While the world pauses to mourn the passing of Alan Rickman, many have taken note of his stellar turns in “Die Hard” and the Harry Potter movies. Less noted has been his surprising performance in Tim Burton’s 2007 adaption of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.”
If you’ve ever wanted to hear Rickman sing, here’s your chance.
In the clip below, he arrives at the barber shop of the revenge-seeking Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp). Rickman plays the evil Judge Turpin, who decades earlier exiled Todd to a far-off prison and doesn’t know that the prisoner has escaped and has set up shop as a barber on Fleet Street. Turpin intends to wed Todd’s beautiful daughter and has arrived at the shop for a shave. Sweeney Todd, of course, has some other ideas for how to put his razor to use.
In typical fashion, Sondheim here uses soothing, lilting music as a suspenseful counterpoint to something sinister.
And today we celebrate...