Johanna Barker
Encyclopedia
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 referred to simply as Johanna and is portrayed as the daughter of Benjamin "Sweeney Todd
" Barker and his wife, Lucy
. In this version she is the ward of Judge Turpin
, the man who falsely convicted her father and rape
d her mother.
Johanna Oakley is the lover of a sailor named Mark Ingestrie, who seems to have gone missing at sea. One of his shipmates, Lieutenant Thornhill, comes to London with this sad news and also brings a gift of a string of pearls for Johanna from Mark. Thornhill, himself, however, also goes missing - last seen entering Sweeney Todd's establishment. One of Thornhill's seafaring friends, Colonel Jeffery, is alerted to the disappearance of Thornhill by the latter's faithful dog, Hector, and investigates his whereabouts. He is joined by Johanna who wants to know what happened to her lover, Mark Ingestrie. Johanna's suspicions of Sweeney Todd's involvement lead her to the desperate and dangerous expedient of dressing up as a boy and entering Todd's employment, after his last assistant, Tobias Ragg
, has been incarcerated in a madhouse. Soon the full grisly horror of Todd's activities are discovered and the dismembered remains of hundreds of his victims found in the crypt underneath St Dunstan's church. Meanwhile it is discovered that Johanna's lover, Mark Ingestrie, is not dead, but has come to London in reduced circumstances and has been imprisoned in the cellars beneath Mrs Lovett's pie shop and put to work as the cook. Threatened with being killed and made into a meat-pie himself, he eventually escapes and makes the startling announcement to customers that "Mrs Lovett's pies are made of human flesh!". Mark then marries Johanna and they live happily ever after.
, and Lucy raped and driven insane, Judge Turpin takes his daughter Johanna as his ward
, raising her as his own. He keeps her in her chamber at his estate like a prisoner, with her only connection to the outside world being her window. Judge Turpin plans to make Johanna his wife
; the idea repulses her, and she rejects him.
Anthony Hope falls in love with her at first sight and vows to rescue her from her containment. Judge Turpin discovers her plot to escape and sends her to Fogg's Asylum for the mentally deranged. She is rescued by Anthony, posing as a wig maker's apprentice. During the escape, she is forced to kill Fogg, the Asylum owner, when Anthony cannot bring himself to. Disguised as a sailor, she is taken to Sweeney Todd's barber shop, where he has been longing to see her. When an insane beggar woman (later revealed to be her mother) pursues her in the upper room, Johanna hides herself in a large trunk. From there she presumably witnesses Todd's murders of the Beggar Woman and the Judge. She is nearly murdered by her father when he discovers her, as he does not recognize her as his daughter (being as he had never met her since infancy and because she is disguised as a young man). She survives when Mrs. Lovett screams in the basement bakehouse, distracting Todd and allowing her to escape. In the final scene, Johanna, Anthony and two policemen encounter Toby in the bakehouse, mindlessly turning the meat grinder, surrounded by the bodies of Todd, Lucy and Mrs. Lovett. Presumably she elopes with Anthony after the events of the show.
Much of Johanna's dialogue and lyrics subtly reflect that she may have inherited her parents' predilection for mental instability. During the song Kiss Me, for example, she repeatedly interrupts Anthony's plans for elopement with paranoid babble, believing that she has heard the Judge returning home, before calming and embracing him.
In Tim Burton
's 2007 film adaptation, much of Johanna's music is cut out including the Kiss Me sequence and her part in the second act Quartet. She has little dialogue, reducing her part to a nearly silent role. The ending is changed slightly: instead of her running out of the Barber Shop, Todd, hearing Mrs. Lovett scream, deliberately lets her go (still without recognizing her) comically asking her to forget his face. He leaves her sitting in the barber chair, after which she presumably reunites with Anthony.
In this version Johanna is sixteen years old. In "Poor Thing", Mrs Lovett describes Johanna as the "year-old kid", which, added to the fifteen years Sweeney has spent in Australia, makes her sixteen.
Mandy Moore played Johanna in the 1980 London Production.
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
. In the original version of the tale, the penny dreadful
Penny Dreadful
A penny dreadful was a type of British fiction publication in the 19th century that usually featured lurid serial stories appearing in parts over a number of weeks, each part costing an penny...
The String of Pearls
The String of Pearls
The String of Pearls: A Romance is the title of a fictional story first published as a penny dreadful serial 1846-47. The main antagonist of the story is the infamous Sweeney Todd, "the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", who here makes his literary debut....
(1846-7), her name is Johanna Oakley and she is no relation of Todd. In the popular musical adaptation by Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, inspired by Christopher Bond
Christopher Bond
Christopher Godfrey Bond is a British playwright whose 1973retelling of the Victorian tale Sweeney Todd formed the basis of Stephen Sondheim's musical of the same name, with book by Hugh Wheeler...
's play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1973), she is referred to simply as Johanna and is portrayed as the daughter of Benjamin "Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
" Barker and his wife, Lucy
Lucy Barker
Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd.-Character overview:In the original legend and in the earliest melodramas and plays, Sweeney Todd has no wife or backstory and is the primary villain of the stories he appears in. His wife Lucy first...
. In this version she is the ward of Judge Turpin
Judge Turpin
Judge Turpin is a fictional character in the various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. He is the main antagonist.-Character overview:...
, the man who falsely convicted her father and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d her mother.
In The String of Pearls
In The String of PearlsThe String of Pearls
The String of Pearls: A Romance is the title of a fictional story first published as a penny dreadful serial 1846-47. The main antagonist of the story is the infamous Sweeney Todd, "the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", who here makes his literary debut....
