The CHIEF September 2023

Musical Theatre Review

By Lily Rainbolt

Into the Woods

This year, the PTHS Drama Club will be doing an undecided musical, and while searching for possible candidates I dove back into one of my favorite Broadway musicals: Into the Woods . Into the Woods is set in a fairytale land and the main characters include the Baker, the Baker’s Wife, and the Witch as well as some familiar fairytale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. The plot is centered on the wishes of each character, specifically the Baker and his wife’s wish to free themselves from the Witch’s curse so they can have a child. This wish leads them on a journey for “the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold,” which sets them on a path to collide with our beloved fairytale characters’ stories. The characters eventually get their wishes fulfilled, but it isn’t quite happily ever after yet. Disaster strikes the fairytale land and the characters must reunite and attempt to survive. This musical is surprisingly dark given it is based in a fairytale world, and most characters do not make it out unscathed. Into the Woods is composed by Stephen Sondheim who also may be recognized for his musicals Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sunday in the Park with George as well as his work with lyrics in West Side Story . Into the Woods debuted on Broadway on November 5th, 1987, and closed recently in January of this year. The original cast notably included well-known actress Bernadette Peters as the Witch. If you are interested in watching this musical, it was recorded with the original cast in 1989 and can be streamed on Apple TV. Disney also made a movie version in 2014 with a celebrity cast including James Cordon, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and Johnny Depp, which can be streamed on Disney Plus.