Sweeney Todd
INT. BARBER SHOP — DUSK
67 …The red glow of sunset fills the shop as Todd ushers in another customer and prepares to shave him:
TODD And if I never hear your voice, My turtledove, my dear, I still have reason to rejoice: The way ahead is clear… 68
EXT. ALLEY — DUSK
68 …We see the figure of Anthony moving down a dark alley. Shadowy figures lurk along the alley walls.
TODD (V.O.) Johanna…
ANTHONY I feel you… Johanna… 69
INT. BARBER SHOP — DUSK
69 …Todd continues to prepare to shave the customer:
TODD And in that darkness when I’m blind With what I can’t forget– It’s always morning in my mind, My little lamb, my pet… 70
EXT. GRAVEYARD — DUSK
70 …We see Anthony moving past an lonely graveyard.
TODD (V.O.) Johanna…
ANTHONY Johanna… 71
INT. BARBER SHOP — DUSK
71
TODD You stay, Johanna… (He quietly cuts the customer’s throat) The way I’ve dreamed you are. (Todd notices dusk outside the window) Oh look, Johanna-, (Pulls the lever and the customer disappears) A star! (Tossing the customer’s hat down the chute) A shooting star! 72
EXT. GRAVEYARD — DUSK
72 …Anthony continues to move past the graveyard.
ANTHONY Buried sweetly in your yellow hair… 73
INT. BAKEHOUSE STEPS — DAY
73 …Music continues as Mrs. Lovett emerges from the bakehouse with a rack of hot pies. She walks out of frame, up the steps, as we push in on the crack in the door. The fiery roar of the oven within is overpowering. 74
EXT. FLEET STREET — DAY
74 …The Beggar Woman is scuttling madly along Fleet Street.
BEGGAR WOMAN (pointing to the smoke over rooftops) There! There! Somebody, somebody look up there! (the passers-by continue to ignore her) Didn’t I tell you? Smell that air? City on fire! She approaches the pie shop, the agitated music matching her increasing frenzy. She grabs a stunned Toby — who is carrying some packages toward the pie shop:
BEGGAR WOMAN Quick, sir! Run and tell! Warn ’em all of the witch’s spell! There it is, there it is, the unholy smell! Tell it to the Beadle and the police as well! Tell ’em! Tell ’em! She spots Mrs. Lovett emerging from the pie shop and explodes in desperation, pointing madly:
BEGGAR WOMAN Help!!! Fiend!!! City on fire!!! Toby pulls away from her, as she begins to scuttle off:
BEGGAR WOMAN City on fire… Mischief … Mischief … Mischief… Fiend… She appeals to other pedestrians as she goes:
BEGGAR WOMAN Alms! … Alms! … Toby turns to consider the horrible black smoke belching from the chimney of the pie shop. Something about the foul, ebony smoke troubles him. 75
INT. BARBER SHOP — DAY
75 …Todd is standing alone, contemplative, slowly and methodically stropping his razor.
TODD 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… 76
EXT. LIMEHOUSE — DAY
76 …We see the figure of Anthony trudging past the sinister opium dens and depraved taverns of the East End.
TODD (V.O.) Johanna…
ANTHONY Johanna…
77
INT. BARBER SHOP — DAY
77 …Todd completes shaving a customer. The customer’s wife and daughter are waiting.
TODD And you’d be beautiful and pale, And look too much like her. If only angels could prevail, We’d be the way we were. Johanna… The customer pays. With a pleasant smile, Todd ushers them out.. 78
EXT. ASYLUM — NIGHT
78 …Anthony wanders past the high and impenetrable walls of a madhouse, the demented souls within can be seen moving about in silhouette behind barred windows.
ANTHONY I feel you… Johanna… Something makes him stop. He turns to consider the asylum… 79
INT. BARBER SHOP — MORNING
79 …Todd shaves another customer. A beautiful morning outside the window.
TODD Wake up, Johanna! Another bright red day! (He slits the customer’s throat) We learn, Johanna, To say… Goodbye… As the note continues, he pulls the lever and the customer disappears down the chute… 80
EXT. ASYLUM — MORNING
80 …Anthony stares up at the asylum.
