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I wish-a-to know-a who has-a the nerve-a to say my elixir is piss! Who says this?!
~ Adolfo Pirelli

Adolfo Pirelli, formerly known as Daniel O'Higgins and Davey Collins, is a supporting antagonist in the 1979 musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its 2007 film adaptation of the same name. He is a barber who acts as a rival to Sweeney Todd until his death.

In the film, he was portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen, who also portrayed Mr. Thenardier in the 2012 film Les Misérables, Admiral-General Aladeen in The Dictator and Borat Sagdiyev.

Biography[]

Pirelli is first introduced as an Italian barber who is "all the rage" in Victorian London. He is very theatrical and dresses in extravagant clothing, and mercilessly beats his young apprentice Tobias Ragg for the slightest imperfection, and often for no reason at all. Pirelli also claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope, arrogantly referring to himself as "the King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings." As part of his act, he pretends to be a devout Christian, at one point praising God for bestowing talent on him .

When Todd and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett were in the town square, they witnessed Tobias selling a concoction of Pirelli's entitled Miracle Elixir, which is purported to stimulate the growth of hair. However, Todd takes one sniff of the mixture and denounces the Elixir as "an arrant fraud" concocted of "piss and ink."

Enraged, Pirelli emerges from his tent to berate Todd, who challenges him to a shaving competition: whoever shaves a person the fastest and the closest will win five pounds. To that end Todd gets Beadle Bamford to act as the judge of the competition. Pirelli wastes time bragging about his vast talent and superiority over all other barbers, while Todd actually concentrates on doing the job and, after carefully preparing his razors and mixing the lather perfectly, shaves the customer in a matter of seconds, and promptly wins. As such, Pirelli is reluctantly forced to pay five pounds to Todd before taking his anger out on Toby, much to Mrs. Lovett's disgust ( in the play he’s worse since he challenges Todd to a tooth pulling contest and takes this opportunity to abuse Toby ) .

The following day, Pirelli and Toby arrive at Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Emporium to visit Todd, whose establishment is above Mrs. Lovett's. While Mrs. Lovett gives Toby a pie downstairs in her parlor, Pirelli ascends the stairs to Todd's room to confront him. Pirelli reveals that his real name is Daniel O'Higgins ( Davy Collins in the film) and he is in fact Irish ( English in the film) He reveals that he knows Todd's true identity as Benjamin Barker, having served as his apprentice as a small boy, and threatens to expose Todd to Bamford and his master Judge Turpin unless he pays him half of his profits. In a rage, Todd beats Pirelli up and throws his body in a trunk when Tobias enters the shop. While speaking to Tobias, Todd notices that Pirelli's hand is sticking out and feebly moving. After sending Toby downstairs, Todd finishes Pirelli off by slitting his throat. Mrs. Lovett later takes his coin purse, where she finds three pounds, keeping the purse as her own.

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Trivia[]

  • Adolfo is a fictional example of a snake oil salesman, a specific type of con artist (usually in the Wild West), who sold off various unknown fraudulent concoctions (usually made with piss and ink) as a bottled medicine despite the fact that the concoctions never worked in the way they were advertised as.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           SweeneyToddTitle Villains

The String of Pearls
Sweeney Todd | Mrs. Lovett

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sweeney Todd | Nellie Lovett | Judge Turpin | Beadle Bamford | Jonas Fogg | Adolfo Pirelli

TODD by King and Jester
Sweeney Todd | Mrs. Lovett | Judge Turpin

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