“No Place like London” is, like “Color and Light” a great example of a Sondheimian scene. The dialogue and music is intertwined so beautifully, it gives the impression of an opera, even though it is clearly not. But this is what Sondheim was going for in Sweeny Todd, a quasi-parody of opera.
    The song begins with a brass fanfare. The first two phrases are two measures each; both mirroring the two characters about to enter, Antony and Sweeney. The first two measures consist of the progression Db (add 9), Db major 7 over C, Db major 13, Db major7 over Ab, and Gb (add 9)- a series of beautiful chords. This symbolizes Antony’s love for London, and his perception of it being a beautiful place. The next two measures in clued the first three chords, but in the second measure switch to a Gb minor 9, and an Fb major 9 (#11). These last two chords are eerie and dissonant, symbolizing Sweeney’s hatred for London.  Antony sings his first verse, all over a tonic progression, with color tones, once again mirroring his love for the city. However, before his last “no place like London” Sweeney interjects, and sings it instead. At this moment, the underscore suddenly changes to Sweeney’s anger motif, an eighth note motif with two juxtaposed lines creating constant whole step intervals and diminished fifth intervals. This makes it not just dissonant, but unsteady, with no tonal center. He sings, “You are young, life has been kind to you. You will learn.” This is sung over the same accompaniment, but alternates between 4/4 and 7/8. This use of an uneven meter makes Sweeney seem even more unstable in his anger. Sweeney then sings to Antony, “You will learn.” The important thing to note here is the placement of “will.” The series of these three notes are Ab, Cb, and Bb. Not only does the “will” get prominence because it is the highest pitch in these series of notes, but it is a minor third, almost a blue third when sung correctly, which gives it even more importance because the listener’s ear is dying for it to resolve to the Bb. This shows Sweeney’s cynicism in life. He is telling Antony that eventually everyone will get taken for a ride in the end because the world is a horrible place, and the accenting of “will” makes this message clear as day.
    There is then some dialogue, which is said over another motif of Sweeny’s, working to show his anger and sorrow. We all know this motif, in this case it is a Bb to a D, over a rolling Eb5 chord, creating an Eb major 7, the perfect chord to fit the feeling of sorrow. The next measure includes two eighth notes of the motif, the second of which is tied to a half note to fill the rest of the 3/4 measure, they are a Db and Cb. Both of these are over an Eb and D in the bass. This created extreme dissonance on the downbeat, creating a series of three notes in half step intervals (excluding their compound interval counterparts). This mirrors Sweeney’s anger as well.
    The Beggar Woman now appears. The musical rhetoric is very clear here. She is rather insane, so the music calls for instability. The accompaniment loses it’s tonality and become nearly atonal. The Beggar Woman sings almost entirely in descending half-steps, giving a “melting” impression, which symbolizes that her mind has slowly melted away. Now, a complete shift of feeling comes when she sings “’Ow would you like a little muff dear…” and so forth. Two things are important to note whenever this little “jig” comes up. First, and the most obvious, is that the tonality is still gone, especially in the accompaniment. That’s all fine, but the interesting thing here is the meter it’s written in. Sondheim put these parts in 9/16, an odd meter. Any professional musician won’t have a problem with this meter, but it is rarely seen, mainly because it makes rhythms look more complicated than they need to be. Most of the time, music written in 9/16 could be transferred 9/8 easily. Sondheim did this for the performer’s sake. Writing this section in 9/16 makes the music look maniacal and jumbled; exactly the feelings the Beggar Woman should be showing at this point. It gives the actor, when looking at the music, a subconscious note on how to articulate the notes.
    The Beggar Woman sings one more set of “Alms…” and a jig, then moves on. We come back to Sweeney’s anger/sadness motif, followed by his mini soliloquy, “There’s a hole in the world…” The important thing to note here is how fast Sondheim has Sweeney sing these notes, it’s very much like a recititative (again, parodying opera). Sweeney sings this so fast because he’s so passionate about how he feels, that the words can’t come fast enough.  This is all the while sung over the same anger/sadness motif. Sweeney then breaks into Antony’s motif of “…sailed the word and seen it’s wonders…” except here, the accompaniment has changed slightly, there are alternating G to A# quarter notes  over the C# minor 7 accompaniment, creating some strong dissonances (diminished 5ths with the G and G#, and major sevenths with the A# and B in the bass). This symbolizes that Sweeney’s feelings are opposite to Antony’s.
    Sweeney now tells his story. Since this is so expositional, nothing of intense musical rhetoric happens here, but it is important to note the meter changes. Sondheim does this whenever there is a story being told like this, it makes it seem more conversational and real, this way the audience can focus on the exposition, rather than motifs or a rhyme scheme of a normal strophic song, this would take too much away from the exposition. Another important aspect to notice is that the word “beautiful” is always the peak of a phrase, to show Sweeney’s love for his wife.
    After Sweeney is done telling his story, Antony leaves, and Sweeney sings his mantra again, this time over his unstable eighth note motif. This shows that Sweeney is now on the move, looking for his revenge.