#johanna barker

[lunarhobbits]

so i saw sweeney todd the other day and it's consuming my thoughts

+ bonus meta meme

#sweeney todd #stephen sondheim #josh groban #annaleigh ashford #nellie lovett #benjamin barker #johanna barker #anthony hope #lucy barker #tobias ragg

[little-lovett]

there is SO much depth and beauty in the stories we hear in sweeney todd. a murderer who was once a doting father, so blind with hatred and anger towards the world that he couldn’t even see his own wife and daughter, staring him right in the face. a woman down on her luck and in love, trying so desperately to make a connection with a deeply broken and disturbed human. an unfortunately innocent and unknowing boy who ended up being the one who could sense the dark truth. a love at first sight that refused to die, even when torn apart by the disgusting perversion of a greedy abuser. sweeney todd is about all of these people, doing absolutely horrible things, all out of some form of love. that’s the beauty of sweeney todd. sweeney killed for a father and husband’s love. lovett baked real people with real lives into pies to maintain a shallow, lustful relationship she impossibly dreamed would bloom into true romance. turpin destroyed an innocent family because he could not contain his ‘love’ for a pretty woman and her daughter. toby slit a throat because his mother figure was all he had, and he loved her, simply and purely, as an innocent child loves a mother. their love is the purest of all in the story.

but my point is — yes, sweeney todd is about a murderer and his accomplice who cannibalizes and sells his victims. but it’s not. sweeney todd is about love. how love is even stronger and more dangerous than the deepest hate. it’s about how love can destroy people. this show is so beautifully, deeply, disgustingly human. and this dark, telling tale is somehow warped into some of the most gorgeous music to ever be written and made hilarious, lovable, and entertaining. musical theatre is truly magic. human nature is love and filth and greed. sweeney todd perfectly embodies both of these ideas.

#rant #i’ve been holding this in #sweeney todd #annaleigh ashford #josh groban #broadway #musical theatre #sondheim #nellie lovett #sweeney todd revival #benjamin barker #sweenett #sweeney todd fanart #sweeney todd broadway #stephen sondheim #attend the tale #musicals #musical theater geek #johanna barker #anthony hope #tobias ragg #judge turpin

[toaster-trash]

The Sweeney Todd brainrot is real

#sweeney todd #sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street #johanna barker #anthony hope

[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

[ashleyslorens]

#sweeney todd #sweeney todd: the demon barber of fleet street #maria bilbao #broadwayedit #theatreedit #musicaltheatreedit #musicaledit #broadwaydaily #musicalgifs #sweeneytoddedit #johanna barker #* #hi i think i'm obsessed with her #can't stop listening to her green finch and linnet bird i just love her voice #and she's soooo beautiful and so talented and every choice she makes is so good!!!! #i can't believe this is her bway debut #anyway i love you twitchy girl <3

[thephantom]

Whence comes this melody constantly flowing? Is it rejoicing or merely hallooing? Are you discussing, or fussing, or simply dreaming?

MARIA BILBAO as JOHANNA BARKER in the 2023 revival of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. @theriddletrades' master.

#*mine #johanna barker #sweeney todd #maria bilbao #well hello i return from the grave for a pretty woman. no one is surprised #I'M JUST. VERY FUCKING GAY FOR HER. ACTUALLY. #her voice is literally addicting #but don't worry we'll have annaleigh and josh gifs coming soon when i'm on break for thanksgiving <3 #THANK YOU SO MUCH ELLA... I AM. WEEPING. THIS FOOTAGE IS FUCKING /GORGEOUS/

[nigft]

my cage has many rooms, damask and dark

#my art #sweeney todd #fan art #johanna barker #saw sweeney todd johanna is sooo cute #i was so obsessed with how she was played with bird like mannerisms! #and the detail of her cuticles being red from constantly being picked at…… wow! #sorry for musicalposting on main i just really like sweeney todd #green finch and linnet bird supremacy

[droughtofapathy]

Earlier today, several of Sarah Rice's close personal friends announced her death on social media. Sarah, the original Joanna in Sweeney Todd, was also a regular performer at the monthly Sondheim Unplugged cabaret series up until a little over a year ago. To celebrate this incredible actress, please enjoy a few of my audio clips from her time with Sondheim Unplugged, including her final performance of "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," a hilarious story about the late Angela Lansbury, and a sadly appropriate farewell song.

