MovieChat Forums > Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982) Discussion > Alternate Ending

Alternate Ending

posted 10 years ago by brentajohnson1989
4 replies | jump to latest

If you could end Sweeney Todd in a different way, how would you do it and why?

Here's how I would do it:

After Todd kills Mrs. Lovett, Toby comes in with the police. Todd willingly turns himself in out of remorse for killing his wife. As they take Todd away, Todd tells Toby that revenge is not the answer and warns him not to make the same mistakes he did. Johanna and Anthony enter, hearing Todd's confession. They agree to take Toby in and comfort him by singing "Not While I'm Around."

I don't like the fact that the show ends with a young boy killing someone and going insane. With my alternate ending, this doesn't happen with Toby. Instead, we end the show with a stronger anti-revenge lesson, a sense of redemption, and the hope of a better future while still keeping the dark mood of the show.

What are your thoughts on my ending?

[–] whitelion43 9 years ago

It depends on how you portray Toby. it's pretty ambiguous how old Toby actually is in the play. He could easily be a young man with mental difficulties with an age of 21. who gets redeemed? Sweeney? Remember that the bodies of the Judge and Beedle are right there as well so Sweeney is going to hang this time for sure.
I respect your opinion but your ending lacks the emotional punch of the Original ending

Oh GOOD!,my dog found the chainsaw

[–] michael-abatemarco 9 years ago

Although I like to imagine Toby ends up alright, maybe even with Anthony and Johanna, a happy ending would ruin the musical for me which is really more of a tragedy.

[–] catjoescreed 9 years ago

Sweeney Todd is a modern reworking of the classic revenge tragedy. See Thyestes and Titus Andronicus for other examples of revenge tragedy with cannibalism, and The Spanish Tragedy and The Revenger's Tragedy for non-cannibalistic revenge tales. (And by the way, there's a wonderful film version of The Revenger's Tragedy starring Christopher Eccleston, with Eddie Izzard, Marc Warren and Derek Jacobi). In a revenge tragedy, the revenger has to die in the end. His crimes are too extreme for a just universe to permit his survival.

Perhaps we could avoid Toby's murder of Todd by having Todd commit suicide before the authorities can stop him. But I like the original ending.

[–] StrongRex (1281) 4 years ago

It's a good ending, but I tend to agree with others have said. I think it lacks more of the emotional punch, and I actually think it's a little too preachy and beats the message over the heads of the audience more, plus it may be a little out of character for Todd. With the ending being the way it was written, the audience is shown rather than told that revenge gets you nowhere.