Liars and Saints

For most of my life, I've been drawn to scary stories, and so the Broadway musical has been home for me. Even in shows that are not overtly or consistently scary, ghosts tend to play a role: *Fiddler on the Roof (the "Dream" sequence) *Next to Normal (the entire show) *Les Miserables (Fantine jumps back from the Land of the Dead, among others) *Miss Saigon (You thought Thuy was *fully* dead?) *Carousel (See Act Two) *Into the Woods (Keep an eye on the Baker's Wife) *Sunday in the Park with George (Keep an eye on Dot) *Hamilton (See the finale, which borrows from "Les Miserables") *Caroline, or Change (I'd argue that the talking statue of the Confederate soldier functions as a ghost) *Dear Evan Hansen (See the entirety of the show) *Ragtime (See "Sarah Brown Eyes") *Once on This Island (I'd argue that Daniel--right after the car accident--is a kind of ghost for Ti Moune, even though Daniel does also eventually wake up, in a prop...

It's the fortieth anniversary of the premier of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece, "Sweeney Todd," possibly the closest-to-perfect piece of writing in musical theater, in world history. Some thoughts: *Leonard Bernstein was a testy father, and one day he was particularly difficult with his daughter. His daughter later spotted a family friend, Stephen Sondheim. She complained to Sondheim about her father's mystifying recent bitchiness. Sondheim thought, and said: "He might be in a bad mood. SWEENEY TODD happened this weekend. Its success might be hard for him." *Lorrie Moore calls Sondheim "the Dark Prince of Broadway," and she notes that there is a conspicuous flat note in "Sweeney Todd," in the song "Johanna." The flat happens to occur when the singer hits the syllable "win," in "window." (Moore does *not* note that the flat happens elsewhere, again, in the song, on the word "dream." But three...

Nothing's gonna harm you Not while I'm around Nothing's gonna harm you No, sir, not while I'm around Demons are prowling everywhere Nowadays I'll send them howling I don't care I got ways Toby dimly understands that something is wrong in Mrs. Lovett’s shop. He seems to suspect that Sweeney is a bad guy. Maybe, on some level, he understands that Mrs. Lovett is complicit. But to admit that to himself would be shattering; instead, he will turn her into an ally, and someone worthy of comforting. So this is not a simple song. It’s a perverse and ironic moment in the show. The oppressed is comforting his oppressor—without realizing what he is doing. Dramatic irony: When we in the audience know something that the character does not know. Meanwhile, Sondheim uses language—beautifully—to inhabit a child’s mind. The syntax is “bare-bones.” The image of defeated, “howling” demons seems appropriate for a boy—or a boy-man. And the touching boasts at ...