Into the Woods 2002 Revival

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 4:17pm

LOVE the cast album and have been watching some videos of it on Youtube... What are some of your opinions on it?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 4:19pm

If they would have taken a chainsaw and a blowtorch to the show, it would have done less damage to it than that revival did.

And again, don't get me started on Kerry O'Malley. She should still be in jail for what she did to the Baker's Wife.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:29pm

That Cow...

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:42pm

I thought it was wonderful. I'm constantly confused by the hyperbolic hatred aimed at the revival.

I especially liked that it didn't feel like there were lead characters. I know a lot of people continue to be critical of Kerry O'Malley and Vanessa Williams, but I appreciated that they sparkled a bit less than their original counterparts made those roles less the center of the piece. It felt that I was watching a community go through something, rather than characters that continued to interrupt or augment the Baker's story. I'm sure I don't know anything, though.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:44pm

Kerry O'Malley destroyed the show. If it had had a decent Baker's Wife or Witch, it mightn't have been so bad. The whole show was tacky... Lapine phoned it in as director...

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:50pm

I agree on the phoned-in direction but I'm glad I saw it just because it was my first live production of Into The Woods.

And what the hell did Kerry O'Malley do in the part that has Jordan's knickers in a twist? I don't remember her being all that bad.

Updated On: 12/19/13 at 05:50 PM

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:59pm

With the right actress, the Baker's wife comes out as the lead over the witch, even if the witch is portrayed by a bigger name. In this production, the witch was definitely the star.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 5:59pm

I very regretfully did not see it, but I own the recording. It’s okay. Mostly, it’s just nice to have another recording of the show, but I don’t really love the OBC, either, because the vocal performances in the film are so much livelier.

I’m iffy about most of the musical changes (though the revised “Last Minute” has a lyric or two I enjoy). My controversial opinion, though, is that I love, love, LOVE what Steve does with the ending of “On the Steps of the Palace,” which has always been my favorite song in the show.

- And you’ve learned something, too

- And I’ve learned something, too

- Something you never knew

- And I’ve learned something, too

- That I never, never, ever knew beforrrrrrre

- In the land of the giaaant

- In the belly of a woooooolf

- On the steps of the palaaaaaaaaaaaace

I find that ending, especially the final harmony, glorious and transcendent and exactly right for that spot in the show.

(Apologies if I don’t have the lines just right, which is why I left out the speaker attributions, as well; I don’t have the song in front of me and can’t get the revised lyrics online.)

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:06pm

I think it's wrong for both the Witch and the Baker's Wife to come out as the lead. I don't believe the show is written that way, and I don't feel like it offers the best emotional experience. Jack, Cinderella, The Baker, and Red should all feel like the leads. I felt they did in this production. I did see understudies as Jack (Chad Kimball) and Red (I believe Kate Reinders), though... so it's possible that had something to do with it.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:07pm

Well, it's an ensemble show until halfway through the second act. The Witch and the Baker's Wife have just as much to do (if not more) until their disappearances from the plot.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:14pm

This show was also my first real exposure to the fact that Sondheim is absolutely incapable of leaving his shows alone and knowing when to leave well enough alone.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:15pm

Except for Sweeney, which has been relatively untouched.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:17pm

I wonder why that is.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:18pm

Hasn't NIGHT MUSIC been mostly untouched?

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:20pm

The problem with the revival is that NOBODY sparkled. Sondheim writes shows for actors who can sing. This revival was cast with the everything except that.

Most of the cast were competent/good singers who had absolutely NO personality. These are fairy tale characters, for crap's sake! They should be LOADED with personality! The only person with personality (Jack's Mother. I forget the actress's name) had a voice so painful to listen to I forgot I was in a professional theater. And Jack was in the middle of a voice change.

The only good things about that production were the sets (the trees started out lush and glittery and gradually deteriorated throughout the show,) Vanessa Williams and John McMartin as the Mysterious Old Man/Narrator.

