INTO THE WOODS Cast Recordings

[My Oh My]

Now, now, frontrowcentre, there is definitely room on this forum for strong opinions, even if you perceive them as childish tantrums. And as someone accused of tantrums in the past due to my admittedly passionate rants on recent Les Mis travesties, I'm a little bit sensitive to attempts at hushing others up over not being able to relate or disagreeing with them. No hard feelings. =)

At any rate, I saw the pre-Broadway engagement of the Into the Woods revival at the Ahmanson in L.A. and the only thing I remember liking was the way they did Cinderella's mother because it was quirky as all hell and I love me some quirk. Other than that, the thing that inspired the most upset from me that I can remember is Little Red. I remember very little of that production but I do recall the girl who played her did so in a very irritating manner. I didn't have much of a problem with Vanessa Williams' Witch but she didn't fit the role as I imagined she would.

I disagree that slowed tempos and lowered keys in anything = creepy or scary. Especially when the person singing is singing seductively as I remember Vanessa doing. It's slower and lower and not as effective and that's really all I could say about it.

"Last Midnight" is an increasingly intense moment and I love the peak it gets to where the Witch is basically ranting. She is dangerous on the surface but is really the voice of reason and she has had enough of everyone's simplistic rationalizing. The slower baby moment thing in the revival isn't creepy to me. Just slower and different. And anyone who's read my Les Mis rants knows what I think of making stuff different for the sake of making stuff different. Growl.

I've never listened to the revival album but I can't say I love the OBC recording. Nothing wrong with the cast or their performances. In that sense, it is ideal. But my satellite ears twitch uncontrollably at the manner the album was engineered, sadly.

Haven't listened to most of the OLC recording but what I've heard me liked.

[ljay889]

Who said anything about the tempos being slower? I said the lower keys made the music eerier, not the tempos. In MY opinion, the orchestrations sound creepier, when lowered.

And if you've never heard the recording, you're going by something you saw over 10 years ago?

[My Oh My]

My bad. Went back and saw you didn't just mean the tempos or keys.

I've seen YouTube videos of Vanessa performing the song recently.

[EricMontreal22]

I love the London recording too, but it's partly because when I was a kid it was the only recording the library had, for some reason, so was what I knew best. The tempi is in places truly breakneck.

[lizabombs]

The performances on the OBC have not been equaled, but the orchestra is oddly flat and buried too far in the mix. Tunick's orchestrations come out far more vibrantly on the OLC. The opening "Clang" after "Once upon a time..." in the prologue is just what Sondheim had in mind, I think, when he said he wanted to give the audience a jolt to signify they should abandon their expectations.

[Musicaldudepeter]

CurtainPullDowner, can you comment on the costuming of the London production (1990)? What was Julia McKenzie's Witch like? - her costume(s) and her interpretation?

[westcoast_wannabe]

My Oh My I saw the revival in LA also and like you the only thing I really remember liking was how Cinderella's mother was done. Overall I remember my feeling at the time being that it was watered down production aimed towards a family audience that ignored the darker more complex aspects of the show. It was like The Wonderful World Of Disney presents Into the Woods.

[JohnyBroadway]

How was Cinderella's mother done?

[wickedfan]

Via projections. The stage was framed by two large trees and the one on stage left (house right) had a flat, sanded section to it. When Cinderella went to her mother's grave and after she sang "I wish," a projection of Laura Benanti (filtered through shimmering lights) came up on the tree.

[westcoast_wannabe]

She was a video projection. I don't remember if it was projected on a tree or on the wall of the theater but it was a really cool effect.

[EricMontreal22]

"The performances on the OBC have not been equaled, but the orchestra is oddly flat and buried too far in the mix. Tunick's orchestrations come out far more vibrantly on the OLC. "

Tunick's orchestrations with their chamber feeling are stunning. It's too bad that Sondheim, apparently, had a falling out with Thomas Z Shepard and his ego--nobody has produced his cast albums up to the same standard, since then.

[ljay889]

I don't really enjoy the sound on the OBCR either. It sounds like it was recorded in a tunnel. That's why I sometimes choose the revival recording to listen to, for the clarity of the orchestrations, etc.

[jv92]

Have any of you who complain about the OBCR's sound listened to the remaster that came out from Sony about five or six years ago?

[ljay889]

Yes, I own all of the remasters. It still sounds muddled to me, but definitely an improvement.

[jv92]

I'll agree. Big improvement, but not perfect.

I think the SUNDAY... remaster came out the best. It sounds gorgeous.

[frontrowcentre2]

I never had a problem with the very clear digital sound on the OBCR original release of WOODS. Reviewers at the time praised the clean spacious sound on the recording (a bit compressed for the LP release, in order to squeeze 70 minutes of music onto a single LP.)

