TODD - Act 1. "Feast of Blood" [2011] (Complete translation)

I. Good People

The narrator's voice: The fog wraps this city up like a shroud. There reign madness, vice and deceit. The city of gloomy slums, all devoured by evil. At night, the wing of darkness covers the city. The night, like a raven, looks in the eyeholes of the houses. This city is impeccably black. Only crowds of shadows, only metal of Thames – this city is scarier than the living dead is. The luxurious palaces host the eternal cold, mould and rot, and Big Ben struck hours to the dead. Have you ever been to London, sir? This city is impeccably grey.

The Chorus of the Poor: He conceived our frail world as a kingdom of light and peace. Our world should be like that, but where have you seen it to be that way?

Anyone may get a spit into the soul, regardless achievements and destinies. Here, anyone may be robbed and killed, falsely accused and made helpless.

People, good people, may our world imbue with the good!

Make hope for neither charity, nor mercy. They will not throw a soil on the coffin. They eat each other, crunching, and gnaw round the bones.

Fathers eat their own children – creators eat themselves. Around, the dead are walking, with such kind eyes!

People, good people, may our world imbue with the good!

The narrator’s voice: This horrifying story happened exactly 150 years ago, eventually, but hitherto it excites the imagination, and its blood from time to time appears on the grey London pavements.

II. A Ballad about a Poor Barber

The Tramp: You will not find a story, which would be more horrifying, and a ballad, which would be sadder, than the one about a poor barber Todd and his beautiful young wife Betty.

With a little baby-daughter and pretty Betty, there lived a merry barber in a cozy house. But once, on a way home after an execution, a lustful judge happened to meet that beautiful woman.

- The lustful Judge happened to meet the beautiful Betty.

The Judge’s reckoning was mercilessly accurate: he cooked up a case on false accusations, and, being separated from his wife and daughter, the poor barber was exiled to penal servitude.

The scoundrel Judge harassed Betty, while her husband was chained in iron. At dawn, she threw herself into the river, and the young body floated on the Thames.

- The young body floated on the Thames.

You will not find a sadder story, neither in "The Times", nor in another daily newspaper, than the one about the poor barber Todd and his beautiful young wife Betty.

- ...and his beautiful young wife Betty.

- ...and his beautiful young wife Betty.

The narrator’s voice: With hope in his heart and a razor in his pocket, the falsely accused Sweeney Todd returns to his hometown after his twenty-year penal servitude. There, he learns that his wife committed suicide, and the little daughter disappeared, traceless.

III. The Convict

To cramps, to delirium, to sob, to torn veins from the tension, I kept my memories, by which he lived all these years.

I kept them on the gloomy top of my thoughts and in the darkness of the fathomless abyss – at the very bottom of the crystal jug, like the last drops of the drying-out ink.

The tight collar of a noose squeezes my throat. My thoughts turn into snakes... The blood of my memory sprinkles the town.

The blood of my memory,

The blood of my memory...

When you creep, swallowing shreds of dust, and when the good is indistinguishable from the evil, you should know that you are forgotten, and you have to do everything to make yourself forget...

But memory, like death, is ineffaceable: like rain at night, the memory – in bloody ruby shards – flowed down the blackness of the glass to the bottom of the crystal jug.

The tight collar of a noose squeezes my throat. My thoughts turn into snakes... The blood of my memory sprinkles the town.

The blood of my memory,

The blood of my memory...

The narrator’s voice: Recognized by none, Sweeney Todd settles on the Fleet Street, in a house, where he once lived with his young wife, in the house, where love and happiness reigned. Now his house belongs to the neighbor, the Butcher. There, a niece of the Butcher, Lovett, bakes and sells her patties.

IV. Patties from Lovett

Patties from Lovett! All London knows this. Whoever, who comes here, never goes hungry. Although the meat is not tasty, but it costs practically nothing. And cockroaches are always remarkably fresh.

Patties from Lovett! Patties from Lovett!

The world’s cheapest lunch! The world’s cheapest lunch!

Various snobs come in here, but the gentlemen from our slums, cheap ladies and snotty kids do only dream, longingly, about such a dinner.

Patties from Lovett! Patties from Lovett!

Look, what a noble gentleman! Don’t you want to eat? So, go hungry! Strong drinks beat the smell off, while a non-drinker may stopper the nose with a clothespin!

Patties from Lovett! Patties from Lovett!

The smell of trendy coffee shops is abhorrent, whereas here is where the simple and harsh Britain is. The meat of rotten English cows is better than stinking French cheeses!

Patties from Lovett!

Without such patties and a weekend is not the weekend. If I were a poet...

If you were a poet?

Oh bother!

I would write odes to the patties from Lovett.

The narrator’s voice: Meanwhile, the voluptuous Judge, who destroyed the life of Sweeney Todd, became the highest judge in London. The most important judge in London. He seduced women and executed men. He had no mercy on elderly and children, and turned public executions into bloody shows: "Everyone, who wants to see a fair trial! Hurry up! Come on! Yes, come here, here, here!"