[bobs3]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 6:53pm

Although some people didn't think so, I thought Vanessa Williams and John McMartin were perfectly cast. The Baker and his wife were unimpressive (the roles are too important to the show to be cast this way). Jack and Little Red were good and Greg Edelman made was very good Wolf/Prince and the sets were actually an improvement over the original production.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 7:05pm

You know it's a bad production of Into the Woods if John McMartin gets nominated as the f!cking Narrator for a Best Actor Tony.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 7:14pm

Doesn't this get discussed a few times a year?

The only real NIGHT MUSIC changes I can think of are: the Overture/Night Waltz has been shortened for some productions. The 2009 revival cut a verse from the ending of Weekend in the Country. And the Judi Dench production combined the original and movie version of Glamorous Life.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 7:18pm

"This show was also my first real exposure to the fact that Sondheim is absolutely incapable of leaving his shows alone and knowing when to leave well enough alone."

Awww, that's cute, you think you know better than the composer.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 7:35pm

Awe, that's cute. You think you're funny and snarky.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 9:12pm

Did Sondheim make the changes because he wanted them, or were they Lapine's suggestion? I know the pigs were back (and after they were cut from the original workshop, I still don't know why they returned) which I assume was Lapine. Was any dialogue changed? I guess we'll never know if it was Sondheim or Lapine who suggested that Last Midnight have more "clear" lyrics.

I only ask because Sondheim usually claims that most of the changes made to his plays are at the suggestion of one of his collaborators and he's happy to give them a try--I know he initially said as much for the Company update, as well as for doing Follies in London (though not, to the best of my knowledge, the changes the current script of Follies has.)

On the other hand I think the added brief Giorgio song in Passion was said to be his idea, as is the added (again brief) Beggar Woman's Lullabye in Sweeney.

I mostly dislike the changes to his shows, but some of that, admittedly, may just depend on what I knew first. (I grew up with the London cast album of Into the Woods and as much as I love the original cast in the filmed production, the London one--with the faster tempi, the addition of Our Little World, etc--is what I usually listen to still.) I have heard a complaint that Lapine tried to make his revival more "family friendly" but from the clips, can't say if that's true (except for, I guess, the storybook openings.)

However, I'm not sure if Sondheim is all that more guilty of this than many others in the theatre. Certainly I know many people (not on here) who don't realize what drastic revisions Tennessee Williams made to his texts--often even between the original staged productions and the first published edition done the same year. The third act of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that Kazan got him to re-write is well known since he wrote about it, but the version usually performed now is a revision he did in the 1970s that has a TON of changes, some significant many not.

Trying to write any college essays on his work and reading any of the scholarly articles on his shows there is absolutely no agreement among fans about which scripts should be considered "canon" (and this goes for nearly all of his plays, major and minor.)

But maybe people don't notice as much because you don't tend to memorize a certain recording...

ljay, the Dench/national Theatre Night Music (which was my first live Sondheim show and pretty amazing!) also added back in a bit of My Husband the Pig, before Little Death.

Have Sunday in the Park or Pacific Overtures had any significant changes after their original productions (so not counting songs cut during previews or workshops?) Actually I guess Pacific has those pointless updates to "Next!"

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/19/13 at 9:37pm

"Was any dialogue changed? I guess we'll never know if it was Sondheim or Lapine who suggested that Last Midnight have more "clear" lyrics."

As far as I know, they just put in little bits and bobs of new dialogue but that's about it. The most obvious change I can think of as far as dialogue goes is that after the Wife says, "Will only a giant's foot stop your arguing?", the Baker says, "You'll stay here with the baby! Please." And then there's this brief spiel where Little Red asks, "Do you always fight like that?" and so on and so forth. It's still the same show. AND most of the changes in the show are optional to my knowledge. So yeah, it's basically still the same show. It's not like they put in a CGI Jabba The Hutt or anything.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/20/13 at 12:14am

Gosh Jordan you are such a drama queen....it's ONLY a Broadway show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/13 at 12:18am

That's right, Eric. The Menier production of the revival also used SILLY PEOPLE. Great song, but it slows down the action.

[LMcC95]

Posted: 12/20/13 at 12:30am

Was Laura Benanti in this?