Tobias Ragg
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| Tobias Ragg | |
|---|---|
| Portrayed by | Ken Jennings (original Broadway cast) Neil Patrick Harris (2001 concert) Manoel Felciano (2005 revival) Edward Sanders (2007 film) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | child to young adult |
| Date of birth | 1800s |
Tobias Ragg is a fictional character who appears in various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd.
[edit] In Sweeney Todd
Tobias appears in most adaptations of the story, but is most prominent in Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical adaptation, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Tim Burton's 2007 film adaptation.
Tobias is an orphan boy in Victorian London who serves as the assistant of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, a con artist posing as a master barber. He first appears trying to sell Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, a so-called cure for baldness, which Sweeney Todd exposes as fraudulent.
Several days later, Pirelli and Toby visit Todd and Mrs. Lovett's shop. Mrs. Lovett takes Toby downstairs for a meat pie, leaving Todd alone with Pirelli, who reveals that he served as assistant to Benjamin Barker (Todd's former self) in his barber shop 15 years ago. Pirelli has recognized Todd(most likely when Todd showed his razors to him and the rest of the crowd before their contest) and attempts to blackmail him. Rather than pay him off, Todd strangles Pirelli, dumping his body into an empty trunk just before Tobias enters looking for his master, saying that he has an appointment with his tailor. Todd tells Tobias that Pirelli has been called away, and sends him back down to Mrs. Lovett, tempting him with the offer of another pie and "a nice big tot of gin". Once the door has shut behind Toby, Todd opens the trunk and finally finishes off his former assistant by slitting his throat.
After the disappearance of Pirelli, Tobias becomes Mrs. Lovett's assistant, helping her with her meat pies. All the while, he grows close to her, seeing her as a mother figure, and becomes increasingly suspicious of Todd. He hints to Mrs. Lovett of his concerns with the song "Not While I'm Around." When she takes out a purse to give him a bonbon, he recognizes it as having belonged to Pirelli, and tells her that they must go tell somebody, because that confirms his fear that Todd murdered his former master.
Worried that he knows too much, Mrs. Lovett locks Tobias in the bakehouse under the pretext of teaching him how to grind meat. While there, he discovers a piece of hair from a "black cow" and a fingernail in a pie he is eating. Just then, Todd's most recent victim tumbles down the chute. Horrified, Tobias tries to escape, but realizes that he is locked in.
Todd and Mrs. Lovett later search the cellars for Tobias, who by then has vanished into the catacombs. At the end, Todd realizes that he has murdered his own wife, Lucy, whom he did not recognize, as she appeared to be a mad beggar woman. After finding out that Mrs. Lovett had lied to him about his wife being dead, he throws her into the oven. Enraged and driven to madness, Tobias emerges from the shadows, picks up Todd's fallen razor and fatally slashes the tractable barber's throat. As the police burst into the bakehouse, Toby drops the razor and mindlessly turns the handle for the meat grinder in a parody of his duties for Mrs. Lovett. In the 2007 film, there was no evidence of Tobias having gone mad for he was silent as he killed Todd.
[edit] Performers
- Ken Jennings originated the role of Tobias in the original Broadway performance of Sondheim's musical in 1979.
- Neil Patrick Harris played Tobias in the 2001 concert version of the musical.
- Manoel Felciano played Tobias in the 2005 revival of the musical.
- Edward Sanders played Tobias in the 2007 film.
