Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Into the Woods


Into the Woods is an award winning musical by the widely known composer, Stephen Sondheim. Into the Woods premiered on Broadway in 1987.
Into the Woods is a musical that combines well known fairytale characters to make one hilarious, and sometimes dark, plot.
A baker and his wife want more than anything to have a baby, yet they soon find out that the baker's family has been cursed by an evil witch and no male in his family can have children, "And I laid a little spell on them. You, too, son. That your family tree will always be a barren one..." The witch tells the baker that she will reverse the curse if he goes into the woods and collects ingredients to make potion for her. Along the way the baker and his wife run into Cinderella, two princes, Jack and his beanstalk, Rapunzel, and he even saves Little Red Riding Hood from the big bad wolf.
The first act ends on a good note, the baker and his wife have succeeded in their task and are going to have a baby, Cinderella marries her prince, and Jack escapes from the "Giants in the Sky." However, at the opening of the next act the ensemble cast sings a song "So Happy," but, because of some loose ends that weren't tied up in act one the characters soon realize that a giant has climbed down from her palace in the sky to avenge her husband's death. Houses are crushed and some of our favorite story book characters are killed. Into the Woods doesn't end like your typical fairytale.