Mrs. Lovett

Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. She is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhemina and Claudetta are other names she has been given. First appearing in the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls, it is debated if she was based on an actual person or not.^[1] The character also appears in modern media related to Sweeney Todd including the Stephen Sondheim musical and its 2007 film adaptation.

Character overview

In every version of the story in which she appears, Mrs. Lovett is the business partner and accomplice of barber/serial killer Sweeney Todd; in some versions, she is also his lover. She makes and sells meat pies made from Todd's victims.

Usually, Mrs. Lovett is depicted as a childless widow, although in some depictions (but very rarely) Mr. Albert Lovett is shown. Before she goes into business with Todd, she is on the verge of poverty, with her premises being filthy and infested with vermin. In the musical, she laments her pies are the worst ones in London. While she feels no remorse about killing people and serving them as pies, she is sometimes shown to have a softer side to those in need; for example, she informally adopts the young orphan Tobias Ragg as her own, and considers taking in Todd's daughter Johanna as well.

Various interpretations

Although Mrs. Lovett's character and role in the story are similar in each version, certain details vary according to the story's interpretation. In some versions, for example, Mrs. Lovett commits suicide when their crimes are discovered, while in others, Todd kills her himself or she is arrested and escapes execution by turning King's Evidence against Todd. Her physical appearance varies from a slim and alluring beauty, to a plump, homely lunatic. Her age is also differing in many adaptaions; though it is never specifically stated in any versions, there are some (most noticeably in Sondheim's musical) where she is older than Todd, often by a difference of over fifteen years and others where she is around his age. Whether their relationship is platonic, romantic or merely sexual also varies according to interpretation.^[2][3]

Role in the musical

In Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Tim Burton's 2007 film adaptation, Todd pays a visit to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop below his old home after 15 years in exile, seeking information about his lost family. Mrs. Lovett recognizes him as her former tenant, Benjamin Barker, with whom she was (and is) secretly in love. She informs him that his wife, Lucy, was raped by Judge Turpin—who exiled Todd on a false charge—and informs Todd that Lucy was so distraught that she poisoned herself with arsenic. Seeking vengeance, Todd reopens his shaving parlour above the shop, and slits the throats of his customers. Mrs. Lovett initiates a plan for Todd to send the corpses of his victims down a chute that leads to her bakehouse. She then uses the flesh to bake meat pies, which makes her business very successful.

She and Todd take in an orphan, Tobias Ragg, to whom she becomes like a mother. She also dreams of marrying Todd, who is completely uninterested in her.

In the story's climactic "Final Sequence", Todd murders Beadle Bamford, Turpin and a beggar woman, and discovers that the latter is actually Lucy. Todd confronts Mrs. Lovett, who confesses that Lucy survived drinking the poison but was driven insane, reduced to begging. Todd then demands why Mrs. Lovett lied to him, to which Mrs. Lovett then confesses her love to Todd, and promises she would be a better wife than Lucy ever was. Todd pretends to forgive her, but later throws her into the furnace, burning her alive as retribution for her lies. However, killing Lovett proves to be Todd's fatal mistake; Tobias, who loved her like a mother, emerges from hiding and kills Todd by slitting his throat with his own razor.

Portrayals

In film and stage adaptations of the Sweeney Todd story, Lovett is considered the female lead.