BTW, Thomas Sheppard was no longer at RCA Victor when WOODS was recorded and had nothing to do with the album. (He left RCA in 1986 to form MCA Classics division and more recently has worked as an independent producer. Jay David Saks produced INTO THE WOODS for RCA Victor.)

Generally I like the sound of the 1980's RCA cast albums (except for the harsh distortion that mars SONG AND DANCE.) I find the sound of SUNDAY IN THE PARK luminous, from the breathtaking opening chords through the grand climax of the Act One finale. I think this album is the finest Sheppard ever produced.

[jv92]

I would have to agree, though I'm also partial to his work on COMPANY when he was at Columbia.

[Musicaldudepeter]

The original Company is absolutely magical. Love the opening ensemble number and of course, Pamela Myers' glorious Another Hundred People, which steals the show (or recording, rather) for me. The opening bars of Another... are exhilarating.

[frontrowcentre2]

Sheppard's work at Columbia and later RCA carried on Goddard Lieberson's legacy of making the cast album an art form all its own.

I particularly Sheppard's recent attempts to make the CD (with the added playing) include more connecting dialogue between the songs, therefore giving the home listener more of sense of the show in performance. I recently listened again to his recording of the 1994 DAMN YANKEES! revival and marvel at how he telescoped the entire show down to one 70 minute CD.

Lieberson had different concerns: A standard LP record cold hold about 50 to 55 minutes of music comfortably, and he believed few listeners woudl stay around for more. HE also had to be concerned with how songs might be played as stand-alone numbers on radio (in those days radio played more show tunes on air.) SO dialogue woudl have to be cut, introductions and endings would need to be fabricated to make the track work. He was a master producing very listenable cast albums that both captured the spirit of the show and also offered up a collection of take home tunes. The record market was very different then and show albums frequently hit the top of the Billboard Best Selling albums chart.

[Urban]

In a bizarre way, I say go revival first only because - and to quote Vanessa Williams - save the best for last!

That was it for me - I brought with the Revival CR first and it was the starting point for my obsession into the show, and thus after then buying the OBCR, I had one of those rare beautiful moments were... an awesome show just got even better!

Oh the revival is still quiet nice in a lot of the ways people have previously mentioned (Benanti, Williams et al) though I do really skip over any of the Baker's Wife songs these days (which is a shame because some of Sondheim's better wordplaying is in a few of those songs).

It really is just nails on chalkboard for me to listen to the Baker's Wife being done on the Revival CR, especially in light of knowing how brilliantly Joanna Gleeson shows how it should be down in the OBCR. Joanna Gleeson has just plain spoilt me. Hehe

I've also been lucky that I have (somewhere anyway) a very high quality live recording of the Sydney Theater Company production from the mid 90s which starred almost a whose-who of Australian Theater Royalty. Thus a forth English Cast to at least compare to.

[jv92]

Regarding Tom Shepard, didn't he and Sondheim have some sort of falling out after he left for MCA, prompting Sondheim to call his sessions angst-filled and tense, as compared to Goddard Lieberson's, which were always long, but jovial and fun?

[EricMontreal22]

Yes, I'm not sure where I read that, but that's pretty much what I've heard too. It's too bad because he really did do a great job with his shows--Sunday in particular (how he re-did the orchestra, adding instruments as the recording goes on to try to aurally recreate some of the visual interest of the show is amazing).

[CurtainPullDowner]

The costumes in the OLC were kind of German looking, like the characters of a Swiss cukoo clock, you can see them on the Tube clips, Jack wears a paper hat, little red wears a red hood and cape and has a (sweet) tooth missing. They all certainly look like they came from the same book.
Though I loved Julie Mc, I can't really recall her costumes except that fascinator-type witch hat.
The whole look was kinda scarey but also funny.

[jv92]

Eric-- Shepard might be a great producer of cast albums, especially SUNDAY..., but judging from the COMPANY documentary, I can see where Sondheim is coming from. I didn't see much interaction between producer and songwriter either, though the film only lasts an hour.

He (Tom Shepard) is really rude to the engineer throughout the film, and doesn't exactly put the actors at ease. You can sense they're terrified of him, compared to their respect for and better rapport with Sondheim.

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

I really do think the OLC recording is musically the best of the available recordings, a questionable Rapunzel's Prince notwithstanding. That orchestra absolutely vibrates with energy and the tempos are on the fast side of perfect. Plus they don't bother to do that terrible No One Is Alone "ending" from the OBC recording, instead performing it as it appears in the show (being interrupted by the giant's footsteps). Also, they recorded my favorite orchestral moment in the show, No. 67 -- Attack of the Birds, featuring one majorly pissed off trumpet and Psycho string stabs. Tunick's chamber orchestrations never have sounded better!

[EricMontreal22]

They really do sound incredible on the album. It was recorded in surround sound, apparently, but I've never had a system to play it on.