Sweeney Todd Timeline: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

[Zxen]

Posted: 4/30/17 at 6:06pm

As far as I know, this precious document is the only proper timeline of the musical on the entire internet at Mon 1 May 2017. I have included context, character ages, some geographical locations and walking distances, and some reasonable psychology. For example, why was Anthony going to Plymouth and how long was he staying in London for? Why did Mrs Lovett say that it was only Tuesday when it was Friday? How did Judge Turpin see sunlight through Johanna's dress when he peered through the keyhole if all the windows were boarded shut? How long after Anthony's visit did the windows take to get boarded? Please understand that many, many hours of research and creativity have been put into this, and please feel free to add or assist with correcting information. If there are holes in the story that were not filled in by previous authors and I have filled them flawlessly and in an entertaining manner, then I claim them.

The timeline of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street musical by Stephen Sondheim begins on Monday, 24 August 1846 and ends less than a year later in 1847. Benjamin Barker, now 46 years old, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1831, spent 15 years in a prison in Sydney, Australia, killed a guard to escape (accidentally - he was trying to knock him out), was hunted by guards but swam out into Botany Bay to escape, removed his prison uniform while swimming, and before he drowned from exhaustion, was helped aboard a fishing vessel (with 'Sweeney' - a Gaelic word meaning 'pleasant' painted on the side of it) by some fishermen who wondered what this sickly man with lash marks on his back was doing. He told them his name was 'Todd' - the name of a fellow prisoner who died earlier that day helping him escape and had been his only real friend in prison. When their suspicions became too much and they were going to take him back to land, he picked up a filleting knife. One man jumped overboard in fear but the second, larger man picked up an oar. Barker dodged the first swing but was hit in the head by the second. Staggering, he managed to cut the fisherman's hand. The fisherman knocked him down and began to strangle him but Barker managed to stab the knife into his throat several times. Freezing, he took the clothes off the corpse and began to sail up the coast, away from the prison, washing the blood from his clothes and the boat to remove evidence. It was early June, which is the beginning of winter time in Australia. After three days and nights at sea and exposed to cold wind and rain, he fell asleep and was awoken by a heavy storm that tipped the small boat over. With one oar (the other had been lost) and now with a broken mast, he struggled to bring the boat upright. He had no food supplies except for the raw fish he had already eaten, and the corpse he had considered eating but decided that it was disgusting and threw it overboard with some chains from the anchor that he had been able to detach and some line weights, which he shoved deep into the hole in it's throat because there was no reliable way to attach the weights on the exterior without sacrificing sailcloth or clothing. His boat was damaged and he was miles from shore. He would have died out there if it hadn't been for the lightning that silhouetted his raft, pitching and tossing in the ocean waves. Anthony, a 19 year old sailor from a Bounty Immigration ship for paid worker immigrants into Australia called 'The Bountiful' (which was once used as a convict transport vessel but it had been converted because convicts had stopped being sent to Australia in 1840) spotted him and sounded the alarm for the Captain to deviate their course to check for survivors. Benjamin Barker told the Captain that his name was 'Sweeney Todd' and his friends who he had been working with as fishermen had died at sea - and now with his boat sunk there was nothing left for him in Australia and he wished to return to London with them. The Captain put Anthony in charge of his recovery and allocated chores to him as they sailed the nearly three month Journey to St Katherine Dock in London, disembarking ten minutes before the sun rises on Monday, 24 August, 1846 (Northern Hemisphere Summer) when the musical opens. Benjamin Barker, never wanting to be taken back to the prison that mistreated him, decides to keep his new alias, 'Sweeney Todd', and luckily, most people he once knew no longer recognised him very well or had changed address. His hope over the years had been to reunite with his now 35 year old wife Lucy and his now 16 year old daughter Johanna, but his mistreatment and incarceration after receiving a life sentence for being late with his tax payment (because he had needed extra money to pay for medicine for his child) was something that he had thought about too. His murderous thoughts of revenge and the justice system in general had consumed him and nearly driven him mad over the years. He knew that the devout Christian Judge (Turpin, 65 years old in 1846) had been denied marriage by Lucy and had been angered by the fact that she had married a lowly barber instead of somebody important like him. Judge Turpin's friend, a ceremonial officer of the church called a beadle, Mr Bamford (50 and with a daughter of his own in 1846), with whom he had a strong relationship because of their shared views on Justice, God's laws and the idea that the meek were filthy and useless to society, tried to help the Judge win her heart by inviting Lucy to various dinners with Judge Turpin while the Judge himself hid in the shadows watching. But she had always declined. He had continued to stalk her and give her flowers even while she was married to Barker.


