Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd:

Thoughts On A Music Theatre Masterpiece

By William Antoniou

Stephen Sondheim was one of the most important creators in modern musical theatre. I

have very purposefully used the word “creator,” rather than “composer” or “lyricist.” Indeed,

Sondheim was much more than a composer or lyricist, although in all of his major musical theatre

works he wrote both the music and libretto, the only exception being his rst major accomplishment

when he was discovered by Leonard Bernstein and tasked with writing the lyrics for West Side Story.

I feel it is incredibly important for me to emphasise the genius required to create a concept, a world,

a set of intricate characters, and then give that world words and music, and for them to be equally

exquisite. Being able to do just one of these things well is genius in and of itself.

However, if I judge Sondheim exclusively as a composer, and not completely as a storyteller/

lyricist/composer, I am disappointed and underwhelmed. Yes, you read that right. I believe

Sondheim was a once in a lifetime storyteller and lyricist, but a mediocre composer. And yet, I still

love his music and have learned so much from it. How is this possible? Why?

The answer is a sad story of myself, a young composer learning of a fact that I nd so

abhorrent that it has hindered my appreciation of Sondheim the composer since. At the tender age

of 13, after rst listening to Sondheim’s great works, (Sweeney Todd, Company, A Little Night

Music, and more), I decided that I wanted to buy the orchestral scores of these masterpieces to

study them. Because not only was I moved by the emotional sensitivities and what I like to call “the

right-ness” of the tonalities he chose for each moment, but I was blown away by the wonderful

orchestration. Mind you, nding buying a score at this time wasn’t as simple as searching on the
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internet and ordering it. It was dif cult to nd certain things, and often you had to wait months for

it to arrive it if wasn’t readily available.

After nally getting my hands on my rst full score of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber

Of Fleet Street I could barely hold in my excitement at the thought of actually seeing the orchestral

choices that the great Sondheim had made. I was eager to get answers to my various questions that I

could not answer with only my ears. Low and behold, below the title of the piece and below

Sondheim’s name, in smaller print, read “Orchestration by Jonathan Tunick.” I was heartbroken,

but also intrigued. I slowly and painfully discovered that Tunick orchestrated almost all of

Sondheim’s musical theatre works. And as I researched Tunick more and more, I once again slowly

and painfully learned that in fact, he orchestrated the music of many composers that I loved and

admired. And not only composers that I loved and admired, but composers who I speci cally

considered to be excellent orchestrators. One such composer, is Danny Elfman, who’s music I loved,

but mostly because I always felt was unbelievably well orchestrated.

I was appalled. I was disappointed. It felt like cheating to me. I consider orchestration to be a

very important part of a composer’s personality. It is, literally, the composer’s sound. Suf ce it to

say, I never felt the same about Sondheim the composer, nor about Danny Elfman.

But I digress.

‘ I will be offering my thoughts on Sweeney Todd, what I feel Sondheim does that makes it so

good, but I will also be giving a nod to Jonathan Tunick, because I consider the orchestration in

Sweeney to be a character of its own, without which the music would not be half of what it is to the

ears.
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 A Short Biography

Stephen Sondheim was born in New York City, in 1930. He showed interest in music theatre

very early, and was lucky enough to be mentored by Oscar Hammerstein, and eventually wrote the

lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957), and Jule Styne’s Gypsy (1959). He would then

embark an a mythical career, writing masterpiece after masterpiece and winning 8 Tony Awards, 8

Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and numerous other very prestigious

accolades.

I would like the emphasise that despite my reservations for Sondheim the

composer, I believe Sondheim the lyricist to be, possibly, the best ever.

It has been said that he “reinvented the American musical,” (Barack Obama), and that his

shows “tackle unexpected themes that range far beyond the genre’s traditional subjects,” (Rick

Pender), and “his shows address darker, more harrowing elements of the of the human experience,”

(Bruce Weber).

I have always felt that Sondheim’s biggest contribution to music theatre, or at least what he

was able to do that many others were not, was express the ambivalence of human emotions. He

always found away to authentically manifest what real people felt, both in his music and his lyrics, as

opposed to more emotionally “straight-forward” writing duos like Kander and Ebb, (Cabaret,

Chicago), and Rodgers and Hammerstein, (The Sound Of Music, The King And I). The mixture

of emotions in songs like “Being Alive,” (Company, 1970), or Send In The Clowns, (A Little Night

Music, 1973), are quintessentially Sondheim, in that they churn a certain reaction in the hearts of

the listeners like no one else could.

 Sweeney Todd’s Origins

The character of the murderous barber Sweeney Todd was rst created in a story called The

String Of Pearls, which was published in 1846. In 1970, Christopher Bond wrote a play based on

The String Of Pearls. This play, was the basis for Sondheim’s musical.

In a nutshell, Sweeney is the story of a London barber, who is banished to Australia for a

crime he did not commit, by a Judge, (Turpin), who lusted after his wife. The piece begins upon the

man’s return to London, who now calls himself Sweeney Todd. The musical follows Sweeney’s quest

for revenge, as he opens up a barber shop in which he slits the throats of his customers and then

moves the bodies to the meat-pie shop located below, where they are turned into lling for said

meat-pies by Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney’s hope is that one day Judge Turpin will walk into his barbershop

so he can exact his revenge. Sweeney does indeed get his revenge, but by the time he does he is

consumed by madness and is killed by a customer who survives Sweeney’s blade.

Themes

Sondheim himself said that Sweeney Todd is “a story of revenge and how it consumes a

vengeful person. What the show is really about is obsession.” I won’t disagree with him, of course.