V. Feast of Blood

The chorus: Everybody, come on here! Who wants to see a fair trial! Hurry up! Come on! Yes, come here, here, here!

The Judge: There is no goodness without a loop and an ax! The justice triumphs today more than yesterday!

The Tramp: Hey, hangman, it is time!

The Judge: This is a real feast! Executions, executions, executions, executions! Everything in the world is dim, except blood, blood, blood, blood! Blood! Blood!

We execute cruelly, but the verdict is fair (...thief-thief...)! A tooth for a tooth, for an eye of an eye. The ax will decide for all! The ax of the executioner!

We will punish the evil of vices! A tooth for a tooth, for an eye of an eye! No other payments accepted, except for...

The chorus: Blood, blood, blood, blood! Except, except for blood, blood, blood! Feast, feast, feast! Executions, executions, executions!

The narrator’s voice: During an execution, Sweeney comes to the square. He wants to get to the Judge. He takes a razor out of his pocket, but someone stops him. This is Lovett. Once, being a little girl, Lovett fell in love with a handsome young barber. She was the only one, who recognized him, and she does not want him to get back in jail. In a little room above the patties bakery of Lovett, Sweeney opens a hairdressing saloon and from time to time just shaves his customers. One day, the Butcher, Lovett’s uncle, appears with a huge meat grinder, in which one can shove a whole sheep.

VI. The Death Machine

The Butcher: New era! The age of the machines! The progress has reached unprecedented peaks!

The chorus: The technological progress!

Lovett: Well, let me look!

The Butcher: A new purchase! It is a meat grinder!

The chorus: Oh, the wonder of wonders!

The Butcher and the chorus: It minces meat, cuts veins and grinds bones. Such a high productiveness! Minces... cuts... grinds...

The Butcher: We will put the machine in the kitchen!

Lovett: It will not be of much help if the meat will go bad again...

The chorus: The chemical process!

The Butcher: Science and progress bring capital.

Lovett: Rather, the machine will destroy the cellar!

The chorus: Oh, the wonder of wonders!

The Butcher and the chorus: It minces meat, cuts veins and grinds bones. Such a high productiveness! Minces... cuts... grinds...

Lovett: Did you hear? "Progress!?!" And I shall grind the organ! In that case, buy a monkey to it, as well!

The chorus: What a crazy stress!

The Butcher: Even ten meat grinders with a butcher will not help with mincing all the words, which this lady’s tongue "grinds"!

The chorus: Oh, the wonder of wonders!

The Butcher and the chorus: It minces meat, cuts veins and grinds bones. Such a high productiveness! Minces... cuts... grinds...

The narrator’s voice: The Butcher goes to Sweeney to shave. Of course, for free, because he is the owner of the house. Relaxed in the armchair, the Butcher brags that he got this house for next to nothing, thanks to his friendship with the Judge. Here, Sweeney understands who wrote a false accusation against him. The razor froze at the butcher’s throat.

VII. The Death Sentence

Todd: What will you remember just before you leave this world for good? Maybe someone you have ever loved, or someone, who have ever loved you.

Or do the butchers remember only the bloody pieces? Or do hangmen dream at night only of those convicted?

The Butcher: What do you want? Take everything you want!

Todd: What will you remember at the moment of death? Maybe you saved a kitten, when you was little.

The Butcher: I beg you... I do not know...

Todd: Or will you remember the song that your mother sang for you at night?

The Butcher: I beg you... I do not know...

Todd: Or do the butchers remember only the bloody pieces? Or do hangmen dream at night only of those convicted?

The Butcher: For goodness' sake, take everything you want!

Todd: Will you maybe remember a child’s dream, where you, weightless, take wing to the skies? Or will you maybe remember at your last hour the color of the beloved eyes?

The Butcher: I beg you... I do not know...

Todd: Or do the butchers remember only the bloody pieces? Or do hangmen dream at night only of those convicted?

The Butcher: Take everything you want, except for my life!

Todd: And will you return my wife and daughter?

The narrator’s voice: One move – and a fountain of blood hits the ceiling. Oh goodness, Sweeney, not knowing where to hide the corpse of the Butcher, drags him to the basement and puts it in the meat grinder. Lovett finds him doing this. Sweeney takes up again for the razor, but the young woman approaches calmly the meat grinder and begins to twist the handle.

VIII. Lovett’s Confession

Lovett: This exciting moment, this sweet moment! The childhood dream has come true: that we two are alone in this world – only you and me, and the darkness.

I want to cry and sing: to be with you – in the darkness with you – and if death will suddenly come, let it be called Love.

I have been waiting for you for so many years. I am not afraid of anything.

Let the love be a murderer – the heart is not afraid, if it has been waiting for its love. Anyway, you cannot hide from what is meant to happen. What is meant to happen will happen, since it has to happen anyway. The fate.

I am waiting for this gentle stab. I am not afraid, I am not afraid: I will receive a generous gift – a thread of bloody beads on the neck.

