Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/18/2023
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/18/2023 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this book at a local Savers thrift shop, for another release copy. It's a movie tie-in edition to the 2007 film version of the Sondheim stage musical version of the historical penny-dreadful tale. I've adored Sondheim's musical ever since I first heard it, and have been able to see two different stage versions live (both wonderful). I was in some doubt when I heard that it was going to be filmed, especially when it was clear that the lead actors were not trained singers, but if anyone could do justice to the bizarre world of Todd, that would be Tim Burton. [Alas, for me that film was a bit of a letdown over the stage versions I'd seen - this, despite the awesome (and much-missed) Alan Rickman as the judge; I didn't think that Depp and Bonham Carter did justice to their respective larger-than-life characters, or to the music. Ah, well!]
When I first saw this book on the shelves I peeked inside to see if it was a novelization of the film/play, and it turns out that it is not; it's based on the version published as "A String of Pearls" in magazine installments in the mid-1800s. I've read various versions of the original story and this one's quite familiar, though I suspect that it might startle those who expect it to be a novelization of the film. Still, a throat-cutting barber and a meat-pie-making villainess are always fun! And the introduction to this book includes considerable information about the history and evolution of the "Sweeney Todd" story, including the suggestion that several aspects of the story seem to have been borrowed (heavily!) from Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit. [As Edward Lloyd, who published "A String of Pearls", was also known to have published pirated versions of Dickens novels such as Nickelas Nickleberry, it would seem that he'd hardly balk at lifting mere characters instead of entire texts!] There's a wonderful bit describing how Stephen Sondheim came up with the idea to make a musical version of the story, and a tantalizing item about author/graphic-novelist Neil Gaiman, who had proposed doing a graphic-novel version at one time - one that, alas, doesn't seem to have come to fruition (yet).
The story itself, while it is a much earlier version of the tale than that used by Sondheim, is quite readable and entertaining. [If you're interested in a film version that's a bit closer to the original, check out The Tale of Sweeney Todd, a '98 film that I happened to catch on TV the other night. Ben Kingsley plays a rather dashing, but still cold and cruel, Todd, and the story does seem to adhere more closely to the "String of Pearls" text than other adaptations I've seen.
[There's a TV Tropes page on the 2007 film, with links to other adaptations.]
When I first saw this book on the shelves I peeked inside to see if it was a novelization of the film/play, and it turns out that it is not; it's based on the version published as "A String of Pearls" in magazine installments in the mid-1800s. I've read various versions of the original story and this one's quite familiar, though I suspect that it might startle those who expect it to be a novelization of the film. Still, a throat-cutting barber and a meat-pie-making villainess are always fun! And the introduction to this book includes considerable information about the history and evolution of the "Sweeney Todd" story, including the suggestion that several aspects of the story seem to have been borrowed (heavily!) from Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit. [As Edward Lloyd, who published "A String of Pearls", was also known to have published pirated versions of Dickens novels such as Nickelas Nickleberry, it would seem that he'd hardly balk at lifting mere characters instead of entire texts!] There's a wonderful bit describing how Stephen Sondheim came up with the idea to make a musical version of the story, and a tantalizing item about author/graphic-novelist Neil Gaiman, who had proposed doing a graphic-novel version at one time - one that, alas, doesn't seem to have come to fruition (yet).
The story itself, while it is a much earlier version of the tale than that used by Sondheim, is quite readable and entertaining. [If you're interested in a film version that's a bit closer to the original, check out The Tale of Sweeney Todd, a '98 film that I happened to catch on TV the other night. Ben Kingsley plays a rather dashing, but still cold and cruel, Todd, and the story does seem to adhere more closely to the "String of Pearls" text than other adaptations I've seen.
[There's a TV Tropes page on the 2007 film, with links to other adaptations.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at LFL - Farwell Rd And Helena Dr. in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, July 19, 2023
GoryDetails at LFL - Farwell Rd And Helena Dr. in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Released 9 mos ago (7/19/2023 UTC) at LFL - Farwell Rd And Helena Dr. in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it![See other recent releases in MA here.]
** Released for the 2023 Seeking Septads challenge. **
** Released for the 2023 Movie challenge. **
** Released for the 2023 Theater challenge. **
