Mrs. Watson
English 113--Section 101
Narrative Essay
February 23, 2011
Wanted: Actors/Actresses Who Can Sing
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Tim Burton, screenplay by Stephen
Sondheim, is a dark comedy musical set in London, England. The movie stars Johnny Depp as Todd
(Benjamin Barker) and Helena Bonham Carter as Ms. Lovett. Todd is and insane barber set on revenge
after his wife and daughter are taken away early in the movie by the evil Judge Turpin. Once Sweeney Todd
sets his mind to it he is back into action and slicing and dicing his victims into meat pie's for Ms. Lovett's
restaurant. This is a wonderful adaptation of revenge with a comedic twist; however, the groaning of the
ballads by the characters was hideous.Early in the movie the singing was confusing. It is understandable that he had a huge place in his heart for
his wife and daughter but the movie would have been much more capable with just spoken voice. Johnny
Depp is an amazing actor and when asked about his singing ability in a post movie interview he gave a reply,
"I do not know if I can, but I will try." The fact that he is unaware of any singing ability he has is obvious.
For instance when he is singing the phrase "We all deserve to die," he tries to hit a high note which makes an
awful bellow which compares to that of an injured dog.
Stephen Sondheim unfortunately adds in the simple British accent of Carter (Ms. Lovett) throughout the
movie. For example, when Lovett is singing about Judge Turpin taking advantage of Lucy, Todd's lost wife,
there is a solemness in her voice. Here, the audience would be incapable of understanding the basic point of
her song because of her accent along with the darkness of the comedy, excluding her terrible singing
voice.
We are not all great actors or singers, but to have such a wonderful movie considerably ruined by
rudimentary musical numbers is out of the question. Stephen Sondheim and Tim Burton could have chosen
actors or actresses with a much better singing voice than they did for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of
Fleet Street.
Works Cited
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Screenplay Stephen Sondheim. Dir. Tim Burton.
2007. Dreamworks, 2008. DVD
I agree with you post. It was very hard for me to understand what the characters were saying when they were singing. The fact that I missed the first day of the movie and the characters sang with heavy accents I was lost through much of the movie. I do beleive Johnny Depp is a great actor in other movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, but I would rather watch him when he isn't singing.
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