#sarah rice #sondheim #sweeney todd #johanna barker #when she stopped doing sondheim unplugged i had a feeling it was health-related but i'm still stunned

[timegays]

I can’t take it here

#sweeney todd #johanna barker #my art #josh groban #THEY DESERVED BETTER #girldad..

[werewiire]

does anyone know why johanna’s nails/hands would be done this way? all i can think of is to emphasise her nails, but it looks odd. here’s the full image, for context:

(credit: theriddletrades’ master)

#sweeney todd #sweeney todd musical #johanna barker #josh groban

[nemmet]

⚓️🕊️ happy sweeney todd 2023 cast recording release day!!

#I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S HERE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #i listened to it on repeat while drawing this!!!! #these two are my favourite characters and i just knew i had to redraw them to celebrate :D #sweeney todd #sweeney todd broadway #sweeney todd 2023 #sweeney todd musical #sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street #sweeney todd fanart #anthony hope #johanna barker #jordan fisher #maria bilbao #nem art :)

[little-lovett]

yes i’m fine sorry i was just zoning out but right before sweeney kills lucy he says “the judge… i have no time!” and mrs. lovett represents the virtue of patience in the show and she had sang a whole song telling him to wait and take things slow and relax and think through his decisions.

the thing that destroys everyone in this show is impatience. if anthony had waited before intruding on sweeney and the judge, if sweeney had stopped obsessing when and where and how he could kill the beadle and judge, if sweeney hadn’t felt suffocated by the crushing, endless force of time and looked his own little girl and his wife in the eye and really thought and reached into the soul that was still in him, sweeney todd wouldn’t be the tragedy that it is. human nature bitches human nature

#i could go on and on #sweeney todd #broadway #josh groban #musical theatre #annaleigh ashford #sweeney todd revival #sondheim #sweeney todd broadway #benjamin barker #nellie lovett #sweeney todd fanart #sweeney todd musical #sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street #anthony hope #tobias ragg #mrs lovett #johanna barker #judge turpin #broadway musicals #broadway memes #musical theater fanart #musical theater

[jesperr-fahey]

something about. the survivors in sweeney todd. about how it's the children. it's anthony and johanna and toby. the adults are parents and tormenters for these three, and at the end of the show, they're gone.

it's up to you now, kids.

you, anthony, do you realize what todd did? the man you trusted as much as your own limbs, the man who's life you saved. he's gone, now, and he was a killer all along, but he killed the judge before he went. and the judge would've killed you. so where do you go from here? who do you trust now? can you build that beautiful life with the woman you loved?

you, johanna, do you know what happened to your family? your mother, insane, begging, dead. your father, banished, killing, dead. the man who ruined them both, who tried to ruin you, dead. was he right, to put you in that place, with the mumbling and raving mad? the bird is free, but will she ever sing again?

you, toby, do you know what you've done? the razor in your hand, the blood on the floor. the man who gave you a job, murdered and shoved into a crate, cooked and served. the woman you swore to protect, thrown away and burnt like waste. the man who did it, the demon you warned her against, dead at your hand. can you see it? can you realize it? who's the demon now?

#sweeney todd #johanna barker #anthony hope #tobias ragg #sweeney todd revival #can you tell i watched act 2 of sweeney tonight. #jesus fucking CHRIST. anyway.

