Into The Woods

Into the Woods is an award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife, brought acclaim to the production during its original Broadway run. Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera. The musical has been produced many times, with a 1988 national tour, a 1990 West End production, a 1991 television production, a 1997 tenth anniversary concert, a 2002 Los Angeles production and a 2002 Broadway revival.

Inspired by Bruno Bettelheim's 1976 book, The Uses of Enchantment, the musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them further to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, tied together by an original story involving a Baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, and including references to several other well-known tales.

Plot summary

Act I

A narrator introduces the major characters: Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King's Festival; Jack, a lonely and impoverished young man who wishes that his beloved cow, Milky-White, would give milk; and the Baker and his Wife, who wish they could have a child. Little Red Riding Hood buys some bread from the Baker to take to her grandmother in the woods. An ugly old Witch visits the Baker and his Wife, revealing that the Baker's father had stolen from the Witch's garden to feed his pregnant wife, taking some of her magic beans. The Witch cursed the family, making them barren, and imprisoned their daughter Rapunzel. The Witch explains that the spell may be reversed if the Baker and his Wife can find the four ingredients she needs for a certain potion: a milk-white cow, a blood-red cape, corn-yellow hair and a gold slipper, all within the next three days.

All begin journeys into the woods: Jack's mother sends a reluctant Jack to market to sell his beloved Milky-White; and Cinderella decides to escape to the festival, first visiting her mother's grave and receiving a beautiful dress and shoes ("Cinderella at the Grave"). Little Red Ridinghood goes to her grandmother's house and is stalked by a hungry wolf along the way ("Hello, Little Girl"). The Baker's Wife helps him con the sad Jack into selling Milky-White ("I Guess This Is Goodbye") for five beans, telling Jack that they're magic. The Baker, feeling guilty about the lie, sends his Wife home with the cow ("Maybe They're Magic"). The Witch has locked Rapunzel, who has hair "as yellow as corn", in a tower to shield her from the outside world ("Our Little World"). When Little Red Riding Hood arrives at her grandmother's house, she is swallowed by the Wolf, who has also feasted on her grandmother. The Baker (who has been following her) slays the Wolf, saving Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, and she rewards him with the red cape ("I Know Things Now"). Jack's mother is angry that he was duped, returning only with the beans, and tosses them aside, not knowing they really are magic and will grow into a beanstalk that will reach the heavens. Cinderella leaves the festival before the "First Midnight."

The Baker's Wife spots Cinderella's pure gold slippers, but she is also taken with Cinderella's Prince ("A Very Nice Prince"). Milky-White runs away, with the Wife in pursuit. Jack, meanwhile, returns from the giant's home with five gold coins, hoping to repurchase Milky-White ("Giants in the Sky"). The Wife confesses that she has lost the cow – a setback. The two Princes sing of their endless longing ("Agony"). The Wife fools Rapunzel into letting down her hair and steals a piece. The Mysterious Man appears and gives Milky-White back to the Baker. The Baker realizes that his Wife has helped considerably, and admits the need to join together in their quest ("It Takes Two").

Jack then arrives with a hen that lays golden eggs and attempts to buy Milky-White, but she has died. The Baker's Wife meets Cinderella again, and almost succeeds in getting one of her shoes. As the second midnight begins, the Witch discovers that the Prince is visiting Rapunzel and begs Rapunzel to return to her ("Stay with Me"). The Witch angrily cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her to a desert, and her Prince is blinded while trying to escape from the Witch. The Mysterious Man gives the Baker money to buy another cow, and Jack, taunted by Little Red Ridinghood, returns once again to the Giant's home to steal a magical harp.

Cinderella's Prince is giving another festival and spreads pitch on the stairs to try to capture and identify her ("On the Steps of the Palace"). The Baker's Wife arrives and attempts to trade her remaining bean for Cinderella's one remaining slipper; Cinderella throws the bean aside but, needing two shoes, trades shoes with the Wife and flees. The Baker arrives, and they have now met all of the Witch's demands before the end of the third day. Jack's mother reports that a dead Giant has fallen from the beanstalk. As the third midnight approaches, the potion does not work: the cow is not pure white – it has only been covered with flour. However, the Witch revives Milky-White, and the items are fed to her. The Baker and Wife milk her, and the Witch drinks the magic potion but it does not work because the Witch had touched the hair of Rapunzel they had used in the potion (which explains why she needed the Baker to get the ingredients for her, instead of getting them herself). The Mysterious Man appears and tells the Baker to use the hair-like strands on the husk of corn he had used to compare with one of the step-sister's hair. The new potion works. The curse is reversed, also breaking a spell that had afflicted the Witch, and she becomes youthful and beautiful, although she loses her magical powers.

Cinderella's Prince searches for the maiden whose foot will fit the golden slipper. The step-sisters mutilate their feet trying to cram them into the slipper, but Cinderella appears and becomes the Prince's bride ("Ever After"). The Witch explains that the Mysterious Man is the Baker's father, who abandoned him but the Man dies before the Baker can talk to him. Rapunzel finds her Prince and restores his vision with her tears. All seems well, but another beanstalk suddenly rises from the ground.

