoveAtFirstSight- he's written as a baritone (the same voice type as Sweeney himself). While he has been played by many tenors in musical theatre productions, the part still requires an extensive low range that lies outside of the usual purview of the trope (a "baritenor" voice, as it's often called), and in opera house stagings he's ''always'' sung by a true baritone (albeit typically a lyric baritone- see UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes).

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** Anthony is a surprising aversion (except in the movie, where his part was transposed higher). Despite perfectly fitting the character archetype- the young, naive, innocent male half of the OfficialCouple alongside the InnocentSoprano with whom he falls in LoveAtFirstSight- he's written as a baritone (the same voice type as Sweeney himself). While he has been played by many tenors in musical theatre productions, the part still requires an extensive low range that lies outside of the usual purview of the trope (a "baritenor" voice, as it's often called), and in opera house stagings he's ''always'' sung by a true baritone (albeit typically a lyric baritone- see UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes).MediaNotes/VoiceTypes).
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** Later, Mrs. Lovett realizes that [[spoiler: Tobias]] is getting too close to the truth about Todd's murders, so she [[spoilers: locks him in the bakehouse and waits for Sweeney to get back to kill him.]] [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]

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** Later, Mrs. Lovett realizes that [[spoiler: Tobias]] is getting too close to the truth about Todd's murders, so she [[spoilers: [[spoiler: locks him in the bakehouse and waits for Sweeney to get back to kill him.]] [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]

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* IWantMyMommy: {{Creator/GatenMatarazzo}}'s Toby, upon [[spoiler: being locked in the bakehouse and finding Beadle Bamford's body took the scripted yells for [[ParentalSubstitute Mrs. Lovett]] to let him out a step further, crying out ''"Mummy! Mummy I'm scared!"'']]

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* IWantMyMommy: {{Creator/GatenMatarazzo}}'s Creator/GatenMatarazzo's Toby, upon [[spoiler: being locked in the bakehouse and finding Beadle Bamford's body body, took the scripted yells for [[ParentalSubstitute Mrs. Lovett]] to let him out a step further, crying out ''"Mummy! Mummy I'm scared!"'']]scared!"'']]
* ParentalSubstitute: Especially evident in this production is Mrs. Lovett and Toby's pseudo-mother-son relationship. She genuinely seems to adore him and fusses over him when he comes with Pirelli to the shop, and he's just as devoted to her as always during "Not While I'm Around." [[spoiler: At the conclusion of the number, she realizes he's going to have to be killed, and silently cries while hugging him close.]]

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* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: Outwardly, Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd tend to look like this in most productions - the brooding, revenge-obsessed Sweeney playing well off of the comical, perky Lovett. In actuality, her jovial nature makes her crimes seem all the more creepy [[spoiler: and her flippant mistreatment of Lucy even worse]] to the audience.



* HeKnowsTooMuch:
** Sweeney's reason for killing Pirelli was that he knew of his past as Benjamin Barker and intended to use it for blackmail.
** Later, Mrs. Lovett realizes that [[spoiler: Tobias]] is getting too close to the truth about Todd's murders, so she [[spoilers: locks him in the bakehouse and waits for Sweeney to get back to kill him.]] [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]



--> (after tasting a pie made of a priest) '''''HEAVENLY!'''''\\\

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--> (after tasting pretending taste a pie made out of a priest) '''''HEAVENLY!'''''\\\


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* IWantMyMommy: {{Creator/GatenMatarazzo}}'s Toby, upon [[spoiler: being locked in the bakehouse and finding Beadle Bamford's body took the scripted yells for [[ParentalSubstitute Mrs. Lovett]] to let him out a step further, crying out ''"Mummy! Mummy I'm scared!"'']]
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Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup and Moral Event Horizon belongs in YMMV.


* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The judge's sentencing of a young boy to hanging, though he is a four-time offender. The musical obviously wants to criticize [[MoralEventHorizon atrocities committed]] in the name of the law that were acceptable back then, as children were treated the same way as adults. This is noticeably shortened to one previous offense in the film to make it ''even worse'' (and to make it ambiguous whether or not Sweeney was caught following [[spoiler:Pirelli's murder]]).