A trail of the cold blade – the reflection of the pink dawn, the coral-red bracelet – give me in farewell!

I have been waiting for you for so many years, that nothing hurts anymore. Let the love be a murderer – the heart is not afraid, if it has been waiting for its love. Anyway, you cannot hide from what is meant to happen. What is meant to happen will happen, since it has to happen anyway. The fate.

The narrator’s voice: So, the lovers become accomplices. How to live if the soul is burning with the fire of revenge? Sweeney goes to a church, but the Priest pours oil on the flames: "The Butcher? One pathetic, fat butcher? It is funny! All are guilty: the rich, the poor, the well-fed and the hungry! All those, who out of their cowardice or self-interest, let the love, faith and justice be trampled down in stinking dirt." The priest not only absolves Sweeney of his sins, but also blesses him for new murders. The poison has penetrated into his soul so deeply.

IX. The First Blood

Todd: Finally, with the first blood, my pain broke through. My pain, my pain, my pain...

But who said that He will not be able to forgive me? He is too weak to avenge himself. He is too kind.

The Priest: How quickly you learned a lesson!

Todd: Himself he is a slave of his covenants. He is too weak...

The Priest: Tell me, who is not without sin nowadays? And what is supposed to mean "sin" today?

When floods of evil and foam of lies run a river, hands are washed clean, when Sodom and Gomorrah are around.

It is dark around, and, even in the daytime, the sun is no longer shining to your window. And all around care no longer.

Todd: Finally, with the first blood, my pain broke through. My pain, my pain, my pain...

And who said that I have no right to take revenge, when the soul can no longer hold the pain? I will be happy to stand at the gates!

The Priest: Let your sworn enemy face the gates!

Todd: To hell, to heaven! To heaven, to hell. To hell...

The Priest: Throughout the earth, the snake of sin is creeping. Just like a soldier, you must fearlessly stand against that. And everyone, who is somewhat guilty, no matter who they are – must! – serve the punishment!

Here, both the prosecutor and the advocate are guilty, and the judge is corrupt – guilty, guilty, everyone is guilty.

The narrator’s voice: People began to disappear in London, traceless. Monstrous rumors creep along the dark streets, and from the meat grinder comes out human mince. Patties from Lovett began to be in great demand, because sometimes visitors find in them a silver button or a gold cufflink. Yes, life is full of surprises. The patties bakery has become a fashionable place.

X. A New Bakery

The Noble Crowd: Patties from Lovett! All London knows this. Who has not been to that fashionable place yet? Probably, some Frenchman cooks the patties: what an unusual, piquant and choice taste!

Patties from Lovett! All the upper crust is here. Patties from Lovett!

Noble lords and snobs, and well-known persons, all the royal army and elite like to devour here!

Patties from Lovett! All the upper crust is here. Patties from Lovett!

Gentlemen from the city and pretty ladies: all who tries the patties may forget about diet. The whole London adores the patties from Lovett. Whoever, who comes here, never goes hungry.

Patties from Lovett! All the upper crust is here. Patties from Lovett!

The narrator’s voice: Money flow a river, a bloody river. Lovett, who saw only hunger, poverty and brutal rudeness of her uncle, is happy. Almost happy. However, there was not a hint of happiness in the soul of barber the killer.

XI. Happiness

Todd: Dreaming of happiness – how funny! ...when everything in life is pre-determined, when, again and again, you shed someone’s blood as water.

From the below is a bottom and the above is a bottom. It is dark around, and, even in the daytime, the sun is no longer shining to your window. And at night – starless – in your soul...

Happiness, happiness... What does this word mean? Happiness, happiness... And I so much need luck! Happiness, happiness... What does this word mean? Happiness, happiness... But I need luck!

Of course, everyone is guilty – both the prosecutor and the advocate. Of course, should be someone, who would send them in the last travail. No way to fall asleep and to return the wife and the daughter. Here, only the Judge – and in this essence – would close the chapter. Where is he? My demon is elusive!

Words are vain, and prayers are fruitless. Here, the time walks along the blade of the razor, and we walk along the blade of the razor. Between death and life – along the edge of the razor, at the edge...

Mikhail Gorsheniov: vocal parts of Sweeney Todd, the Tramp, the Ballad about a Poor Barber (II), the Chorus of the Poor and the Noble Crowd (II, IV, X)

Konstantin Kinchev: vocal parts of the Judge and the Priest (V, IX)

Julia Kogan: vocal parts of Lovett (VI, VIII)

Billy Novik: vocal parts of the Butcher (VI, VII)

Veniamin Smekhov: the narrator’s voice

Authors and producers of the project: Mikhail Gorsheniov, Vlad Lyuby

Libretto and poetry: Mikhail Bartenev, Andrei Usachev

Music: Mikhail Gorsheniov (II - XI), Alexei Gorsheniov (I)

In Russian: http://www.korol-i-shut.ru/disco/1944/

TODD - Акт 1. “Праздник Крови” - Король и Шут