Act II

Everyone is living happily, with the Baker and his Wife having a baby and Cinderella living with her Prince in the Palace, though there are some minor inconveniences ("So Happy"). Suddenly, however, the Giant's widow (also a giant), climbs down the beanstalk looking for Jack. The two Princes have grown bored with their marriages and now lust after Snow White and Sleeping Beauty ("Agony" Reprise). To satisfy the widow's thirst for vengeance, everyone offers her the narrator. Jack's mother aggressively defends her son, angering the Giant's widow, and Cinderella's Prince's steward clubs Jack's mother to make her be quiet, inadvertently killing her. The widow stomps Rapunzel, much to the dismay of Rapunzel's Prince and the Witch ("Lament"). The Baker and his Wife decide that they must tell the Royal Family, despite the Witch's insistence that the Royal Family can't do anything about it, and that if they want to survive, everyone must go to battle.

Everybody searches for Jack, while Cinderella's Prince seduces the Baker's Wife ("Any Moment"). She realizes her error just moments before being crushed by a falling branch ("Moments in the Woods"). The Witch finds Jack and wants to give him to the Giant's widow, causing an argument – the characters blame each other for their predicament before they all blame the Witch ("Your Fault"). Disgusted, the Witch throws more beans on the ground before vanishing ("Last Midnight"). The Baker, grieving after his Wife's death, leaves his child with the others. He is then visited by his father's spirit, which convinces him to face his responsibilities ("No More"). He returns to the group and helps them plan to kill the giant. Cinderella, after leaving her unfaithful Prince, helps comfort Little Red Ridinghood upon realizing that her grandmother has succumbed to the giant's reign ("No One Is Alone").

Everyone helps to slay the Giant's widow, and each of the previously deceased characters returns to describe the lesson they learned ("Children Will Listen"). All seem satisfied, except for a final "I wish" from Cinderella.


Productions
San Diego production

Into the Woods started at the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, where it opened on December 4, 1986 and ran for 50 performances. Many of the performers from that production were in the Broadway cast. John Cunningham, who played the Narrator, Wolf and Steward was replaced by Tom Aldredge, who played the Narrator and Mysterious Man. LuAnne Ponce, Little Red Ridinghood, was replaced by Danielle Ferland. Ellen Foley as the Witch was replaced by Bernadette Peters.

Original 1987 Broadway production

Into the Woods opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on November 5, 1987, closed on September 3, 1989, and played 764 performances. It starred Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Kim Crosby, Ben Wright, Danielle Ferland, Chuck Wagner, Merle Louise, and Robert Westenberg. The original production won the 1988 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, and the original cast recording won a Grammy Award. Joanna Gleason won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and James Lapine (book) and Stephen Sondheim (original score) also won the Tony Award.

Peters left the show after 5 months due to prior commitments and was replaced by Phylicia Rashad, who was later replaced by Nancy Dussault. In 1989, Betsy Joslyn took over for Ms. Dussault, then left to join the national tour, and Ellen Foley returned to the role of the Witch at the end of the run.

Tenth Anniversary benefit performances of this production were held on November 9, 1997 at The Broadway Theatre (New York), with the original cast.

1988 National United States Tour

The national tour began on November 22, 1988 with Cleo Laine playing the Witch, replaced by Betsy Joslyn in May 1989. Rex Robbins played the Narrator and Mysterious Man, Charlotte Rae Jack's Mother, and the Princes were played by Chuck Wagner and Douglas Sills. The tour played cities around the country, such as Fort Lauderdale, FL, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and the Kennedy Center.

1990 London production

The original London Production opened on August 25, 1990 at the Phoenix Theatre and played until February 23, 1991. It was directed by Richard Jones, choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, and produced by David Mirvish, with costumes by Sue Blane and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. It starred Clive Carter, who was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. Some story aspects and one song that were cut from the original production were added to the London production. The song "Our Little World" was added. This song was a duet sung between the Witch and Rapunzel giving further insight into the care the Witch has for her self-proclaimed daughter and the desire Rapunzel has to see the world outside of her tower.

1991 television production

Into the Woods was taped for video and aired on U.S. public television on March 20, 1991. The taping was done in May 1989 with the original Broadway cast. It is available on DVD.

2002 Broadway revival

The 2002 Broadway revival, directed by James Lapine and choreographed by John Carrafa, began previews on April 13, 2002 and opened April 30, 2002 at the Broadhurst Theatre, closing on December 29, 2002 after a run of 18 previews and 279 regular performances. It starred Vanessa Williams as the Witch, the recorded voice of Judi Dench as the Giant, and cast including John McMartin (Narrator), Stephen DeRosa (the Baker), Gregg Edelman (Prince/Wolf), Christopher Sieber (Prince/Wolf), and Laura Benanti (Cinderella).

The plot was retooled, with a subplot added involving The Three Little Pigs restored from the earlier San Diego production. Other changes included the addition of the song "Our Little World," a duet between the Witch and Rapunzel that was part of the London production; Jack's cow was a puppet with a live performer inside who dances; "The Last Midnight" was sung by the Witch as a menacing lullaby to an infant held hostage. There were two Wolves rather than only one, sung by the two performers who also play the Princes.

The revival won the Tony Awards for the Best Revival of a Musical and Best Lighting Design.

2007 London Revival

A revival at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio in Covent Garden had a limited run from June 14 - June 30, 2007. This is the second Sondheim musical to be staged by the company, following 2003's Sweeney Todd.

Other productions and adaptations

The musical has been adapted into a child-friendly "Junior" version for use in middle schools. Act II is completely edited out, as well as the not-so-child-friendly elements from Act I. In addition, the show is shortened to fit in a 60-80 minute range.

source: http://www.wikipedia.com/