In the
penny dreadful The String of Pearls, Tobias Ragg is the apprentice of Sweeney Todd, a barber who murders his customers. Sweeney Todd has him committed to a
lunatic asylum after Tobias finds proof of Todd's guilt and decides to contact the police. He eventually escapes, is involved in Todd's arrest, and as the story ends goes into the service of
Johanna's husband-to-be Mark Ingestrie. Tobias Ragg was also the young apprentice of Todd in the 1936 film version of
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In the
Stephen Sondheim musical
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Toby is the apprentice of Signor
Adolfo Pirelli, a barber who was once an apprentice of Todd, and a tenor/boy soprano. Pirelli pretends to be Italian, and sells some fake potions for hair, made of "piss and ink". Toby is taken in by
Mrs. Lovett after Todd kills Pirelli, who threatened to blackmail him. Toby becomes deeply attached to Mrs. Lovett, thinking of her as a surrogate mother. The character expresses this in one of the final songs in the play, "
Not While I'm Around". However, when he discovers that Todd has been killing customers for Mrs. Lovett to bake into meat pies, he goes insane with horror and shock. After seeing Todd kill Mrs. Lovett, a vengeful Toby emerges from the sewers, where he was hiding, and slashes Todd's throat with his razor. Sweeney, knowing that Toby is about to kill him, lifts his head to make it easier In
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a 2007 film adaptation of the musical directed by
Tim Burton, Toby's role is mostly the same. In the stage musical, Toby is portrayed as a mentally handicapped adult;
Ken Jennings, who originated the Broadway role, was 31 on opening night, and
Neil Patrick Harris was 27. In the 2007 movie, he is a child and not mentally ill, portrayed by 14-year-old
Ed Sanders. == Performers ==