The show ‘Into the Woods’, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a story by James Lapine, was successful on Broadway from the off, winning 3 Tony Awards and after moving to London 3 years later, 2 Olivier awards. Its unique take on classic literature from fairy-tales has led to the creation of a truly original piece of theatre which is funny, tragic and exciting all at the same time. The concept of mixing fairy-tales is similar to that which has now been used in the also popular Shrek book and films, and mixing various sources within a genre together continues to lead to work that audiences can’t help but enjoy. As an audience we like that we understand the references being made by the writer, even when the characters themselves don’t, and feel almost as if we are in on an inside joke with the writer and the rest of the audience. This is also darker than the fairy-tale adaptations we often see, such as those of Disney films, which often dramatically change the story from the source piece in order to make it more pleasant to watch. Since this show was based on the original Brothers Grimm fairy-tales, rather than other modern adaptations, we are able to see a work that, while it adds new endings that take place after the pieces, is much more faithful to the original works. A new film of this musical is set for release this Christmas, and it will be interesting to see how they tackle the story.
The storyline of the show begins with each of various fairy-tale characters wishing for something in their life, for example Cinderella wishes to marry the Prince. The stories are all tied together by the original story of a Baker and his wife, and their wish to have a child. The witch who lives next door to them however has cursed them so that they cannot children. She says that in order to fulfil their wish, they must first bring her various objects. These objects are from the fairy-tales that the story intertwines. They leave in a quest to find each of these objects and in doing so meet the characters from the fairy-tales. Jack, who has grown a beanstalk in his garden, goes up and steals some gold from the giant. He manages to escape the giant, killing him in the process. He uses this to achieve his wish of buying back his cow and the rest of the characters also achieve their original wishes. Unfortunately, the second act of the show begins and none of the characters are fulfilled by achieving these wishes. Cinderella no longer loves or trusts her husband the Prince and the Baker and his Wife are still wishing they had more space to look after their child. Suddenly, with a loud crash the giantess appears from the sky, to punish Jack, who was responsible for the death of her husband. Together the characters must slay the giantess to restore happiness to their lives. At the end of the story, we are reminded of the morals that the tale provides including how we should be careful of what we wish for.
The new film production of this story features a star filled cast including Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, and Johnny Depp, and without having seen the film, the cast sounds very promising. In my mind at least, all of the cast members suit the roles they are playing well, and that should lead to accurate representation of the story in film form. The film is also being directed by Rob Marshall, known for various other musical adaptations into film such as Annie and Chicago. The latest trailer does appear to show quite a dark version of the story, which is what a lot of fans wanted to see, seeing as the original is portrayed in this way, and many worried that Disney would make the film too light-hearted.
We can’t know much more about how this adaptation will turn out until Christmas, but I would definitely recommend giving the trailer a watch, and maybe listening to the soundtrack of the musical to get a feel for the clever style of the original show.
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