Into the Woods (1991)

As Good As It Gets

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Into the Woods" never became the stuff of legend like "Hair" or "West Side Story", and it never became a commercial blockbuster like practically every Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Perhaps this is because of its length--three hours, on average--perhaps because of the fairy-tales-go-to-hell subject matter. People don't usually like to see what happens after "happily ever after," but it's one of the most cogent and powerful lessons of "Into the Woods," the best of all Broadway musicals. It's comical, serious, joyous, poignant, mystical, accessible, you name it. It's got an intricate plot, complex and sympathetic characters, and the most rich and rapturous score ever to grace the professional stage. Thank you so much, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, for this wonderful gift.

One of the great Stephen Sondheim's last great musicals combines four favorite fairy tales to make one classical epic: "Cinderella," "Jack & The Beanstalk," "Little Red Riding-Hood," and "Rapunzel." A fifth story is, of course, needed to bind them together, which comes here in the story of a poor baker and his wife who wish for a child, and to get it, strike a bargain with a witch to fetch the ingredients for a potion: "The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slippers as pure as gold." The baker rescuesRed Riding-Hood from the wolf and is rewarded with her cloak, and then sellsthe beans to Jack for his cow, while his wife plucks a hair from Rapunzel in her tower, and relieves Cinderella of her last shoe, since she is having troubleescaping in one high-heeled slipper. Over the first act, we see the stories unfold just as we know them from our childhood, ending with "Happily ever after." In the second act, however, the characters' continuing stories are shown as not ashappy as we thought. Cinderella and Rapunzel's princes have lost their hearts' desires in the having of them, and start chasing after Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Red Riding-Hood has become obsessed with killing wolves, anddefending herself. Rapunzel, simultaneously missing her Witch-mother andhating her, has moments of hysteria. As for the Baker, he feels insecure as a father, and his wife wishes their house were bigger. And the Giant's wife comes down another beanstalk to get revenge on Jack for murdering her husband.Disaster strikes when, in desparation, the characters sacrifice the Narrator to the Giant, and thus destroy the person keeping the stories in order. Chaos ensues as the black and white so well divided before flow together. Heroes lie, Witches are right, Giants are good, heroes die. But still, the characters are able to stay together and defeat the giant and resolve their stories on their own. The moral of the story is simple: Learn from the stories, but don't live by them, as sung by the legendary Bernadette Peters as the Witch. She proves amazingly good atplaying the hideous old crone, and later becomes more of a Gothic beauty,more suited to her beautiful voice and fantastic acting skills (Last Midnight, who would have thought a waltz could be so chilling?) The rest of the originalBroadway cast is also fabulous. Danielle Ferland is delightful as Red Riding- Hood, a Shirley Temple with a delightful mean streak. Robert Westenbergmakes the Prince funny and sad, and as the Wolf, brings out the lustfulundertones of the character, and Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason evokememories of Desi and Lucy as the married couple, while Kim Crosby is asurprisingly independent Cinderella. All the cast sings one of Sondheim'sstrongest scores, and brings the musical into the range of 10/10.

My wife and I have enjoyed the soundtrack and associated book form of this musical for years. Alas, we were never able to enjoy it on broadway. We knew there was a bit of innuendo involved but that it was fairly out of the range of our 8 year old daughter. However, when we rented the DVD of this live performance, my eyebrows were raised quite quickly when Red Riding Hood comes upon the Wolf. The Wolf is, how should I say, amazingly anatomically correct for a man, let alone a wolf. The tone of the whole play really isn't for kids but the rest of it seems okay. My daughter enjoyed the music and made comments about the crude special effects. But the parents understand that the effects are just for effect and that the real power of this musical is in the story. It tugs just a little harder than one would expect at the heartstrings. I was amazed at the number of real tears shed by the cast...and that emotion is just a real today as a decaded ago. Oh. And Bernadette...best witch ever.

It was this show that first introduced me to the wonderful world of Sondheim, and, for that reason, it will always have a special place in my heart. In my opinion, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, and Sweeny Todd are Sondheim's greatest works, and three of the greatest musicals of our time. Bernadette Peters is the absolute queen of Sondheim shows, and this is one of her greatest roles. She is the definitive witch, and her performance sparkles with a huge spectrum of feelings and emotions. This is one of those shows that can make you laugh and cry almost instantaneously. Some of the standout songs include the hilarious 'Agony,' the heartfelt 'No One is Alone' and 'Children Will Listen,' and, my favourite, 'Your Fault/Last Midnight,' which, I think, is so easily applied, and makes such a huge statement about our materialistic society today. This is a must-have for any Sondheim or Bernadette fan. A brilliant show!