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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The judge's sentencing of a young boy to hanging, though he is a four-time offender. The musical obviously wants to criticize [[MoralEventHorizon atrocities committed]] committed in the name of the law that were acceptable back then, as children were treated the same way as adults. This is noticeably shortened to one previous offense in the film to make it ''even worse'' (and to make it ambiguous whether or not Sweeney was caught following [[spoiler:Pirelli's murder]]).



* PerkyFemaleMinion: Mrs. Lovett. In the musical, she is clearly the comic foil to the brooding and vengeful Todd. Makes her MoralEventHorizon(s) all the more jarring.

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* PerkyFemaleMinion: Mrs. Lovett. In the musical, she is clearly the comic foil to the brooding and vengeful Todd. Makes her MoralEventHorizon(s) all the more jarring.



* TheIgor: Toby has many of the hallmarks of this trope- he's a subservient, [[AmbiguousDisorder possibly developmentally delayed]] lad of uncertain age with a limp who refers to Pirelli as his "master" and wears the same clownish rags even after he switches employment to assisting Mrs. Lovett instead.

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* TheIgor: Toby has many of the hallmarks of this trope- he's a subservient, [[AmbiguousDisorder possibly developmentally delayed]] delayed lad of uncertain age with a limp who refers to Pirelli as his "master" and wears the same clownish rags even after he switches employment to assisting Mrs. Lovett instead.
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* BookEnds: At the beginning of the production, Sweeney is literally pulled out of his grave to sing the final lines of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; during the finale [[spoiler:both he and Mrs. Lovett are again pulled from beneath the stage to join in the ballad's reprise, and as the show concludes the two clasp hands, share a glance and jump back into their graves -- and into hell]].

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* BookEnds: At the beginning of the production, Sweeney is literally pulled out of his grave to sing the final lines verse of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; Todd"; during the finale [[spoiler:both he and Mrs. Lovett are again pulled from beneath the stage to join in the ballad's reprise, and as the show concludes the two clasp hands, share a glance and jump back into their graves -- and into hell]].Hell]].



* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:As the show ends, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett move to the back of the stage, clasp hands and jump through a trapdoor in the stage, implicitly down to hell.]]

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* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:As the show ends, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett move to the back of the stage, clasp hands and jump through a trapdoor in the stage, implicitly down to hell.Hell.]]
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* BookEnds: At the beginning of the production, Sweeney is literally pulled out of his grave to sing the final lines of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; during the finale [[spoiler:both he and Mrs. Lovett are again pulled from beneath the stage to join in the ballad's reprise, and as the show concludes the two clasp hands, share a glance and jump back back into their graves -- and into hell]].

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* BookEnds: At the beginning of the production, Sweeney is literally pulled out of his grave to sing the final lines of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; during the finale [[spoiler:both he and Mrs. Lovett are again pulled from beneath the stage to join in the ballad's reprise, and as the show concludes the two clasp hands, share a glance and jump back back into their graves -- and into hell]].

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* BookEnds: At the beginning of the production, Sweeney is literally pulled out of his grave to sing the final lines of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd; during the finale [[spoiler:both he and Mrs. Lovett are again pulled from beneath the stage to join in the ballad's reprise, and as the show concludes the two clasp hands, share a glance and jump back back into their graves -- and into hell]].



* HotterAndSexier: When the show opened in March 2023, one of the recurring elements in the (generally positive) critical reviews was that this version of the show is much more sexually charged, especially in the much more mutual attraction between Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. Of course, it's not as though the show has ever ''lacked'' a sexual charge, but this one is considered notable for how much the audience shares in it.

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* HotterAndSexier: HotterAndSexier:
**
When the show opened in March 2023, one of the recurring elements in the (generally positive) critical reviews was that this version of the show is much more sexually charged, especially in the much more mutual attraction between Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. Of course, it's not as though the show has ever ''lacked'' a sexual charge, but this one is considered notable for how much the audience shares in it.
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* TheComicallySerious: Sweeney gets a bit more of this treatment than in most productions. His dealings with Toby in particular were described by one critic as resembling "a suburban dad trying his best".

