History WMG / SweeneyToddtheDemonBarberofFleetStreet

Mrs. Lovett- A delightfully batty Columbina. She is completely enamored of Sweeney, and is the more practical and clever of the two, as Columbina is to Arlecchino.
Anthony and Johanna- Obviously, the Innamorati. Young, star crossed lovers who are more than a little naive and air headed.
Judge Turpin- An exceptionally cruel Pantalone. The original am character lusts after young women, which is obvious in the case of the Judge lusting after Johanna. The Judge's old age and upper class mannerisms are also very reminiscent of Pantalone.
Beadle Bamford- Dottore. The Beadle is usually played by a larger actor, he usually has many foppish mannerisms, has a tongue twister vocabulary, and dispense advice on women to his friend, Pantalone. Dottore and Pantalone often have a close friendship in original Commedia scenarios and it is nicely reflected in Sweeney.
Tobias- Pedrolino, the innocent and often abused servant at the bottom of the totem pole. It also helps that Pedrolino is in love with Columbina, who doesn't love him back. In Sweeney, Toby sees Mrs. Lovett as a mother figure, which she doesn't return.
Pirelli- Capitano, Capitano, Capitano! Flamboyant and showy personality, boastful and proud, secretly a complete fraud. Pirelli probably fits the original Commedia mould the most out of any character.
The Beggar Woman- La Strega, the witch. An outsider to the action of the other characters, she's a raving mad woman who frightens the other characters. La Strega is often a manipulator who knows more than the other characters, and in the case of the Beggar Woman, she has a very big secret about her that is vital to the plot of the show.

Sweeney- Probably the hardest to fit, but his gleeful manic energy (especially when played by George Hearn) is incredibly reminiscent of Arlecchino or Truffeldino.

* In this AU, she's with a man who she actually loves, but he gives her LaserGuidedKarma for the harm she caused. This is the end of the dream and the trigger of her HeelFaceTurn (which happens offscreen).

Not only does she look [[HeyItsThatGuy exactly like]] [[Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter Mrs. Lovett]], she also shares traits and dressing choices with her. In the book, Mme. Thénardier is (only very slightly) less evil than her husband. After Éponine and Gavroche died, she went on with her life, but slowly her guilt feeling started to sink in, untill she had a HeelFaceTurn in the way of a dream.

* There's the likelihood of some mental illness from her father's side of the family, fifteen years being taken care of by a corrupt judge with an unwholesome interest in her innocence, a [[GoAmongMadPeople spate in that most comforting of places, the nineteenth century madhouse]], an attempt on her life, and the discovery of a serial killer. Who was her dad, who killed her mom, who herself was a mentally ill beggar and prostitute for those fifteen years. And of course, the discovery of a TortureCellar filled with bits of people in meat grinders. Just the fact that she goes off with Anthony doesn't insure their happy ending lasts. Given just how little time she spent with him, she probably would have jumped on ''any'' chance to get out of the Judge's care.

** Except ''From Hell'' totally sucked. I wanted Johnny to be Jack, not some junkie! But this theory is way too cool to be an epiliptic tree. It makes me want to write really gory fanfiction.

(going with the Burton film version of both Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet & CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory]]...on the side, he was a [[CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory candy-maker]]. He figured that he could make extra money pulling the teeth of those who indulged in too much of his chocolate. Plus, he worked to make his relationship with Toby to mirror that of his relationship with Charlie.

They're all the grandchildren of identical twins. Also, Johanna had a son named [[CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory Willy, who moved away, built a candy factory, and changed his last name to a silly, alliterative word]]. He then had a son who took the name and factory in a new (trippier) direction and looked like Benjamen Barker.

[[WMG: Mrs. Lovett had an illegitimate child with someone and eventually her great great so many great granddaughter would be [[FightClub Marla Singer]]]]

* Also on the Toby-as-Ripper front-- if you go with one of the productions with a sturdy, matronly older Lovett (as opposed to HBC's [[FightClub Marla!Lovett]]) there's a bit of resonance with the majority of the victims the Ripper chose, which were middle-aged, slightly overweight women down on their luck.

