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Waiting for Desiree

One thing Sondheim "paints" well is bad faith. It can be a source of humor, or poignancy, or both.

You see it in the arrangement between Fredrik and Anne, and you see it again between Sweeney and Lovett. There are parallels.

Fredrik has married Anne when, in fact, he wants Desiree. Anne has married Fredrik when, in fact, she wants Henrik. Unhappy in their situation, unable to admit the depths of their own unhappiness, the two must make do with a kind of hypocritical non-life. (Does this sound funny? I guess it doesn't.)

Sondheim goes to town on Anne. He imagines that she does not really *see* her husband; she calls him "dear old," and believes that this is affectionate, but of course we can infer that Fredrik doesn't love the nickname. I also love that "dear old" just trails off. "Dear old WHAT?" What is the noun??

Anne has so little interest in sex with Fredrik, she can't even enumerate some activities she'd like to try. It's not: "Soon I'll ravish you!" Instead, it's: "Soon....I won't shy away....Soon....WHATEVER YOU SAY!" Is there anything less sexy than that flaccid line, "whatever you say"--? (I'm also obsessed with: "When we're close and we touch....and you're kissing my brow....I don't mind it....too much...."

Anne uses a dab of fallacy: "If I were perfect for you, wouldn't you tire of me...soon....?" But there's a difference between being charmingly imperfect and being unwilling to have sex, of any kind, with your spouse. Again, I can't imagine anyone but Sondheim putting this bit of psychological observation up on the musical stage.

"Wait," in "Sweeney Todd," is very much like "Soon." Variations on a theme. It's not clear if Lovett has any real feelings for Todd; it depends a great deal on the actor in a given production. (That said, anyone who would conceal from Todd an awareness of his wife's true fate must have questionable motives, at the least.)

Like Anne, Lovett must convince her lover to be patient. There's comedy in the details. Todd is ranting aloud about wishing to murder his enemy. He is literally, seriously plotting murder. Meanwhile, bored, Lovett tries to draw Todd's attention elsewhere: to flowers! She begins murmuring about flowers, as if to a child! "I've been thinking flowers, maybe daisies, to brighten up the room...." The contrast between flowers and blood-drenched razors tells us something is very, very wrong with this couple. (Sondheim is exaggerating the sense of disconnect we've all felt, at varying times, in varying relationships.)

"Slow, love, slow: Time's so fast. Now moves quickly. See! Now, it's passed!"

The human condition is frustration. It's biding one's time for an event one thinks one wants--an event that won't ever happen, or will happen in a way that isn't actually desirable.

Sondheim knows this, and exploits the fact in his work.
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