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Judge Turpin | |
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![]() Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin | |
Portrayed by | Edmund Lyndeck (Original 1979 Broadway production) Ken Howard (1999 Los Angeles production) Paul Plishka (2000 New York production) Timothy Nolen (2001 San Francisco production) Walter Charles (2002 Eisenhower production) Colin Wakefield (2004 England revival) Mark Jacoby (2005 Broadway revival) Alan Rickman (2007 film) Matthew Tipper (2013 MGS Production) Philip Quast (2007, 2014, & 2015 Concerts) Jamie Jackson (2023 Broadway revival) |
In-universe information | |
Occupation | Judge |
Children | Johanna Barker (ward) |
Judge Turpin (also known as Lord Turpin) is a fictional character in Christopher Bond's 1973 play of the story of Sweeney Todd , as well as later adaptations. He is the main antagonist, a cruel and corrupt judge who imprisons Benjamin Barker on false charges, rapes Barker's wife Lucy, and takes Barker's daughter Johanna in as his ward.
Judge Turpin did not exist in the earliest versions of Sweeney Todd. A character of that name appeared in the story "The String of Pearls," but was an older potential suitor of Johanna Oakley (with her mother's approval) with no personal connection to Sweeney Todd. It was not until Christopher Bond wrote his 1973 play Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street that the character of Judge Turpin emerged as he is most often portrayed. [ citation needed ]
In Bond's play and its subsequent adaptations by Stephen Sondheim and Tim Burton, Judge Turpin has Benjamin Barker arrested and sent to a penal colony in Australia in order to have Barker's wife, Lucy, to himself. Lucy is heartbroken by this and becomes a recluse, refusing to leave her home. Judge Turpin continuously pursues her, sending her flowers every day. He sends his henchman, Beadle Bamford, to summon her to his home, "blaming himself for her dreadful plight." He rapes Lucy, and she attempts to kill herself by drinking poison. She survives but goes insane, forced to beg in the street for a living. Turpin then takes the Barkers' infant daughter, Johanna, and raises her as his ward. He keeps her locked away from the world and spies on her through a peephole in her wall. When Johanna turns sixteen, Turpin asks for her hand in marriage. She refuses, to his bafflement. When he catches Anthony Hope looking at Johanna, he has him beaten and threatens to kill him if he ever returns.[ citation needed ]
On Bamford's advice, he goes for a shave at Sweeney Todd's barber shop in order to win over Johanna—unaware that Todd is in fact Benjamin Barker, returned from Australia and seeking revenge. Todd is about to cut Turpin's throat when he is interrupted by Hope, who reveals Johanna's plan to escape. Turpin promptly returns home and finds that Johanna is smitten with Hope. He sends her away to an asylum, planning to keep her there until she agrees to marry him.[ citation needed ]
Turpin receives a letter claiming that Johanna has repented, unaware that the letter is part of a trap laid by Todd. Following the letter's direction, he goes back to Todd's shop, where he is persuaded to let Todd shave him again. Turpin realizes Todd's true identity, and Todd slits his throat and drops him down a chute leading to Todd's accomplice Mrs. Lovett's basement, where he bleeds to death.[ citation needed ]
In the musical, Judge Turpin is on seven songs, one of which is a solo song, "Johanna (Mea Culpa)." The tracks were all composed by Stephen Sondheim:
(* Edited for 2007 film)
(** Cut from 2007 film) [1]
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial The String of Pearls (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Street, Todd murders his customers with a straight razor and gives their corpses to Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime, who bakes their flesh into meat pies. The tale has been retold many times since in various media.
George Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.
Hugh Panaro is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway stage musicals, most well known for his role in The Phantom of the Opera being in over 2,000 performances in the Broadway production.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Tobias Ragg is a fictional character who appears in various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. The character is apprentice to the abusive barber Pirelli, until Pirelli is murdered by Todd. Toby proceeds to stay with Todd and Mrs. Lovett, helping the latter out in her meat pie shop. Later, Tobias discovers that they have a joint venture to cook the men Todd shaves into meat pies. He ultimately kills Todd after Todd kills Lovett and Lucy Barker, along with multiple others.
Alexander Cesare Gemignani is a Broadway actor, tenor, musician, and conductor.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies.
John Doyle is a Scottish stage director of musicals and plays, as well as operas. He served as artistic director at several regional theatres in the United Kingdom, where he staged more than 200 professional productions during his career spanning over 40 years.
Edmund Lyndeck was an American actor and musical theatre performer. He is best known for originating the roles of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Cinderella’s Father in Into the Woods.
Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American actress and singer. She has played leading roles in 10 Broadway productions including New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, in film, television, recordings and regional theatre. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.
Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.
Johanna is a fictional character appearing in the story of Sweeney Todd. In the original version of the tale, the penny dreadful The String of Pearls (1846–7), her name is Johanna Oakley and she is no relation of Todd. In the popular musical adaptation by Stephen Sondheim, inspired by Christopher Bond's play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1973), she is the daughter of Benjamin Barker and his wife, Lucy. In this version she is the ward of Judge Turpin, the man who falsely convicted her father and raped her mother.
Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd. Lucy is the wife of barber Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by Judge Turpin, who wants Lucy for himself. After Turpin sexually abuses her, Lucy attempts suicide with poison, but survives and goes insane. Years later, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself "Sweeney Todd", returns to London and his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd about Lucy poisoning herself, but leaves out that Lucy lived. He later finds Lucy as a beggar woman; not recognizing her, he slits her throat, before killing Mrs. Lovett.
Mr. Adolfo Pirelli, also known as Alf Spiral, Daniel O'Higgins or Davy Collins, is a fictional character from Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He is a supporting antagonist in the story and a rival barber to Sweeney Todd. He is eventually killed by Todd after he threatens him with extortion.
Timothy Nolen is an American actor and baritone who has had an active career in operas, musicals, concerts, plays, and on television for over four decades. He was the second actor to play the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway replacing Michael Crawford in October 1988.
Lauren Molina is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a co-creator and performer with the comedy-pop, undie-rock band The Skivvies. Her Broadway credits include Johanna in the actor-musician revival of Sweeney Todd. To describe her as an actress, one reviewer said "She's part Mary Martin, Lucille Ball, Kristen Wiig and [fill in the blank with your favorite opera star because Molina has one of the most powerful and flexible voices in the annals of Broadway]." While performing on the first national tour of Sweeney Todd, she received the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won a Helen Hayes award for her portrayal of Cunegunde in Candide (2010-2011), directed by Mary Zimmerman at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC, and received an IRNE nomination for the same role at the Huntington Theatre. She originated the role of Bella Rose in Desperate Measures (2017-2018) Off-Broadway and received nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle for Best Supporting Actress. In 2019, she and her Skivvies partner Nick Cearley co-conceived a new actor-musician revival of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", also playing Lucy and Linus, at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. A Detroit native, Lauren received her BFA from the University of Michigan in musical theatre. She resides in New York City.
Jack Eric Williams was an American actor, composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is most remembered for originating the role of Beadle Bamford in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Williams died in New York City on January 28, 1994, from cardiac arrest due to complications of diabetes.
"Not While I'm Around" is a song from the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It is a duet between Tobias Ragg and Mrs. Lovett that first appeared on Broadway in 1979. A screen adaptation for the 2007 film of the same name features Edward Sanders as Tobias and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. In the 2023 revival, it is sung by Gaten Matarazzo and Annaleigh Ashford. Josh Groban, who played the Barber in the 2023 production has also released his own version.
Claybourne Elder is an American actor, singer, and writer who is best known for his work on television and on Broadway.