|
"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd..."© Erica Davis
Nov 18, 2001
I’m not much of one to go to musicals. I admire people who can be in them, because I took a
musical theatre class myself, and found out how incredibly hard it can be! However, from a
viewing standpoint, unless it is really a subject or script that gets me interested, I find I need a
good reason for people to break into song. One of the few musicals I do really enjoy is, “Sweeney
Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!” I first saw it in one of my acting classes, because my
professor claimed it was his favorite musical ever. Well, between going over script music, taking
my turn leaving the room to audition my song I chose for our singing section of the class, etc...I
missed a good chunk of the video, and the parts I did see didn’t really interest me. Our final for
this particular class was for us all to sing, and act to the opening scene of “Sweeney Todd.” They
gave us all parts, we learned our notes, etc. It was a lot of fun, and suddenly, this tune we had to
learn for the final was really a lot more interesting, and I wanted to see the show live. The show went up the next semester at our school, and we had an incredible cast. I have never
enjoyed a stage show so thoroughly as this one. I saw it from start to finish, and the talent in the
show made it even better. If you have not seen this show, or heard of it, like many people have not, I will try to give you a
brief rundown. “Sweeney Todd,” is set in 18th Century London. The Industrial Age is in full
swing, and many people moved into the cities to find jobs working in the new factories.
Widespread poverty covered the city, and London developed three social classes. The Upper class
who were wealthy and usually owned some land. The Merchants and Shop owners, and finally the
working class, who included the lowest income and was the largest of the three groups. The
society at the time was morally bankrupt, and the city itself was civilly unprepared for the great
influx of people it experienced, leaving many people, even in this booming age, unemployed and
homeless. The city had survived the plague of the 17th century, but the overall health of the city
was still very poor, and sewage flowed through most of the muddy streets. In 1748, Sweeney
Todd was born. Many people believe he is a boogey man, a legend. In fact, he did live, and was
Go To Page:
1
2
3
4
The copyright of the article "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd..." in Classic Authors is owned by . Permission to republish "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd..." in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
