I just received an early copy of this and I am blown away!! I knew the audio would be better as DTS HD Master Audio is better than what was on the DVD...but I was not expecting such a dramatic improvement in picture quality. The colors are very rich and saturated and the detail present rivals the best upconversions to HD I've seen.
A friend of mine at the company told me that the 1" master tape was in excellent condition. I never thought this production could look this good. I'm not canceling my preorder on Amazon; this will be a great Christmas gift.
There are reviewers on Amazon saying that the color contrast is off, the picture is too dark, some wide shots are blurry and that the older DVD transfer looks better. I don't know who to believe.
This is a shady move by this studio. Obviously they are trying to get a piece of the Disney pie by choosing to release this now, of all times. The words "Original Broadway Production" at the top of the case aren't hidden, per se, but they certainly aren't prominent either. They even changed the graphic to make it look more like the new Disney film version, which is going to be really confusing for the casual buyer. I'll take the original show logo with the photo of the cast, even if it is a bit 80's any day over this "knock off."
Any excuse that gets more SD stuff converted to HD is fine by me...
Also, when is this going to "confuse the casual buyer"? Like, "Hmm... Is this the movie that isn't in theaters yet, already on Blu-Ray?" In what context is it confusing? When both are out on Blu-Ray this summer?
If you don't read product descriptions before you buy stuff, you'll end up with a lot of dodgy stuff.
I agree with tazber. Why would they NOT want to re-release this title when there's so much momentum and buzz about "Into the Woods" generated by a major film release? The MUNY in St. Louis is finally presenting "Into the Woods" and I'll bet you that they are cashing in on the title's recent momentum and buzz. (They mounted "Les Misérables" the summer after the film was released, and I would't be surprised if it were the same situation.)
I think if you buy this thinking that it's the Disney movie, you deserve to get screwed. As Taz said, good for them for being able to use the movie's release to give this wonderful filmed production some extra visibility.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"