#welcome back to probably-incoherent-and-meaning-Nothing-of-substance Sondheim analysis time

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

forever thinking about johanna shooting fogg and what it says for both her and anthony as characters

because the whole show, from the very first scene, we've been set up to see anthony and sweeney as parallels of one another; anthony is sweeney back when he was benjamin, he's full of hope, he's in love (with a woman who looks almost identical to lucy), and then he gets that love brutally ripped away by judge turpin

in 'no place like london' sweeney says: "you are young, life has been kind to you-- you will learn" and by the point in the show where anthony is going to rescue johanna we're almost inclined to agree with him

except anthony cannot shoot the gun, he's not like sweeney in that he cannot kill another person even if it was to save someone he loved. anthony is never going to become sweeney todd.

and then we realize that we've been looking at the wrong person the whole show, and it's so obvious it's laughable: johanna shoots the gun.

johanna who has been raised to be silent and obedient and perfect, johanna who, without knowing the half of it, has had everything taken away from her by judge turpin, her mother, her father, and her freedom. johanna who we've been led to believe is the lucy to anthony's sweeney.

she is fully justified in shooting fogg, no one could fault her for it, but she doesn't even hesitate.

in that moment she is her father's daughter.

that isn't to say that I think johanna is going to go on a killing spree after the musical, obviously, but it's such a fascinating scene in terms of their development: because despite it all anthony is still the same, and because of it all johanna is not

anthony is the last bit of hope left in the story, and johanna is the last bit of sweeney

#welcome back to probably-incoherent-and-meaning-Nothing-of-substance Sondheim analysis time #god I fucking love johanna #I saw the show last night and it's ROTATING in my BRAIN #johanna barker #sweeney todd #Anthony hope #something about Anthony still being gentle and Johanna being forced to learn how to be strong just ughghghghgh #Anthony will be able to care for her and help her recover in a way sweeney would not have been able to do for Lucy at the end of the show #and Johanna will never allow herself to be pushed around as she had before #and it's heartbreaking #but also..... not? #like its lessons they never should have had to learn but now that they have they can move forward #I could talk for like a million hours for how toby works into this all too but just ghjfkjdlks #it says it all in Anthony's last name: hope