Monday 24 August, 1846 5:50am No Place Like London


Sweeney Todd (46) and Anthony Hope (19) arrive at London docks from Australia. A beggar woman who we later discover is Lucy Barker (35) begs for alms and tries to whore herself. Anthony gives her some money but Todd angrily tells her to go away. She says to him, 'Hey, don't I know you mister?' Sweeney then walks the 1.9 miles from St Katherine Docks to St Dunstan in the West guild church in 40 minutes as the summer sun rises to cruelly shine it's beautiful orange morning light over the city to give him false hope. His old apartment at 186 Fleet Street was next door to a medieval church that had been torn down for street widening just before his arrest. When he arrives, the street is wider, and a new church has been constructed, so for a minute he feels lost. Luckily his own apartment is still intact.

Monday 24 August, 1846 6:30am The Worst Pies in London

After arriving at the London Docks directly from Australia, Barker walks to his old apartment and Tonsorial Parlour (barber shop) in Fleet Street to see if Lucy and Johanna are still living there. There is no answer at his side entrance, and the door looks dirty and unused, but the bakery downstairs is open early, and Mrs Cornelia Lovett (45) is preparing her pies for the day when Sweeney Todd walks in. Todd asks Lovett about the room upstairs and she tells him that people think its haunted, before telling him the story he never knew - that after the barber who lived there was shipped off to Australia 15 years ago for a life sentence, the Beadle had told his wife Lucy not to despair because the Judge felt pity for herself and the child, was sorry and would hear her side of the story over dinner, and maybe reduce the sentence of her husband. The story goes on to say that Lucy went to the Judge's house, taking her baby with her in her baby carriage. Inside there was a masquerade ball in progress, and the baby was swooned over by some of the guests and they danced with the baby. Despite Lucy's concerns, the Beadle welcomed her in and the Judge kept handing her drinks. She was here to rescue her husband, but the alcohol made her dizzy and upon tripping while dancing with the Judge, who was the life of the party and who was also drunk, did something that nobody really minded with the loud music while everyone was intoxicated - he had sex with her while other people made out all over the place, and laughed along with the Judge's fun party attitude, despite Lucy's whimpering and tears. This is where Mrs Lovett's story ends, but here is further information: Lucy didn't want to do this, but if it meant freeing her husband, and getting out of there as quickly as possible with her baby, then it must happen whether she wanted it or not. Being a good Christian woman, the guilt of it tore her mind into madness, and she acknowledged that she was a slut and would live life that way as a sinner in the street. She forgot and didn't care where her home was, or that her baby had been left at the party - she was not a fit mother anyway, and the Judge would have the means to care for her at the very least. The judge had found the baby crying downstairs in the foyer when he awoke from his hangover the next day, and upon the Beadle's advice as the Christian thing to do, the Judge kept the child, as a penance and also as a reminder of his overall victory. It also made a good cover story if people asked whether the lady at the party that night was a mistress. He had not, after all, won the heart of the woman he loved who had become a filthy street whore, but at least the husband was gone and he'd earned himself a child out of it. A partial victory, but a victory nonetheless. After weakly coming to her senses (somewhat) after living in the street for months, the now dirty whore comes to ask for her child back, but the Judge is repulsed by such sinfulness and filth, and from then on, the Beadle prevents her from entering the property where the Judge keeps her protected from the wickedness of men almost exclusively in her room, where she is waited on by his servants). Mrs Lovett tells Todd that Lucy then went to buy arsenic from Apothecary on the corner to poison herself, which is true. Todd presumes this means she successfully died of suicide, and Lovett lets him believe it. Lovett adds that she tried to stop her but this was probably not true, as Lovett was resentful of the much younger Lucy winning the man Lovett wanted (her husband Albert had died just before the two were wed) in the same way the Judge resented Barker for winning the woman Judge Turpin wanted. In this way, Lovett and Turpin are very similar as both are evil manipulators, the difference being that the Judge uses force whereas Lovett uses cunning. Lovett then reveals how much in love she was with Barker when she shows that she has kept his expensive razors for fifteen years while she yearned for an impossible, unrequited love. But now he had returned and her dreams could possibly come true. Luckily he asks no questions about why she kept them and is glad to have them back. These razors are part of his history even more than they are of hers, and how much easier it would have been to escape from prison if he'd had these razors he'd been wishing he'd had for fifteen years. Lovett gives them to him to win his heart by giving him a form of income as a barber again. Sweeney Todd has other plans for these razors and money means nothing to him. There is one thing he wants now above all else, including seeing his daughter again: Revenge. His history of murder thus far is one accidental killing of a prison guard, leaving a fisherman to swim back to shore who may have survived, and a fisherman he stabbed to death with a filleting knife in provoked 'self defense'. He had enjoyed the stabbing the most as it was amazing therapy for him. Until then, violence had only ever really been an abstract imagining that would have only ever comforted him in his dreams. But now he was free, knew he could kill a man, knew he enjoyed it, knew he could get away with it and was now being handed a complete set of murder weapons. With fancy chased (indented design) silver handles. Todd tells Lovett he's going to get them.