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* TheComicallySerious: Sweeney gets a bit more of this treatment than in most productions. His dealings with Toby in particular were described by one critic as resembling "a suburban "an awkward dad trying his best".
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* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:As the show ends, Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett move to the back of the stage, clasp hands and jump through a trapdoor in the stage, implicitly down to hell.]]
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The Bond version of the story, via the Sondheim musical, also directly inspired the one-woman show ''Empanada Loca'' by Aaron Mark, a GenderFlip version of the story set in modern-day [[TheBigRottenApple New York City]], which was then expanded into the podcast ''The Horror of Dolores Roach''. The podcast in turn was itself developed into a [[Series/TheHorrorOfDoloresRoach TV series of the same name]] set to premiere on Amazon Prime on July 9, 2023.

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The Bond version of the story, via the Sondheim musical, also directly inspired the one-woman show ''Empanada Loca'' by Aaron Mark, a GenderFlip version of the story set in modern-day [[TheBigRottenApple New York City]], which was then expanded into the podcast ''The Horror of Dolores Roach''. The podcast in turn was itself developed into a [[Series/TheHorrorOfDoloresRoach TV series of the same name]] set to premiere name]], which premiered on Amazon Prime on July 9, 2023.
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* ActuallyPrettyFunny: "A Little Priest" runs on this trope, as the stoic, grief-hardened, quietly wrathful Todd, who has so far been totally unresponsive to Lovett's playful banter, finally cracks and even joins in on an extended wordplay riff with her.
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** Annaleigh Ashford was only 37 when the show opened, and seemed to be playing Mrs. Lovett as about that age, with the only thing done to make her look older being an inobtrusive silver streak off the temple in her blonde wig (which could easily still happen to someone in their late 30s).
** Subverted with Josh Groban as Sweeney. While he was perceived by the fandom and critics as unusually youthful for the part, he turned 42 shortly after opening- making him ''[[OlderThanTheyLook three years older]]'' than Len Cariou was when he created the role.

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** Annaleigh Ashford was only 37 when the show opened, and seemed to be playing Mrs. Lovett as about that age, with the only thing done to make her look older being an inobtrusive silver streak off the temple in her blonde wig (which could easily still happen to someone in their late 30s).
30s). Averted with her replacement, Sutton Foster, who was 48 when cast as Lovett
** Subverted with Josh Groban as Sweeney. While he was perceived by the fandom and critics as unusually youthful for the part, he turned 42 shortly after opening- making him ''[[OlderThanTheyLook three years older]]'' than Len Cariou was when he created the role. Also applies for his replacement, Aaron Tveit, who had recently turned 40 when cast as Sweeney, but whose longstanding image as a Broadway heartthrob caused people to say he was too young for the part.
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A Broadway revival -- the first full-scale version on Broadway since the original production[[note]]The now-defunct New York City Opera produced the original Harold Prince staging multiple times between the 1980s and the early 2010s, and there have been two very pared-down Broadway revivals as well as two major concert stagings with the New York Philharmonic, plus an even more scaled-down version performed off-Broadway in an actual pie shop -- but this is the first to be on Broadway specifically, with a full-sized ensemble and orchestra and fully fleshed-out sets and costumes, since the original closed in 1980.[[/note]] -- opened on March 26, 2023 (after beginning previews on February 26) and features Music/JoshGroban as Sweeney, with ''Theatre/KinkyBoots'' and ''Series/MastersOfSex'' star Creator/AnnaleighAshford as Mrs. Lovett, Creator/JordanFisher as Anthony, and ''Series/StrangerThings'''s Creator/GatenMatarazzo as Toby.

to:

A Broadway revival -- the first full-scale version on Broadway since the original production[[note]]The now-defunct New York City Opera produced the original Harold Prince staging multiple times between the 1980s and the early 2010s, and there have been two very pared-down Broadway revivals as well as two major concert stagings with the New York Philharmonic, plus an even more scaled-down version performed off-Broadway in an actual pie shop -- but this is the first to be on Broadway specifically, with a full-sized ensemble and orchestra and fully fleshed-out sets and costumes, since the original closed in 1980.[[/note]] -- opened on March 26, 2023 (after beginning previews on February 26) and features Music/JoshGroban as Sweeney, with ''Theatre/KinkyBoots'' and ''Series/MastersOfSex'' star Creator/AnnaleighAshford as Mrs. Lovett, Creator/JordanFisher as Anthony, and ''Series/StrangerThings'''s Creator/GatenMatarazzo as Toby.
Toby. Groban and Ashford will be succeeded by Creator/AaronTveit and Creator/SuttonFoster as Todd and Mrs. Lovett, respectively, beginning in February 2024.
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Not a franchise


* AdaptationalProtagonist: The play turns Sweeney Todd into its VillainProtagonist thanks to a good helping of AdaptationalSympathy --which includes the loss of his daughter, the DamselInDistress Joanna. This is a far cry from the original ''Franchise/SweeneyTodd'' story, ''Literature/TheStringOfPearls,'' where Joanna is the protagonist trying to save her boyfriend from the villainous Todd, [[RelatedInTheAdaptation with whom she has no familial connection]].

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* AdaptationalProtagonist: The play turns Sweeney Todd into its VillainProtagonist thanks to a good helping of AdaptationalSympathy --which includes the loss of his daughter, the DamselInDistress Joanna. This is a far cry from the original ''Franchise/SweeneyTodd'' ''DerivativeWorks/SweeneyTodd'' story, ''Literature/TheStringOfPearls,'' where Joanna is the protagonist trying to save her boyfriend from the villainous Todd, [[RelatedInTheAdaptation with whom she has no familial connection]].

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* YoungerAndHipper: Annaleigh Ashford was only 37 when the show opened, and seemed to be playing the character as about that age, with the only thing done to make her look older being an inobtrusive silver streak off the temple in her blonde wig (which could easily still happen to someone in their late 30s).

to:

* YoungerAndHipper: YoungerAndHipper:
**
Annaleigh Ashford was only 37 when the show opened, and seemed to be playing the character Mrs. Lovett as about that age, with the only thing done to make her look older being an inobtrusive silver streak off the temple in her blonde wig (which could easily still happen to someone in their late 30s).
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* CargoShip: Invoked with "These Are My Friends", a gentle song that Sweeney sings to his razors. It ends with him dramatically holding one aloft and declaring ''"At last, my arm is complete again!"''
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* CargoShip: "These Are My Friends", a gentle song that Sweeney sings to his razors. It ends with him dramatically holding one aloft and declaring ''"At last, my arm is complete again!"''
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* CargoShip: "These Are My Friends", a gentle song that Sweeney sings to his razors. It ends with him dramatically holding one aloft and declaring ''"At last, my arm is complete again!"''
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* SnakeOilSalesman: Pirelli's trade is to con people into buying his "unique" products like his exhilr.

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* SnakeOilSalesman: Pirelli's trade is to con people into buying his "unique" products like his exhilr.exilir.



* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: It's usually a well-known fact that the musical added stories of revenge, a judge, and Sweeney's daughter to [[Theatre/SweeneyTodd the original story.]] The latter was originally a novel, itself based on an UrbanLegend...which has its roots in a true story. The latter is quite different from ''Sweeney''[='s=] scenario, though (besides the cannibalism). It happened in Paris, not London, and as soon as [[TheMiddleAges 1387]], in Marmousets street. Also, the baker was male, not female, and named Pierre Miquelon, while his barber neighbor was Barnabé Cabard. Their motivation was apparently simply greed, (no revenge story here) and they were burned at the stake after it was discovered they used students' corpses to do pâtés. Ironically, Barnabé is nowadays often described as a [[invoked]][[AdaptationDisplacement "french Sweeney Todd"]], while it's actually the other way round.