Johanna Oakley is the lover of a sailor named Mark Ingestrie, who seems to have gone missing at sea. One of his shipmates, Lieutenant Thornhill, comes to London with this sad news and also brings a gift of a string of pearls for Johanna from Mark. Thornhill, himself, however, also goes missing - last seen entering Sweeney Todd's establishment. One of Thornhill's seafaring friends, Colonel Jeffery, is alerted to the disappearance of Thornhill by the latter's faithful dog, Hector, and investigates his whereabouts. He is joined by Johanna who wants to know what happened to her lover, Mark Ingestrie. Johanna's suspicions of Sweeney Todd's involvement lead her to the desperate and dangerous expedient of dressing up as a boy and entering Todd's employment, after his last assistant, Tobias Ragg
Tobias Ragg
Tobias "Toby" Ragg is a fictional character who appears in various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd.In the penny dreadful The String of Pearls, Tobias Ragg is in a madhouse, driven mad by Sweeney Todd, a barber who murdered his customers....
, has been incarcerated in a madhouse. Soon the full grisly horror of Todd's activities are discovered and the dismembered remains of hundreds of his victims found in the crypt underneath St Dunstan's church. Meanwhile it is discovered that Johanna's lover, Mark Ingestrie, is not dead, but has come to London in reduced circumstances and has been imprisoned in the cellars beneath Mrs Lovett's pie shop and put to work as the cook. Threatened with being killed and made into a meat-pie himself, he eventually escapes and makes the startling announcement to customers that "Mrs Lovett's pies are made of human flesh!". Mark then marries Johanna and they live happily ever after.
In Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
In Stephen Sondheim's musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, after Benjamin Barker is sent away to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and Lucy raped and driven insane, Judge Turpin takes his daughter Johanna as his ward
Ward (law)
In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...
, raising her as his own. He keeps her in her chamber at his estate like a prisoner, with her only connection to the outside world being her window. Judge Turpin plans to make Johanna his wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
; the idea repulses her, and she rejects him.
Anthony Hope falls in love with her at first sight and vows to rescue her from her containment. Judge Turpin discovers her plot to escape and sends her to Fogg's Asylum for the mentally deranged. She is rescued by Anthony, posing as a wig maker's apprentice. During the escape, she is forced to kill Fogg, the Asylum owner, when Anthony cannot bring himself to. Disguised as a sailor, she is taken to Sweeney Todd's barber shop, where he has been longing to see her. When an insane beggar woman (later revealed to be her mother) pursues her in the upper room, Johanna hides herself in a large trunk. From there she presumably witnesses Todd's murders of the Beggar Woman and the Judge. She is nearly murdered by her father when he discovers her, as he does not recognize her as his daughter (being as he had never met her since infancy and because she is disguised as a young man). She survives when Mrs. Lovett screams in the basement bakehouse, distracting Todd and allowing her to escape. In the final scene, Johanna, Anthony and two policemen encounter Toby in the bakehouse, mindlessly turning the meat grinder, surrounded by the bodies of Todd, Lucy and Mrs. Lovett. Presumably she elopes with Anthony after the events of the show.
Much of Johanna's dialogue and lyrics subtly reflect that she may have inherited her parents' predilection for mental instability. During the song Kiss Me, for example, she repeatedly interrupts Anthony's plans for elopement with paranoid babble, believing that she has heard the Judge returning home, before calming and embracing him.
In Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's 2007 film adaptation, much of Johanna's music is cut out including the Kiss Me sequence and her part in the second act Quartet. She has little dialogue, reducing her part to a nearly silent role. The ending is changed slightly: instead of her running out of the Barber Shop, Todd, hearing Mrs. Lovett scream, deliberately lets her go (still without recognizing her) comically asking her to forget his face. He leaves her sitting in the barber chair, after which she presumably reunites with Anthony.
In this version Johanna is sixteen years old. In "Poor Thing", Mrs Lovett describes Johanna as the "year-old kid", which, added to the fifteen years Sweeney has spent in Australia, makes her sixteen.
Musical performers
- Sarah RiceSarah RiceSarah Rice is an actress whose career in theatre has spanned across many leading theatrical productions, including Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music, both by Stephen Sondheim. She has been well known for her numerous operatic performances, including The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville...
played Johanna in the original Broadway production.
Mandy Moore played Johanna in the 1980 London Production.
- Betsy JoslynBetsy JoslynBetsy Joslyn is a Broadway musical and dramatic actress and soprano. Joslyn is best known for her Broadway work, including the original production of Sweeney Todd. She appeared in the ensemble of the original Broadway production and eventually took over the ingenue role of Johanna from Sarah Rice...
portrayed her in the filmed version of the 1982 tour.
- Jayne WisenerJayne WisenerJayne Wisener is a Northern Irish actress and singer. She is best known for playing Johanna in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.-Background:...
played Johanna in the 2007 film adaptation directed by Tim Burton.
- Celia Keenan-Bolger played Johanna in the 2004 Production at the Kennedy Center.
- Lauren MolinaLauren MolinaLauren Molina is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and musician. She made her Broadway debut in the critically acclaimed 2005 revival of Sweeney Todd, playing the role of the Johanna. In this production, Molina played the cello onstage. In 2008, she originated the role of Regina/Candi in...
in the 2005 John Doyle revival, and in the 2007-2008 John Doyle revival international tour.
- Cassie Skinner in the 2009 Production at the Roleystone Theatre, Perth, Western Australia.