Monday 24 August, 1846 7:30am Green Finch and Linnet Bird

Anthony (19) walks towards his lodgings in London where he will stay for a short time as a tourist before his journey by coach (horse and carriage) to his home town of Plymouth. On the way, he passes Judge Turpin's house and sees the ivory skin and yellow hair belonging to Johanna Barker (aged 16) (note: she was never adopted to become Johanna Turpin so she is not actually Turpin's adopted daughter but rather his 'ward' and despite the wonders he loves to see on all his travels, she is his greatest wonder yet. Johanna sings to the birds for sale through her first story bedroom window (in the prison of a mansion she has barely ever left, and only under the Judge's supervision) and eventually notices Anthony gazing up at her. It is requited love at first sight. The beggar woman (Lucy, 35) interrupts to ask Anthony for alms again and he asks who owns the house and who the girl is. The beggar woman backs away fearfully when she tells him it is Judge Turpin's house because she never wants to be caught here despite her secret and confusing yearnings and tells him with sadness that the girl's name is Johanna, his pretty little ward. She warns him that the place is dangerous and soon slips back into her comfort zone, offering herself to him once again as a whore. He pays her again and tells her to go away. He then buys Johanna a bird and she shyly comes downstairs and sneaks out the door. He tells her he's only ever dreamed of such beauty and that he will steal her, words she has longed to hear. Their fingers touch as she takes the bird as a gift. The Judge comes out of his house, Johanna rushes inside and he warns Anthony that if he ever comes into this neighbourhood again, he will rue the day he was born. The bird that was cruelly blinded by the seller to make him sing constantly as if it were night, is then confiscated by the Beadle (ceremonial officer of the church) who acts as the Judge's henchman. He removes the bird from his cage and murders the bird by breaking his neck, then warns Anthony that next time it will be his neck. The Judge asks Johanna if she was provoking the young sailor, and she denies it. He then tells her how sweet she looks in 'that light muslin gown' - a piece of clothing he undoubtedly chose for her.

Monday 24 August, 1846 9:00am Pirelli's Miracle Elixir

Now that Todd (46) has his razor set which includes a tooth extractor, Mrs Lovett (45) has helped him find out about the local competition. From her perspective, this will help him bring in business so he can make money. From Todd's perspective, opening a reputable Tonsorial Parlour will be a great way to lure Judge Turpin and The Beadle into his room so he can get away with the revenge he hungers for. The street cart of Adolfo Pirelli is in St Dunstan's Marketplace. Mrs Lovett sees Beadle Bamford (50) and tells Todd that he had better leave before the Beadle recognises him and discovers he has escaped from prison. Todd has no fear at all and is glad of it. A simple minded and clearly abused orphan teenager, Tobias Ragg (15) loudly announces to the crowd that there is a new miracle elixir for sale that heals baldness. Todd draws attention to himself by proclaiming that the elixir is piss and ink. The crowd, who were initially excited by the new product, begin demanding their money back and to see this Pirelli, who the boy has been adulating. Adolfo Pirelli (30) emerges as an arrogant Italian Superstar Barber (but is really an Irish con artist named Daniel O'Higgins) and demands to know who said his elixir is piss. Unfazed, and welcoming the opportunity, Todd makes a show of challenging Pirelli to a shaving and tooth pulling competition, and even asks the Beadle to be the judge. Todd wins both, Pirelli gives him 5 pounds as part of their wager, and he wins the fame of business he was looking for. In addition, out of amazing luck, the Beadle agrees to visit his Tonsorial parlour before the week is out. An outstanding result. The Beadle had vaguely recognised him but Mrs Lovett assured the Beadle that Todd was her uncle's cousin who had just arrived from Birmingham yesterday.

Friday 28 August, 1846 7:00am Johanna

Judge Turpin spies through the keyhole of Johanna's bedroom, where the windows have been barred and shuttered closed since Wednesday ('these last three days' after the sailor boy incident on Monday, yet the morning Summer sunlight is still able to penetrate slightly through her gown. The Judge whips himself as he prays to God for forgiveness, but gives in to his desires and proposes marriage to her on his knees, even though she calls him father. She staggers in shock and is clearly not happy.