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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: It's usually a well-known fact that the musical added stories of revenge, a judge, and Sweeney's daughter to [[Theatre/SweeneyTodd the original story.]] The latter was originally a novel, itself based on an UrbanLegend...which has its roots in a true story. The latter is quite different from ''Sweeney''[='s=] scenario, though (besides the cannibalism). It happened in Paris, not London, and as soon early as [[TheMiddleAges 1387]], in Marmousets street. Also, the baker was male, not female, and named Pierre Miquelon, while his barber neighbor was Barnabé Cabard. Their motivation was apparently simply greed, (no revenge story here) and they were burned at the stake after it was discovered they used students' corpses to do pâtés. Ironically, Barnabé is nowadays often described as a [[invoked]][[AdaptationDisplacement "french Sweeney Todd"]], while it's actually the other way round.

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* TenorBoy: Anthony is a surprising aversion (except in the movie, where his part was transposed higher). Despite perfectly fitting the character archetype- the young, naive, innocent male half of the OfficialCouple alongside the InnocentSoprano with whom he falls in LoveAtFirstSight- he's written as a baritone (the same voice type as Sweeney himself). While he has been played by many tenors in musical theatre productions, the part still requires an extensive low range that lies outside of the usual purview of the trope (a "baritenor" voice, as it's often called), and in opera house stagings he's ''always'' sung by a true baritone (albeit typically a lyric baritone- see UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes).

to:

* TenorBoy: TenorBoy:
**
Anthony is a surprising aversion (except in the movie, where his part was transposed higher). Despite perfectly fitting the character archetype- the young, naive, innocent male half of the OfficialCouple alongside the InnocentSoprano with whom he falls in LoveAtFirstSight- he's written as a baritone (the same voice type as Sweeney himself). While he has been played by many tenors in musical theatre productions, the part still requires an extensive low range that lies outside of the usual purview of the trope (a "baritenor" voice, as it's often called), and in opera house stagings he's ''always'' sung by a true baritone (albeit typically a lyric baritone- see UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes).UsefulNotes/VoiceTypes).
** Toby is a straight example: A very young man with a childlike demeanor (so much so that he was rewritten as an ''actual'' child in the movie), sung by a tenor in the stage version.
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* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: Various theater versions of this musical have various takes on this. Some make him a more clear-cut example by highlighting his self-loathing, while others make him more one-dimensional.

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* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: Various theater versions of this musical have various takes on this. Some make him Turpin a more clear-cut example by highlighting his self-loathing, while others make him more one-dimensional.
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** In the Dayton Opera's November 2023 production, both Lucy and Johanna were played by light-skinned Black women, and the only lyrical change was Anthony describing Johanna as "pale and ''ebony''." Johanna's "yellow" hair was brown with squash-colored highlights.

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** Johanna is the only member of her family who goes to an [[BedlamHouse insane asylum]], but she's also the only member of her family who hasn't gone irreparably insane [[spoiler:as far as we can tell]]. (The lyrics in "Kiss Me" imply that she is at least very anxious, probably clinically so- "It was a gate, it's the gate... --We don't have a gate!"- and some productions do depict her as [[GoAmongMadPeople going a little insane in the asylum]], but the libretto, for the record, limits the description of her mood after her escape to "excited and chatty", and she's clearly in control of her faculties in escaping from Sweeney in the end.)

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** Johanna is the only member of her family who goes to we see in an [[BedlamHouse insane asylum]], but she's also the only member of her family who hasn't gone irreparably insane [[spoiler:as far as we can tell]]. (The lyrics in "Kiss Me" imply that she is at least very anxious, probably clinically so- "It was a gate, it's the gate... --We don't have a gate!"- and some productions do depict her as [[GoAmongMadPeople going a little insane in the asylum]], but the libretto, for the record, limits the description of her mood after her escape to "excited and chatty", and she's clearly in control of her faculties in escaping from Sweeney in the end.)



** [[spoiler:Lucy wound up in Bedlam instead of a hospital, so technically Johanna isn't the only one of the family to end up in a nut-house.]]

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