[demonbarberofbeepbeep]

Good morning Toddheads. This is SO GOOD. I'm sorry. Johanna grinning madly as she shoots Mr. Fogg??? goodforher.jpg!! Also look at Anthony's shock as he like cartoon-character jumps in the air?? His sweet turtledove, killing her captor with a smile on her face?? Welcome to the Barker family, Anthony! I LOVE THESE GUYS

#im up way too early #but look #doesnt she just take after her father #johanna barker #Anthony hope

[ashleyslorens]

“The red on my nails is the result of Johanna's self harm that she puts herself through to kind of, you know, take her mind away from all the turmoil in her life, with, you know, being captive by Judge Turpin and that awful reality that she has. Me and Tommy Kail just kinda came together and thought this would be an interesting and gruesome little easter egg for Johanna.” - Maria Bilbao

#cw self harm #sweeney todd #sweeney todd: the demon barber of fleet street #maria bilbao #broadwayedit #theatreedit #musicaltheatreedit #musicaledit #sweeneytoddedit #johanna barker #* #i've wanted to make this set for months but i couldn't find maria's exact quote until now

[princesssarisa]

Musical fandoms and ingenue hate

Is this really such a problem?

There's a YouTuber named Katherine Steele who mostly makes videos about musical theatre, and who has a small video series in defense of ingenue characters, titled "Why Everybody Hates..."

There are four videos in the series: "Why Everybody Hates Cosette" (Les Misérables), "Why Everybody Hates Christine" (The Phantom of the Opera), "Why Everybody Hates Johanna" (Sweeney Todd), and "Why Everybody Hates Maria" (West Side Story).

Some other sources – like TV Tropes, for example – have cited those videos to talk about why these characters are "widely" disliked.

But is it really true? Of all four of those musicals' fandoms, I've only been deep in the Les Misérables fandom, but from what I've seen people say about the others, I had no idea that those ingenue characters got big amounts of hate!

Being indifferent to the character doesn't count as hate, nor does considering her unoffensive but boring.

Do Johanna and Maria get the same kind of real loathing in the diehard Sweeney Todd and West Side Story fandoms that we see in the Les Mis fandom with talk about "that horrid Cosette," "I hate her with a passion," etc?

There is a lot of visceral, venomous Cosette-hate in the Les Mis fandom, or at least there used to be in the '90s and early 2000s. But it has a cause: Éponine. Immature people hate Cosette because she's loved by Marius, when they want him to love Éponine instead. (And to a lesser extent because she "abandons" her father Jean Valjean, but that's more the novel's Cosette than the musical's.)

I know that there's also some Christine hate among Phantom Phans, which is also love-triangle related: they hate her for choosing Raoul instead of the Phantom.

But I had no idea that Sweeney and WSS fans were venomous about Johanna or Maria – are they?

From what little I've seen of Sweeney fans, I've occasionally seen them call Johanna boring or a Mary Sue (and even then, the context has been "I always thought she was, but then [insert actress here] made me appreciate her"). But for the most part, I see people talk approvingly about how she's more complex than an average ingenue, how she can be played as mentally unstable, etc.

And Maria? Yes, there are the people who can't stand how quickly she forgives Tony for killing Bernardo. (Although that complaint only seems to have become widespread with the 2021 film's release – I remember occasionally reading it in the past, but not nearly as much as now.) But apart from that, and from sometimes seeing people call both Maria and Tony boring, I had no idea that anyone hated her! And if you think she had no characterization but "pretty and nice" until the 2021 film, then you've been giving both the stage version and the 1961 film a shallow surface read! She's always had intelligence, playfulness, passion and strength!

I'd like people who have been deep in the fandoms of these musicals to tell me. Is there really a widespread problem of loud, venomous hate for all these ingenue characters, the way there has been for Cosette in the Les Mis fandom? Or is it really just a few people calling them "boring" now and then, with only the love triangles in Les Mis and Phantom making people nastier about Cosette and Christine?

#musical theatre #broadway #west end #musicals #ingenues #commentary #les miserables #les mis #cosette #the phantom of the opera #poto #christine daae #sweeney todd #johanna barker #west side story #maria #les mis fandom #poto fandom #sweeney todd fandom #west side story fandom #character hate