In fact, I will say that he perfectly represented this theme. However, I will say that I believe it is

deeper than that. Sweeney is about what pain and loss can do to the depths of a human’s psyche.

How they can slowly transform to anger and hatred, and often lead to violence. Sweeney is both the

victim and the perpetrator. Once again Sondheim is able to highlight the ambivalence of humanity.

In the beginning of the show we are sympathetic to Sweeney’s story, and “rooting” for him. By the

middle of the show our sympathies are being tested by what becomes indiscriminate violence

unrelated to those who wronged Sweeney. And by the end of the show we witness the downfall of a

mad man, a troubled man, who was ultimately consumed by a lust for blood, and a belief that all

mankind should pay for his pain.

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 Sweeney Todd has been called a “slasher musical,” a description I ne to be ridiculously

shallow. I would say that the violence is intentionally absurd because it re ects the absurdity of

Sweeney himself. This is in fact one of the brilliant facets of this piece. The deeper themes are

visceral and truly scary, but it’s presented in somewhat “camp” way. While I have no idea of

knowing for sure, my guess is that Sondheim and director Hal Prince had to nd some sort of way

to marry these horri c themes to a musical theatre production with song and dance. This perfect

dose of “camp,” which is prevalent in the music rst and foremost, is the glue that makes it all stick.

The Music

Sweeney Todd is by far Sondheim’s most complex musical work. This is one of the reasons

that Sweeney is often compared to opera. Sondheim himself has called Sweeney Todd a “black

operetta.” The score is full of leitmotif, counterpoint, and angular harmony. The score is also 80%

sung through, which is more than most musicals. While I refuse to take a de nitive position on the

musical vs. Opera question, I would challenge someone to tell me that Sweeney is not an opera.

The music ebbs and ows constantly between “sung dialogue” and more lyrical explosions, as seen

below in an excerpt from “Epiphany” towards the nale of Act I.

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 In the above example Sweeney begins the number with rhythmic dialogue. As the piece

progresses, the characters begin to sing more:

Until nally, the st refrain, which is Sweeney’s most internalised moment in the number is

fully sung and lyrical:

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Another very prevalent feature of the music is Sondheim’s reference, or implication of “Dies Irae.”

Dies Irae is a medieval latin poem that describers the last judgement. The most popular melody set

to the poem is Gregorian chant, which has widely been quoted in music. Some musical scholars

have rather ippantly said that Sondheim “uses” or “quotes” Dies Irae, however I believe that

Sondheim implements it in a much more nuanced way. He uses it in the very rst number of the

musical, Prologue: The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd. The musical also closes with this piece. It is

something like an anthem of sorts. It also run throughout the score, returning in most scene

changes. Below is an excerpt from the ballad where a reference to Dies Irae is very clear:
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 The Orchestration

As promised, I have to speak about Jonathan Tunick’s exquisite orchestration a bit. As I

mentioned earlier, I consider to almost be a character in the piece. Tunick has taken Sondheim’s

melodies, and eshed them out into a beautiful yet grotesque, musical sound yet irritating work of

orchestral mastery. While originally written for a 26 piece orchestra, Tunick eventually settled on a

15 piece orchestra arrangement in what he called “a dirtier, grittier texture.” This is the

arrangement most commonly used, and my personal favourite.

The rst of Tunick’s excellent choices is his use of organ. In fact, the prelude of the musical

is written for solo organ. Not only does it immediately thrust the audience into a mood of darkness,

but it also is a not to the Victorian England setting. However, I also believe the the use of organ adds

to a concept I discussed earlier. It is somewhat “camp.” It’s been overused in the “horror,” and yet it

feels as if it is tailor made for this speci c piece. The organ is used throughout the piece, often times

used to “ ll” certain sound gaps that the small ensemble is unable to on its own.
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 Another facet of Tunick’s orchestration is how well he manages do get maximum volume

and power from so few instruments. One of my favourite moments is again from “Epiphany.” Mind

you, there are only 4 brass instruments in the arrangement, and yet when they enter in measure 43,

the power is overwhelming.

What troubles me most about the the fact that Sondheim did not, ever, orchestrate his own music is

that it’s hard to know what he actually composed, and what was added or composed by the
orchestrator. And even if we assume every note was written by Sondheim, the choices by Tunick

greatly affect the nal result of what is heard. Sondheim clearly wrote the melody in the above

example, but Tunick made the decision to add the brass in the second half of the refrain, as

opposed to the rst. Tunick decided how much emphasis to give to the melody and how much to the

bass, and so on and so forth. An analogy I nd to be relevant is the difference between someone

who can draw a picture of a house, and someone who knows how to build a house. Sondheim has

drawn a beautiful house, really, a truly beautiful house. But Jonathan Tunick built that house.

Jonathan Tunick knew what lumber to use, how to set a foundation, how to insulate the basement.

Drawing a beautiful picture of a house does not make someone an architect.

A Conclusion Of Sorts

Were I able, I could have written a book about the ins and outs of this piece of musical

theatre. The full score is more than 1,000 pages long, and every single page is interesting. Hopefully

I was able to point out some facets of the piece that are not broadly discussed. Or at the very least,

hopefully I have presented some facet of the piece in a way that anyone, musician or not, might nd

interesting. What I am certain of is that I will always love Sweeney Todd. Regardless of my opinion

on the issue of composer vs. orchestrator, Sweeney Todd is a musical theatre masterpiece, and quite

possibly an operatic masterpiece. But I feel it is a work that both displays Sondheim’s greatest

talents, and at the same time exposes his greatest weakness. Sondheim drew this brilliant house, but

Jonathan Tunick built it.

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