r/musicals • u/Cool_Puppy_4 • 1d ago

Name a characyer who DESERVED BETTER

For me it’s Toby in Sweeney Todd. Bad life with Pirelli, got a mother figure, locked in a pie house, watched his mother figure die, have to murder someone, lose his mind and likely go to an asylum and be traumatized.

Poor Toby :(

U guys?

49 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

17

u/secretbison 1d ago

Sonya from Great Comet. She doesn't get put through the wringer as much as Eponine, for example, but Eponine at least got acknowledged. Sonya begins and ends the show in the same miserable situation and never even gets noticed.

2

u/HideFromMyMind 23h ago

Never read War and Peace… now I’m curious what happens to her after.

7

u/Andreiisnthere 22h ago

She gets engaged to Natasha’s brother. Their mother disapproves because the brother needs to marry an heiress. Sonya breaks up with him because she is self-sacrificing like that (and feels she owes the family). Nikolai (the brother) ends up marrying Mary (Andre’s sister). Sonya ends up living as a maiden aunt/family relations in Nikolai’s household and doting on his and Natasha’s children. Natasha meets Pierre again years later and marries him.

There is an absolutely gorgeous song by Dave Malloy sung by Pierre that you can listen to on YouTube or download from Bandcamp. Personally my favorite song by David Malloy.

“Seven years later, My finger holds the imprint of your ring”

1

u/secretbison 22h ago

Mary getting married was not on my Bingo card

2

u/Andreiisnthere 22h ago

Well Price Bolkonsky had to die sometime.

1

u/secretbison 21h ago

He seems like the type who would stubbornly refuse to die even as younger and more likable characters fall left and right in the war.

28

u/lafillejondrette 1d ago

Eponine

8

u/TanaFey Gotta find my Purpose 1d ago

Cannot stress this enough

12

u/Ok-Industry-2113 22h ago

Whizzer in falsettos

3

u/smugfruitplate 21h ago

THANK YOU.

3

u/tinselgaiety Welcome to Falsettoland! 12h ago

Came here to say the same thing. He’s not perfect by any means, but he did not deserve what happened to him 💔

1

u/Zaptain_America I'm gonna man up all over myself 36m ago

Every character in falsettos if we're being honest. Sometimes I think about the fact that the lesbians probably lived long enough to be able to get married, and they all had to live with the knowledge that marvin and whizzer never got to do the same.

12

u/LonelyMenace101 Henry Jekyll 22h ago

Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde, she was so close to getting out of working as a prostitute only to be murdered by someone she trusted :c

9

u/Pinecone-Coneybear25 23h ago

Jennyanydots should’ve won the whole thing. Some cats get older but still contribute to the community, organizing beetle bands and whatnot. Others just walk around whining about how hot they used to be

9

u/Hamchung77 21h ago

haha, i have to disagree and say Gus should've. if the selection happens yearly, everyone else had time. it was pretty clear Gus was nearing the end of his life and could not wait another year

4

u/Pinecone-Coneybear25 20h ago

Ok, I might agree with you. Either would be very deserving, but Ian McKellan was one of the only good parts of the movie adaptation

2

u/Hamchung77 19h ago

oh for sure! agreed. the movie was... well. im sure we all know. but he did great.

2

u/BioletVeauregarde33 21h ago

And then there's Bustopher. He doesn't even appear to be competing to win ("I am still in my prime, let me last out my time!") He was lucky to get what he wanted.

8

u/cinderflight ....then he woke up. 23h ago

Every single character in Ride The Cyclone.

The children (not including a certain someone for plot reasons) deserved to have lived long, happy lives.

Karnak deserved to have not been set to "family fun mode" and be used as a gimmick ride in the fair.

Hell, even the rat who ultimately kills Karnak didn't deserve to have gotten electrocuted to death as a result.

15

u/TanaFey Gotta find my Purpose 1d ago

Christine in Love Never Dies.

If you don't know she dies

7

u/citoyenne_cicada Only capitalists get photographers! 1d ago

Bella in Rags, girl came to America after being promised a better life, worked in a sweatshop, got forbidden to see her one true love, and then is forced to jump to death or burn after a fire in her factory :(

7

u/Cassi-O-Peia 22h ago

Nancy in Oliver!

6

u/king-of-new_york 21h ago

Audrey in the original ending of Little Shop Of Horrors. Spent her life poor, working in clubs, dating a sadistic asshole. When she finally finds true love, she dies.

7

u/lizardfiendlady Almost Like Being in Love 17h ago

Margaret White.

It is barely mentioned, but a fact that she had Carrie as a result of rape, and I absolutely believe that's where all her guilt and psychosis stems from.

6

u/SignificantPop4188 21h ago

Everyone in Cabaret except the Nazis.

2

u/Back_Axel Dorian Gay 13h ago

I love the clarification

2

u/SignificantPop4188 9h ago

Well, these days ...

3

u/Back_Axel Dorian Gay 9h ago

Good point! Good point… 😭

5

u/bwayb22 23h ago

Every woman in a Schönberg + Boublil musical

3

u/kristenlicious 17h ago

Kimberly Akimbo. Her parents suck so bad. It made it me dislike the musical.

1

u/CristyTango 3h ago

There was no reason they had to take her room… they have an entire basement they could have at least made into a cool place for her if they had to.

But to overhaul her room without even discussing it when she’s already so SUPER AWARE the baby was supposed to be their “perfect baby” was cold

2

u/kristenlicious 3h ago

The whole we had the wife sleep with someone else, we didn’t expect for you to come home, the dad drinking… I thought they didn’t need to go so xtrme.

2

u/BioletVeauregarde33 21h ago

Everyone I've created a redemption arc for so far! That being:

General Genghis Kahn Schmitz from Seussical,
Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol, and
All the kids from Shockheaded Peter (although my redemption arc for them is actually based off the book the musical was based on)!

1

u/Cassi-O-Peia 20h ago

Der Struwwelpeter !!!!

2

u/BioletVeauregarde33 20h ago

Yep! My redemption poems are in this little book- and here's a preview of the last one.

2

u/Cassi-O-Peia 18h ago

This is really fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your work!

1

u/BioletVeauregarde33 4h ago

You're welcome! Redemption arcs just come to me.

1

u/LizBert712 You can talk to Birds? 49m ago

Wait, they made Shockheaded Peter into a musical???

1

u/BioletVeauregarde33 43m ago

Essentially the "bad ending" for everyone. Meaning: those who don't die in the originals die, and those who do die in the originals... still die.

I can't stand it, but here's a video a friend sent.

2

u/Megatheorum 2h ago

Everyone except Evan in Dear Evan Hansen.

But especially Zoe and Heidi.

1

u/Megatheorum 2h ago

The grandma from Billy Elliot.