The weekend of Dayton's mass shooting, I was playing in the pit orchestra for a production of Sweeney Todd. This is one of my favorite musicals; the first half full of dark humor and evil omens, and the second half full-out horror. The music absolutely makes the show. In the second act, Sweeney Todd sings a beautiful, sad song of goodbye to his daughter. It's full of pathos that is made grotesque by the fact that the daughter is alive and he should be searching for her. Instead, he sings his song, all the while killing innocent victim after victim by slitting their throats.
I noticed people laughing. In the pit, I can't see any of the action on stage, but there is nothing funny about this song. In my mind, there is more anguish at this moment than any other in the whole show. This is the moment he gives up his soul. Every act he does in future is because of his decision to let Johanna go so he can fully take up his razor. How could anyone laugh?
Out of fairness, some of the actors were being funny, begging Sweeney, in pantomime, not to kill them. Sometimes the barber chair malfunctioned, threatening to spill the "corpses" out the side of the chair, rather than down the ramp. I can see how it would be funny to see the dead startle and grab the sides of the chair when it tipped them over sideways. We all know the violence and blood aren't real. There's no harm in laughing.
But then, the shooting happened between Saturday night and Sunday morning. I was home safe in my bed by 11:30 and the cast was too, I'm sure. I waited all Sunday morning, wondering if they would cancel the show. After all, finding entertainment watching a couple of serial killers' antics the morning after an event like that could be seen as inappropriate. The show went on, though, and I would have been disappointed if it hadn't, though I would have understood.
There is value in looking at Sweeney Todd in these circumstances. As Mrs. Lovett says, life is hard. Sweeney Todd had been horribly mistreated. His family had been damaged, if not utterly destroyed. He responded to these triggers with homicidal mania. It's not appropriate, but it happens. Art imitates life.
Before the show Sunday, nobody compared Sweeney Todd to the shooter. They didn't mention the possibility that the show could be viewed as inappropriate, or make an argument that it was entirely appropriate. They mentioned that there was an incidence of gun violence in the show. It was a trigger warning, if you don't mind my pun.
Eight people die by razor in this show. Johanna shoots the gun in self defense. Everyone knows there are razor killings, but who remembers the gun? Why even mention it? The problem in this show is the absolute disregard for life. The absence of feeling for other people.
The gunshot on Sunday was more disturbing than it had been on the other nights. I have to admit that. But this is the kicker. During Sweeney's song of goodbye to Johanna, the audience still laughed.
It was an honor for me to play this show and I have nothing but respect for the people who took part. I thank the audience for being there. But as a nation, we have tunnel vision, like a bullet speeding down the bore of a rifle. We don't look around. We don't think.
I have to say this loudly. The gun violence in Sweeney Todd doesn't matter. The idea matters, that a man can do terrible things if he puts his skills to evil instead of good. And I don't just mean men, I mean everybody. To paraphrase Toby, you shouldn't harm people.
We're laughing at things that should bother us; things that are supposed to bother us. We're hardening ourselves where we should be soft. Life is precious. Don't anybody forget it. When a man chooses murder over his loved ones, how could we think of laughing?