Friday 28 August, 1846 10:00am Wait

Todd's tonsorial parlour (barber shop) has a brand new barber's pole from this morning, and is still setting up (cobweb removal, sweeping, sourcing supplies) since it was announced to the marketplace crowd on Monday, and the location of being above Mrs Lovett's meat pieshop on Fleet Street had been specified to the Beadle. Mrs Lovett brings Todd a chair - it was her husband Albert's chair before he died of the dropsy (oedema - severe swelling leading to heart failure). Todd is impatient to kill the Beadle because on Monday morning he said he'd visit before the week is out and its now Friday morning. Mrs Lovett assures him the week is not over because its only Tuesday, but she doesn't know what she's talking about and doesn't care because all she can think about is love. She sings sweetly to him to calm him down, which he cares nothing about plus he's angry at her lack of both concern and accuracy about what day of the week it is, but he relaxes briefly and lets Lovett take his razor that he was previously gripping tightly before the bell rings and someone starts running up the stairs. Lovett lets him snatch the razor off her and is surprised to see Anthony, the young sailor with whom he had recently spent nearly 3 months at sea ending five days ago, had been the first person to show him any real kindness in fifteen years and who saved his life. Anthony says he's been pacing Fleet Street a dozen times with no success until he saw the sign that was put up today. He excitedly tells Todd that he's met the fairest and most loving maid that any man could dream of who is being held prisoner by the tyrannical Judge Turpin, but she slipped him a key (that she must have stolen) to the house through a gap in the shutters, clearly so he could rescue her from her prison house. Anthony says he will steal her away (plead with her to escape with him) today while the Judge is at work at Old Bailey criminal court, then hire a coach (horse and carriage) to take her home to Plymouth with him tonight. But he would need a place to hide her while he spends an hour or two organising the coach for that long journey. Mrs Lovett suggests that he keep her here at Todd's Tonsorial Parlour and Todd agrees after a pause. Anthony thanks them and sets off to steal Johanna from Judge Turpin's house as soon as he leaves for work. Todd is clearly not quite ready to see his daughter again (and is still not settled after his high tension readiness to kill the Beadle), and the entire reunion will be for a few hours at the most, or will alter all his plans. Mrs Lovett insensitively (as usual) suggests Todd simply slit Anthony's throat when he returns with Johanna and that Mrs Lovett can be her new mother and they will live together in Fleet Street as a family. At this moment, Adolfo Pirelli and Tobias Ragg (Toby) enter and while Lovett takes Toby for a pie (which helps to prove how motherly she can be), Pirelli bribes Todd. He reminds Todd that he is Daniel O'Higgins from Ireland, who worked for Todd for a couple of weeks when he was 12 back in 1828. He recognises that Todd is Benjamin Barker and knows he's supposed to be serving a life sentence in Botany Bay, Australia, and has clearly escaped. O'Higgins blackmails Todd to pay him half his profits every Friday forever in exchange for keeping his mouth shut about Barker's true identity. Todd strangles O'Higgins to what he believes to be death and shoves his body into a storage chest. Toby remembers that Pirelli has an appointment with his tailor and runs upstairs to remind him. Todd tells Toby that Signor Pirelli has been called away, but Toby decides to wait there against Todd's wishes, sitting on the chest where the living fingers of Daniel O'Higgins are beginning to move and are about to clutch Toby's hand. Todd grabs the boy off the chest just in time, and tells the boy to wait downstairs where he can have another pie, and even a tot of gin. The boy runs downstairs, giving Todd the opportunity to slice open O'Higgins' throat. This act of murder was self defense not of life this time, but freedom. Nevertheless, it brings clarity to Todd's abstract dreams of how the Justice system should work. And he likes it.

To be continued for songs 13-29 after I've had some sleep...

Updated On: 4/30/17 at 06:06 PM

[beilis32]

Posted: 6/8/17 at 2:24pm

 Wow, this is really cool. I just wrote my undergrad thesis about Sweeney Todd, so it's good to know that there's someone else out there who is as much of a nerd as I am. This summer hmakes it sound like a timeline of a historical event that happened.  I think you might be interested in this my thesis was about three other versions of Sweeney Todd that I found other than the musical. The first one was one of those serialized novel things from 1846 called the string of pearls ,  which you can find online for free, and then there was a play version by George Dibdin Pitt in 1847, which I also found online for free, just Google it, it's also called the string of pearls. These two versions have a drastically different plot from the musical, but they were really interesting to read .  Then I read the play by Christopher Bond,  which is what Sondheim  actually saw when he decided to write the musical, which you can buy from Samuel French, he is called  CG Bond and if you type that andSweeney Todd  into the Samuel French website you should be able to find it. Then I have course read  The liberetto of the actual musical, which I'm sure you know very well.  They all take the same basic plot and use it to make a slightly different point. I felt like such a nerd writing my paper and it was a lot of work but I had such a good time!

Updated On: 6/8/17 at 02:24 PM