• Christine Baranski received positive reviews opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell in the Kennedy Center's 2002 production. She also played the role in the 1999 concert at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
• Helena Bonham Carter portrayed the character in Tim Burton's movie version of the musical: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Bonham Carter's interpretation was moderately different from the original stage version, portraying Lovett as a waifish, almost deadpan woman whose obsession with Todd elevates her character's insanity.
• Joyce Castle portrayed the role in the 1984 opera at the Houston Grand Opera, the first operatic adaptation.
• Iris Darbyshire, noted English actress, played the role of Mrs. Lovett in the 1928 British silent film Sweeney Todd.
• Essie Davis played the role of Mrs. Lovett in the 2006 television film broadcast on the BBC, simply titled Sweeney Todd.
• Beth Fowler earned a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in the first Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 1989.
• Sheila Hancock played Mrs. Lovett in the original 1980 West End production at Drury Lane. She received an Olivier nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
• Judy Kaye filled in for LuPone for a week (while LuPone was on vacation) in the 2005 Broadway revival, before it ended production in early 2006. She went on to the Canadian and American tour version of the John Doyle revival for which she received acclaim and had to learn to play the tuba. She also appeared in the 2000 concert at Royal Festival Hall in London.
• Angela Lansbury won a Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in originating the role on Broadway in 1979 at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin). She also continued to perform the role for the 1980 American tour. This was taped and broadcast by PBS on its show Great Performances in 1982, for which Lansbury was nominated for a 1985 Primetime Emmy for Best Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.
• Dorothy Loudon replaced Lansbury in the original Broadway production.
• June Havoc portrayed the character in a 1982 tour following the PBS broadcast.
• Joanna Lumley portrayed her in the 1998 Showtime television movie The Tale of Sweeney Todd starring Ben Kingsley. Her character is in love with Sweeney Todd and has a romantic/physical relationship with him as opposed to an unrequited attraction. She is additionally—and with the implied consent of Todd—sexually involved with a local judge, to whom she provides sadomasochistic release. She is imprisoned for her crimes in the end, and does not die in this version.
• Patti LuPone has played the role on two occasions: in concert (2000 and 2001) and on Broadway (2005). Her interpretation of the character differed in both performances. In the semi-staged concert version, LuPone played the role in the way that Lansbury or Hancock would have originally played it, as a "homely lunatic". This portrayal was seen at the Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center, a taped production in San Francisco and at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. However, in 2005, to suit the fresh, dark and sparse approach to the show, LuPone had to "throw all that out" and create a new look for the character: her interpretation became more lustful and sex-starved, with a dry wit throughout. She received a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for the 2005 Broadway production at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
• Julia McKenzie played the role 1993 West End revival at the National Theatre Cottesloe and Lyttelton, for which she won the Olivier for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
• Caroline O'Connor appeared in the original Paris production of 2011 at the Théâtre du Châtelet.
• Elaine Paige portrayed the role in the 2004 opera at the New York City Opera, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
• Felicity Palmer performed as Lovett in the 2003 production at the Royal Opera House, its only musical produced.
• Stella Rho portrayed her in the 1936 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
• Anita Reeves played her in the 2007 Gate Theatre production.
• Imelda Staunton played Mrs. Lovett in the 2011 production at the Chichester Festival Theatre which transferred to the West End in 2012 at the Adelphi Theatre.
• Emma Thompson performed as Mrs. Lovett in the 2014 New York Philharmonic semi-staged concert version. This adaptation was recorded for PBS Great Performances series, resulting Thompson earning an Emmy Nomination for Best Leading Actress in a movie.

Songs

In the musical Mrs. Lovett sings many numbers by herself and with other characters. The tracks were all composed by Stephen Sondheim. These include:

• "The Worst Pies in London"
• "Poor Thing"*
• "My Friends" (with Todd)
• "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" (with Tobias and Todd and Company)"*
• "Wait" (with Todd)
• "Epiphany (with Todd)
• "A Little Priest" (with Todd)*
• "God, That's Good" (with Tobias, Todd and Company)*
• "By the Sea" (with Todd)*
• "Not While I'm Around" (with Tobias)*
• "Parlour Songs (Sweet Polly Plunkett)" (with Beadle Bamford)**
• "Parlour Songs Part 2" (The Tower of Bray)" (with Beadle and Tobias)**
• "Searching" (with Todd, Johanna, Anthony, and Beggar Woman)*
• "Final Sequence" (with Todd and Tobias)
• "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Epilogue)" (with Company)**

(* Edited for 2007 film)
(** Cut from 2007 film)

References