ANTHONY I’ll steal you…
81
INT. BARBER SHOP — MORNING
81 …As the music concludes, Todd picks up the faded Daguerreotype and again sits in his barber chair. He gazes at the picture, lost in revery. 82
EXT. HAMPSTEAD HEATH — DAY
82 Mrs. Lovett and Todd rest on a picnic blanket, just like any other couple out enjoying the fine day. The remains of a nice picnic lunch are scattered around them and Toby can be seen flying a kite a bit away. Mrs. Lovett watches happy couples moving about … dogs and kids running hither and yon … military officers squiring their ladies … nurses with prams… Todd is distinctly ill at ease, brooding, as she chatters:
MRS. LOVETT … which is not to say we couldn’t get some nice taxidermy animals to bring a touch of gentility to the place. You know, a boar’s head or two… (glancing at the unresponsive Todd) Mr. T., are you listening to me?
TODD Of course.
MRS. LOVETT Then what did I just say?
TODD (back in his somber reflections) There must be a way to the Judge!
MRS. LOVETT The bloody old Judge! Always harping on the bloody old Judge! We got a nice respectable business now, money coming in regular and — since we’re careful to pick and choose — only strangers and such like wot won’t be missed — who’s going to catch on? No response from Todd. She leans across and pecks him on the cheek:
MRS. LOVETT Oooh, Mr. Todd– I’m so happy– I could– Eat you up, I really could! You know what I’d like to Do, Mr. Todd? What I dream– If the business stays as good, Where I’d really like to go– In a year or so… Don’t you want to know?
TODD Of course.
MRS. LOVETT Do you really want to know?
TODD Yes, yes, I do, I do. The music continues as she leans back comfortably, beginning to imagine a wonderful, domestic future…
MRS. LOVETT I’ve always had this dream of living at the seaside … I got a picture postcard from me Aunt Nettie once. Oh, it seems like such a grand place… (notes Toby flying his kite) And all that fresh aquatic air’s bound to be good for the lad’s poxy lungs… By the sea, Mr. Todd, That’s the life I covet; By the sea, Mr. Todd, Ooh, I know you’d love it! You and me, Mr. T., We could be alone In a house wot we’d almost own Down by the sea…
TODD Anything you say.
MRS. LOVETT Wouldn’t that be smashing? And we go to… 83
EXT. BEACH — DAY
83 …In Mrs. Lovett’s mind. She and Todd sit in the exact same positions as in Hampstead Heath. Only now they are sitting on a beach. They are wearing what she imagines as fashionable seaside bathing clothes. Toby, who is not consumptively pale but overly rosy-cheeked in her fantasy, is building a sandcastle nearby. Mrs. Lovett is sitting with her Dream Todd, of course, so he has a bland smile on his face. Somewhat unnatural. In fact, there is something vaguely unreal and stilted about all of this.
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) With the sea at our gate, We’ll have kippered herring Wot have swum to us straight From the Straits of Bering. Every night in the kip When we’re through our kippers, I’ll be there slippin’ off your slippers By the sea… With the fishies splashing. By the sea… Wouldn’t that be smashing? Down by the sea–
TODD (V.O.) Anything you say, Anything you say.
Mrs. Lovett strolls with Todd on a boardwalk. Artificially lovely couples, like rotogravure magazine pictures, move about. Toby runs along ahead of them.
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) I can see us waking, The breakers breaking, The seagulls squawking: Hoo! Hoo! I do me baking, Then I go walking With yoo-hoo… Yoo-hoo… 85
EXT. BOARDWALK — DAY
85 Mrs. Lovett and Todd recline on comfortable deck chairs, having tea and scones.
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) I’ll warm me bones On the esplanade Have tea and scones With me gay young blade… 86
EXT. SEASIDE COTTAGE, PORCH — DAY
86 Mrs. Lovett’s notion of a fashionable little seaside cottage. Crushing in its bourgeois blandness. She is making Toby try on a sweater. Todd is writing a letter.
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) Then I’ll knit a sweater While you write a letter… 87
EXT. BEACH — DAY
87 Back on the beach, she cuddles into Todd:
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) Unless we got better To do-hoo…
TODD (V.O.) Anything you say…
88
INT. SEASIDE COTTAGE — NIGHT
88 Mrs. Lovett and Todd snuggle into bed:
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) Think how snug it’ll be Underneath our flannel When it’s just you and me And the English Channel… 89
INT. SEASIDE COTTAGE — EVENING
89 Mrs. Lovett and Todd entertain some unnaturally jolly chums.
MRS. LOVETT (V.O.) In our cozy retreat, Kept all neat and tidy, We’ll have chums over every Friday… 90
EXT. BEACH — DAY
