We are now in week three of rehearsals for Sweeney Todd. As I become familiar with the libretto I am continually struck by the subversive humor of Sondheim’s lyrics, the dark turns that the music takes, the shocking juxtaposition of beauty and grotesquery evident in some of the finest moments of the show. Several lyrics have become fast favorites. Act 2 of the show begins with “God That’s Good!” The song must surely be Sondheim’s homage to the Act 2 opener in Carousel, “A Real Nice Clambake.” In both songs the ensemble sings about the glories of a meal they are enjoying together. “Clambake” is upbeat, the meal a bonding ritual for the New England community where Carousel is set. “God That’s Good!” is straight out of hell, the meal the embodiment of the predatory world of 19th-century London. The crowd sings of the glories of Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies without a clue as to what makes her pies so good. And why are her pies so good? For those of you unfamiliar with the show, I won’t ruin the surprise. Suffice to say that it is the humanity that Lovett brings to her pie-making that lifts her pies into the realm of the sublime. I love listening to the crowd-gone-mad quality that infects some of the best moments in the song. Leave it to Sondheim to come up with this lyrical mashup, sung by an ensemble whose ecstasy overwhelms their ability to speak a coherent sentence:
“God, that’s good, that is de have you licious ever
tasted smell such oh my god
what more that’s pies good!“
I am nearly off-book now for Act 1 (May 30 is the official date we are supposed to be off-book, so I’m ahead of the game; don’t ask me about Act 2 just yet!). Last night I had the pleasure of enjoying a three hour music rehearsal, most of it with Christine Pinson, the actress who is playing Mrs. Lovett in our production. Lovett and Sweeney share so many great moments together on stage. “A Little Priest” is one of the iconic songs of the show, a duet that Lovett and Sweeney sing together to end Act 1. The song is dark and hilarious. Last night I found myself cracking up anticipating some of the lines that Christine was about to sing. I cannot wait to perform the song. Christine is amazing (and not just as an actress; locals you really need to check out her cookie-making business. There is a feature article about Christine in last Sunday’s Abilene Reporter News!). Local theatre fans will already be familiar with her from her previous stage roles in local productions of Les Miserables and August: Osage County. Raising four boys with her husband, Matt, serving on the Highland Church worship team while running a growing business from her own home–Christine does it all. She will be a phenomenal Mrs. Lovett.
Playing Sweeney is giving me the chance to complete another “bucket list” item of mine. I’ve dreamed of playing this role for thirty years. At the moment, my favorite song is one that occurs near the beginning of Act 2, a quartet reprise of the song “Johanna” (another iconic song from the show!). The song has Sweeney in his barber shop “shaving” customers while singing about a daughter he yearns to see again, a daughter taken from him years ago by an evil “vulture of the law,” Judge Turpin. The beauty of the song masks what is, I think, the darkest lyric of the show. Standing at his barber chair, Sweeney sings of his feelings about the daughter he has lost:
“And though I’ll think of you, I guess,
until the day I die,
I think I miss you less and less
as every day goes by,
Johanna…“
As I think about the lyric I see two plausible ways of understanding Sweeney’s words. Our show director, Katie Hahn, suggested to me that perhaps Sweeney is speaking about the inevitable experience of loss, how the people we love who have died always remain with us even as our lives go on even as our feelings of loss become less weighty to us. Sweeney could be speaking to this experience, how years removed from his daughter is freeing him from the burden of loss. Katie’s suggestion resonates with me right now. Every day I think about how much my mother would have loved the vicarious experience of watching me rehearse and perform in this show. I think of mom every day. I still feel the burden of grief, though I trust that over time the weight of loss is lifted, that I will come to miss her less and less.
But as I think about the lyric, I remain convinced by a different, darker reading of Sweeney’s sentiment. When Sweeney says that he misses Johanna less and less, this is testimony to how his own desire for revenge has overwhelmed him. For Sweeney, revenge is the thing now. Not even getting his daughter back will provide him solace, only executing revenge on those who have wronged him. The reprise is a transcendent display of beauty merged with horror, beautiful music carrying dark lyrics that demonstrate how far gone Sweeney is. At the end of the show, Sweeney states directly the lesson to be taken from his story: To seek revenge may lead to hell.
Well on that bright note, I’ll end this post. I encourage everyone to come see our show in June! You will not be disappointed. We’ve got a great cast performing what is, debatably, the magnum opus of America’s greatest musical composer (Sweeney gets my vote here, though a strong case can be made for his Sunday in the Park with George). I look forward to seeing you from the stage! Men, Sweeney might even invite you up to his shop for a quick shave…