Johanna and Toby Barker were as close as brothers and sisters could be. Their father was a barber and their mother was a seamstress for charity. They lived in enough wealth to be comfortable in the middle class. Mrs. Lovett (a widow) was the name of their nanny, who would subtly flirt with their father and his cousin, a butcher named Sweeney Todd. Anthony was Johanna's charming fiance who swore to be her champion and Turpin was a tutor (and retired Judge) who would molest her during her lessons. Turpin raped Mrs. Barker, and used his authority and good reputation to say, not only that she seduced him, but that they were having an affair. Todd remarked on Mrs. Barker's "infidelity" while he and Mr. Barker were drunk. Barker attacked Todd and Todd stabbed Barker with his own razor out of self-defense. The Barker children saw the body. Mrs. Barker went mad with grief and, without her husband and anyone willing to hire her as a seamstress, she resorted to prostitution. Johanna and Toby decided to run away from home and try to find their fortune. Turpin ended up finding them and put them both in the asylum to shut Johanna up. Mr. Fogg favored Johanna because her hair was a shade much in demand and it grew back quickly. He allowed her and her brother Toby to have tea and read fairy tales in his office. As for all the other minor details: Lucy was Johanna's doll with a torn dress and loose, messy hair; Benjamin was the name of their dog with kind eyes; Mr. Todd and the widow Lovett married, had a good meat pie business, and forgot about the Barker children; and Mr. Fogg had a beautiful ship-in-a-bottle knickknack that he bought from a shop called "The Bountiful Emporium" on a trip to Plymouth.

[[WMG: Movie version: [[HarryPotter Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew]] have stolen a time turner in order to have some fun and cause mischief in the nineteenth century.]]

** Another [[IdenticalGrandchild descendant of hers]](Lovett was, being a Muggle, erased from the family tree) falls in love with [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].

* Bellatrix shares her [[{{Goth}} fashion sense]] with Mrs. Lovett, as well as having a crush on a ruthless serial killer. Also you can't deny that baking pies out of human meat would not be exactly ''that'' far out of character for [[CompleteMonster our lovely friend Bella]]...

** Another [[IdenticalGrandchild descendant of hers]](Lovett was, being a Muggle, erased from the family tree)falls in love with [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].

* The razors either cause the people around them to become evil, attract trouble, or has a thirst for blood. Possibly all three. First, the razors corrupt Daniel Higgins, causing him to become a child-beating con man. Without any power to get Benjamin to commit evil acts, it brings Lucy to the Judge's attention. After being stuffed into hiding, it corrupts Mrs. Lovett until she becomes a manipulative, lovesick woman. When Barker returns, its power grows with each life it cuts down. However, when Sweeney kills the Judge, he declares that the razor can finally rest, said razor panics. It gets Sweeney to kill Mrs. Lovett before using already-corrupted Toby to kill Sweeney, possibly repeating the process later on.

* Also, somewhere between the events of Sweeney Todd and Toby's killings as Jack the Ripper, Toby will change his name to [[{{Babylon 5}} Sebastian]] for unknown reasons (maybe as a result of his traumatization).

...only instead of a Mr. T, she'll fall for a [[TheJoker Mistah J.]]

[[WMG: Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd was an [[AssassinsCreed Assassin]].]]

[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus He wanted to be a lumberjack.]] Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia . . . The giant redwood, the larch, the fir, the mighty scots pine. The smell of fresh-cut timber! The crash of mighty trees! With his best Girlie by his side, they'd sing, sing, sing!

Todd:
I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.


MOUNTIES:
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

Todd:
I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.

MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch.
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shoppin'
And has buttered scones for tea.
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.


Todd:
I cut down trees. I skip and jump.
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars.

MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He skips and jumps.
He likes to press wild flowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around in bars?!
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

Todd:
I cut down trees. I wear high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie,
Just like my dear Papa.

MOUNTIES:
He cuts down trees. He wears high heels,
Suspendies, and a bra?!
[talking]
What's this? Wants to be a girlie?! Oh, My!
And I thought you were so rugged! Poofter!
[singing]
He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
He's a lumberjack, and he's okaaaaay.

* ... That is the most bizarre thing I've ever read.

Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett are the zanni gone horribly wrong- in a love hate relationship, both scheming their heads off with a private agenda, and both supposedly in positions of service- Todd obviously as a barber, Lovett a... humanitarian piemaker but a piemaker nonetheless. Anthony and Johanna are obviously the innamorati. Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford are the vecchi, attempting to prevent their marriage by any means necessary- except Turpin's, well, a rapist. And by extrapolation, Pirelli gets to be Il Capitano.

** Well, you gotta do something with them... (In this troper's personal continuity, Johanna kills Jack the Ripper. With her dad's razors, of course. Mostly spawned by the deliberate misinterpretation of fanart.)

** Actually, is it ever clarified anywhere ''why'' he'd pick that as a particular pseudonym?
*** I've only seen it explained in fanfic. Theories include (a) his mother's maiden name was Sweeney or Todd, (b) Lucy's maiden name was Sweeney or Todd, (c) he had childhood friends with those names, (d) he had fellow prisoners with those names, and (e) he picked Todd because Tod is German for death and he wanted to be threatening and stuff. I've also heard that the name Sweeney could reflect anti-Irish sentiment on the part of the penny dreadful authors/urban myth spreaders. Personally, I think he used the names of his first pet (Sweeney the goldfish) and the first street where he lived (Todd Lane).
**** B-but "Tod" isn't pronounced that way! (Not like a quasi-Victorian English native could tell.) I'd buy the anti-Irish sentiment theory, and/or the fellow prisoners one. (This troper's roleplaying partner took the cellmates theory and ran with it... by having at least one of them be a crazy prison rapist. Fun tiems.)

******* Damn straight it is. And now, fetch the brain bleach.

* There's the likelihood of some mental illness from her father's side of the family, fifteen years being taken care of by a corrupt judge with an unwholesome interest in her innocence, a [[GoAmongMadPeople spate in that most comforting of places, the nineteenth century madhouse]], an attempt on her life, and the discovery of a serial killer. Who was her dad, who killed her mom, who herself was a mentally ill beggar and prostitute for those fifteen years. And of course, the discovery of a TortureCellar filled with bits of people in meat grinders. Just the fact that she goes off with Anthony doesn't insure their happy ending lasts. Given just how little time she spent with him, she probably would have jumped on ''any'' chance to get out of the Judge's care.

* Also, they look ''just'' enough alike that the already crazy Mrs. Lovett can immediately draw the conclusion that he's Barker.

[[WMG: Mrs. Lovett had an illegitimate child with someone and eventually her great great so many great granddaughter would be [[FightClub Marla Singer]]]]

She found her way into the movie somehow, probably by killing the REAL Mrs. Lovett-who would've immediately turned Todd back over to the judge.

For the rest of the play, the Beggar Woman haunts Fleet Street and the street in front of Judge Turpin's house - understandable, as those are sights of great emotional importance to her. One is her old home, the other is the sight of her worst trauma. But why is she at the Dock? Why just that one day? She told herself - or Mrs. Lovett told her, to soothe her - that her husband wasn't deported for life, but just for fifteen years. Even in her madness, she clung to that idea. So when fifteen years had passed, she started waiting at the docks for him to return. When she saw Todd, she recognized him vaguely, and followed him "home."

Think about it: in "Poor Thing" she describes Lucy as being a "Silly little nit/had her chance/with the world on a string." So we know she's jealous of Lucy, coveted Benjamin, and pretty much thinks that Lucy should have just done the dirty with the Judge to appease him ("But did she come down from her tower?/Sat up there and sulked by the hour"). So she also thinks that Lucy thought herself too good for such a thing.

** Another [[IdenticalGrandchild descendant of hers]](Lovett was, being a Muggle, erased from the family tree)falls in love with [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].

*** Or not. Anything is possible but research into crimes at the Old Bailey and other researches by historians have found no clue that there was an actual murderer named Sweeney Todd or anyone who dispatched their victims in this way. However, there were many legends and tales about cannibalistic meat pie vendors and gruesome murderers, any of these could have been based on or inspired by some crime that does not come down to us. A mad serial-killing butcher killing people with a straight edge razor could have existed in the first part of the 1800s. Sweeney Todd most probably did not exist.

...only instead of a Mr. T, she'll fall for a [[TheJoker Mistah J.]]