Between reviewing Jersey Boys and some recent industry news, I figured it was about time I revisit one of the first musicals I have memory of ever seeing: Into the Woods. One half of my family is big into Sondheim, and while I generally prefer my song ‘n stage experiences on the comedic side of things (The Producers being my favorite), I’ve always respected the likes of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Into the Woods for just how dark they are compared to most Broadway fare.
Of course I was basing this opinion of Into the Woods solely on very loose memory, as I haven’t seen or heard it in probably more than a decade and a half. But when it recently got out that Disney was, well, Disney-fying (read: bowdlerizing) the source material for the film adaptation coming later this year, I figured it was time for a revisit. And, yes, now I pretty clearly remember the parts of Into The Woods that aren’t quite on-brand for the House of Mouse: psychological trauma, infidelity, murder –basically, the entire second act.
But that’s the appeal of Into the Woods: the idea of taking children’s stories and seeing what happens after Happily Ever After. It’s an often-grisly play in terms of the fates that befall the characters (though not without it’s own sinister whimsy; the fate of the narrator is one particular twist I’ve never forgotten), but the thesis running through it is actually pretty optimistic. It’s the rare fable, or musical for that matter, that advocates for making the best of a bad situation. You can take that as being cynical, but I think that’s what makes the show appeal to adults and families: it’s about recognizing that the morals of most fairy tales are really just a way of preparing you for a world of compromise.
The Broadway cast recording that’s on Netflix was filmed in 1990, and it makes for an interesting living room-theatre experience. You can find in my review plenty of griping about how Jersey Boys fails as a movie when you try to make it one, and the cast recording of Into the Woods provides an interesting contrast in how one can go about filming an actual stage performance. I think I would have preferred a static camera placement so that the feeling of being in the audience would be more authentic (though mixing the shot angles up does highlight little details you might miss), but the camera work is effective overall, and invites you into the experience in a different way than seeing it live would.
As for the film version, the changes I’ve read about sound kinda antithetical to the whole point of the play. The fact that Sondheim has signed off on the remixing, ironically, proves he knows the moral of his story better than anyone: sometimes, you gotta settle. It’s a shame, because the cast list is pretty strong (at least as actors; who among them can sing other than Anna Kendrick I don’t know), and Emily Blunt is playing my favorite character from the show, so definite bonus points there.