How the Music Spoils Sweeney Todd (and why that's a good thing!)

Wait, it's all dies irae? Sweeney from behind with his razor: Always has been

Dies irae: the musical

The dies irae is perhaps the greatest example of Harry Plinkett’s Law: “You might not have noticed it, but your brain did.”

I love the way you say “So, this is Sweeney” in the beginning. It feels like a kid at show and tell bringing his pet and he’s like “This is my pet; he’s a crocodile.” It just sounds like such a cute intro for a homicial maniac.

me, who's never seen Sweeny Todd nor has any musical education: ah yes, of course they use the Dies Irae

How to die of alcohol intoxication in 5 minutes: Take a shot every time Dies irae is mentioned

Me: plays random notes Sideways: that’s the dies irae upside down and backwards with the last note raised and a passing tone so yeah you are gonna die confirmed.

I mean, the original literally tells you "He shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again."

me: sondheim is a genius, idk how he does it sondheim: yeh i just take one melody and alter it like twenty times me: l e g e n d a r y

Take a shot everytime Sideways says "Dies Irae" and you'll begin to hear Dies Irae.

I just realized the opening to The Shining has the Dies Irae in it. I need to sit down for a second.

I was talking about this movie a few days ago with my family and I forgot Tim Burtom's name so I said "the guy who makes all of his characters anemic." And my mom said "Oh I know who you're talking about now the Beetlejuice guy!"

Dies Irae: it’s in the walls, it’s in the toilet, it’s everywhere

As one who has unfortunately never seen Sweeney todd, I thought he was holding a sardine in the thumbnail.

I love how sideways is usually super negative about film adaptations for broadway shows but he keeps saying how much he likes this one. really shows how good it is.

This makes the line "he heard music that no one heard" (only stage show) SO MUCH BETTER

"so there's these 4 notes right?" hits bong "what if we only used that all the time"

you know how i determined how Joanna was Sweeney’s daughter? she’s blonde and Lucy is blonde

Real quickly, I just want to point out Johana and Lucy's flute theme real quickly. There was one other scene I believe where you can really hear the flute, and that is in the song "God, That's Good." You hear the flute a total of two times throughout the number, and these moments are right before Mrs. Lovett tells Toby to "throw the old woman out!" The flute was clearly starting to play because Lucy had entered the shop, and Mrs. Lovett made the flute music stop by kicking Lucy out of the shop. Another reason why the score for Sweeney Todd is outstanding!

As someone named Joanna I deeply thank you for not playing THAT song that every theatre kid thought was the peak of comedy to sing to me