The original appearance of Sweeney Todd is very unlike anything you may consider familiar.
Sweeney Todd has grown in popularity through musicals, comics and movies in the 21st century, but his initial appearance was actually 150 years ago in a penny dreadful. Thomas Peckett Prest first brought Todd to life on the printed page and the story is a huge departure from what readers have come to know of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
The Current Sweeney Todd
In the 2007 and musicals from the last 20 years, the plot is essentially the same. Todd is a murderous man driven by his unjust time spent in prison and having lost his wife and daughter. The target of his anger is Judge Turpin who caused his wife’s death and has adopted his daughter, Johanna. Johanna falls in love with sailor/hero Anthony and they survive together.
Todd lures his victims to his barber shop and slits their throats, tossing their bodies below to Mrs. Lovett’s bake over to feed the customers at her pie shop. She is infatuated with him, singing to him about their connection and the potential for long lives together.
The Original Sweeney Todd
Prest’s original short story reads more like a Sherlock Holmes case than an insight into the mind of a mad man. Originally written in 1859, titled “The String of Pearls: A Romance”, the story introduced Todd as the antagonist and Lovett as an ancillary character. The romance of Johanna was a plot point, but not a major plot device.
The story instead included police inspectors and decorated international officers, none of whom have continued on as the play materials have evolved. The story jumps from many perspectives. There is a laundry list of other changes. There is no judge. Toby works for Todd. Anthony isn’t name Anthony. The list goes on.
The Call to Action
If you love Sweeney Todd, the movie, the character, the musical or any combination thereof, read the original source material. Todd came from something raw and unpolished, and emerged into something more mature and captivating. All characters begin as ideas and his is a prime example of an idea that began with its first iteration and how it became legend.