Rip Goes Into the Woods

Living in a world where people take their musicals (especially if the music and lyrics are written by Stephen Sondheim) very, very seriously, I hesitate to even share with you my own lukewarm history with Into the Woods.

The first time I saw it was when the stage version with Bernadette Peters as the Witch was broadcast on PBS.  I stumbled across it as I was scrolling through the channels just as it was beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed it and its uncharacteristically happy ending for a Sondheim piece.

I guess I should say when I thought it was over, because a couple of hours later I was still flipping through the channels and stumbled across Bernadette and the rest of the cast taking their curtain calls.  I realized then that I had only seen Act I of the play. Oh, that crafty Sondheim was up to his old tricks, I thought, with two acts of one play that could absolutely stand on their own but yet came together to form one (over-long) whole.  That's how Sunday in the Park with George was, too.

I was prescient enough to realize that things probably went terribly wrong in those Woods in the second act, since Sondheim was involved.  While I was mildly curious about it, I did not feel any compelling need to do anything extraordinary to see the second act because I had a feeling my chance to see the show would come to me in good time. 

Oh, was I right about that!  I saw two quality amateur productions  and one fine professional production of the show, and I was also spot-on about the second act getting "darker," to say the least.  Just call me psychic. I'm actually surprised that the FBI hasn't tried to hire me to help them solve cases due to my highly developed intuitive skills.

So how did I feel about Into the Woods on stage? It was fine.  Always a pleasure to watch, excellent score, a bit more cynical than my world view (but so is Company).  But I have to hand it to Mr. Sondheim and the book writer James Lapine on this one - no one fractures a fairy tale better than they do.

Oh, and I loved Jack's Mother, a minor role that I always thought that I could play well, given the chance.  In fact, I was actually called back for the role when I auditioned for one of the aforementioned amateur productions of the show, but the director ultimately went with another actress for the part.  I hold no grudge because people make mistakes....fathers, mothers, local community theater directors....

Anyway, Disney and Rob Marshall decided to make a movie of Into the Woods which threw many of my musical theater friends into quite the tizzy of excitement and anticipation.  Would it be good?  Would it be true to the original stage musical?  Would it cut their favorite song or plot point?

For us it became the perfect Christmas Day destination movie. Musicals opening that day are always strong contenders, and we like to choose something that my Dad might like, which is easy enough because he was equally interested in Tangled and Lincoln.  

The movie version was really, really good - a wonderful, beautiful-to-watch movie that retained the darkness and spirit of the original work. I liked the way (SPOILER ALERT) that some of the violence in the show was implied -when a favorite character died, we did not see them dead, trampled and bleeding on the ground while the coroner and detectives stood over them discussing the nature of their murder.  It is not necessary for violence to be gratuitous or sensational to have an impact. Oh, and I really liked the way that the Baker's Wife's dress was ripped at the shoulder - you know dresses don't stay pristine when you're schlepping around the woods (which is just one of the reasons I stay out of the forest).

Meanwhile, back on Facebook, my musical theater geek Friends (you know who you are and you know that I love you) are busy wildly debating the virtues of the movie versus the play.  Some can't get over the fact that their favorite character lived or their favorite song was cut from the movie.  Some refuse to see the movie because they heard of these changes.

A word to the wise in surviving seeing your favorite stage musical be adapted to the big screen: do not go to the movie expecting to see the stage version.  The movie should be different- otherwise there would be no need to make the movie at all - you can just see the show on stage or watch the filmed version of the play on PBS.  And furthermore, if you don't like the movie, so what? It's just a musical.

Dad summed it up in his very positive review after seeing the movie: "It held my attention the whole time - I didn't fall asleep once." That's the measure of a successful show in our family - if it keeps us awake.