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Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine

First seen on stage in San Diego in 1986, the smash hit musical quickly moved into Broadway, opening at The Martin Beck Theatre in 1987. It then ran for 765 performances (almost two years) through various cast alterations and won several Tony Awards during a time that of course was mostly dominated by Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. In comparison, Into The Woods is far less glamorous and majestic but just as fantastic. Its legacy lives on in many revivals over the years on both the West End and Broadway, as well as a 10th anniversary concert. In May 1989 the full original cast reunited for three special performances of the show that were filmed for the TV Series American Playhouse. This film first aired in 1991 and now can be viewed for free on YouTube. More recently, the musical has been adapted into a Disney movie which premiered in 2014 and subsequently was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes.

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Stephen Joshua Sondheim is a treasured American composer and lyricist, famed for works such as West Side Story, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park With George. Currently 88 years old, Sondheim was born on the 22nd of March, 1930 in New York City to parents who both worked manufacturing and designing in the garment industry. He studied both piano and organ, and when he was 12 his parents divorced and so he moved to Pennsylvania to be with his mother. During this challenging period of his life, young Sondheim befriended the son of Broadway producer and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, and Hammerstein became his father figure and mentor. Sondheim wrote his first musical in his teens and was hopeful that his mentor would love it, but alas Hammerstein thought it needed much work and offered him constructive criticism. This proved indispensable to Sondheim later in his career. Other experiences that influenced his career include working on the Rodgers and Hammerstein show Allegro, studying a bachelors degree in music at Williams College and working with avant-garde composer Milton Babbit.

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James Elliot Lapine, born in Ohio on the 10th of January, 1949, is a respected American playwright, filmmaker and director. His collaboration with Stephen Sondheim on Into The Woods earned him a Tony Award for best book, as well as being nominated for best direction.
In his early teens his family moved to Connecticut where he attended public school, after which he moved to Pennsylvania  to attend Franklin and Marshall college to study history. When he completed college he moved to New York City and worked a multitude of jobs, including freelance photographer, waiter, NBC tour guide, architectural preservationist and graphic artist. It was when he landed a freelance job designing for the Yale School of Drama's magazine that his theatre career was jump-started into action; after designing for the magazine the school's principal was so impressed that he asked Lapine to design all of the school's printed material and to join the faculty as a design teacher. Whilst working here he found himself directing a Gertrude Stein play called Photograph. He earned an Obie award for this, and he then proceeded to work as a playwright more than anything else, working with composers such as William Finn and then of course, with Stephen Sondheim.

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As far as introductions go, Into The Woods begins as simplistically as the fables and fairy tales it is based on - the opening number has all of the main characters clearly state their motivation, objective or deepest desire. They do this using the refrain, "I wish". Cinderella begins stating that she wishes to attend the King's festival, followed by the young Jack wishing his cow would give him some milk, and then the Baker and his Wife wishing they had a child. Little Red Ridinghood soon appears, and establishes herself as a cheeky and bold little girl by pinching sticky buns from the bakery. Her wish, is to have a loaf of bread to bring to her grandmother who is bedridden. A witch then visits the Baker and his Wife and explains that they have no children because she cursed their family, and if they wish to lift the spell they must bring her the cape as red as blood, the cow as white as milk, the slipper as pure as gold and the hair as yellow as corn. The Prologue goes on to show how all of the protagonists must venture into the woods in order to attain their wishes. Little Red Ridinghood soon stumbles upon The Wolf, and as the classic tale goes The Wolf devours her grandmother and then eats her as well. They are rescued by the baker however, not a hunter or woodcutter. The Baker's Wife tries to help her husband who takes much persuading before he agrees to her joining him on the quest. We meet the Witch's daughter, Rapunzel, whom she kidnapped from The Baker's parents 16 years ago and locked in a tower. After selling his cow for beans Jack has his adventure up the beanstalk in the giants kingdom and when a giant ventures down to earth, he is slain by Jack. We also meet two sibling princes, the elder pursuing Cinderella and the younger pursuing Rapunzel. When Act One closes, everyone has gotten their wish and their "happily ever after" moment, apart from the Witch who loses her magic powers and Cinderella's stepsisters who are blinded. However, Act Two introduces the giant's widow, distraught at the murder of her husband and wreaking havoc in the kingdom, promising to continue to do so until she seeks revenge on Jack. This forces all of the characters to work together as a community, which brings arguments and bereavements but ultimately, by the end of the show a new family is formed and they live happily ever after.

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Sondheim is known to have taken inspiration from sources as varied as a painting by Georges Seurat, ancient Roman comedy and an Ingmar Bergman film. Bearing this in mind, when Sondheim and Lapine came together to create Into The Woods they knew they wanted to create a musical of lots of fairy tales all stitched together to create a fleshed out, dynamic show. But how to do this? The Witch's spell is of course what pulls all the different tales within close proximity of each other, with the Baker and his Wife being the only characters not obviously from a well known fairy tale. Below is an exploration of all of the fairy tales and folklore that inspired the show.
The infamous Brothers Grimm, first names Jacob and Wilhelm,
were German academics, cultural researchers, philologists, lexicographers and authors who researched, wrote down and published folklore together during the 19th Century. They are of course a household name when it comes to the origins of folk tales, having been some of the best collectors of them. Through this popularity they made many traditional oral tale types such as "Cinderella", "The Frog Prince". "The Goose-Girl", "Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Snow White" familiar to millions of people. Their classic collection: Children's and Household Tales, was published in two volumes, in 1812 and in 1815. Now, centuries later their work is still popular and interpreted into various films, books, games and all other sorts of media.

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Andersen is of course, best remembered for his fairy tales, although he was also a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels and poems. And where many would assume his tales are simple children's stories, they hold much popularity amongst many adults.

In total Andersen published 3308 tales which have been translated into more than 125 languages. Some would say that  they have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness as they are so readily accessible to children, but also through presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", "Thumbelina", and many others. His stories have inspired ballets, plays, and various movies and TV series.
Rapunzel

The character of Rapunzel comes from the Fairy-tale of the exact same name, found in the Brothers Grimm collection. This coming of age tale tells of a long-haired girl locked in a tower by a cruel witch who kidnapped her when she was still a baby. The story complicates however, as the two do have a mother-daughter relationship that is love/hate to say the least. As Rapunzel grows to become a young woman she desperately wishes to see the world, and interpretations of the tale vary from Rapunzel escaping with a prince who discovers her tall prison, to the Witch discovering her romance with the prince and blinding him with scissors. In Lapine's interpretation of Rapunzel's character, her sad story serves as a message about the child abuse many suffer. It also carries the theme of growing up, and teenagerhood. According to scriptwriter Lapine, "A lot of fairy tales are about maturation, and Rapunzel represents the teenage girl who wants to sneak out of the house and have a life of her own, out from under her parent's thumb. Many times teenagers who have already gone through puberty feel bound; they feel adult, even though they're not, and want to do adult things, so this storyline is still very relevant today."

Cinderella
Cinderella, a tale that is also known as Ashenputtel or The Little Glass Slipper, is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward. Cinderella is one of the older and most popular existing folk tales today and has had many versions over the years. Lapine's interpretation of Cinderella is interesting because she is not painted as as much of a victim as many versions do. Of course in the Disney tale, there is no sign of her father, she is abused by her step mother and step sisters but then because she's such sweet, unassuming young lady a fairy godmother appears and gives her everything she ever wanted. However, Into The Woods challenges this, from the very start she seems a lot more real and human than at all princess like. Immediately appearing scrubbing the floor, looking indeed a pitiful site, she sings that she wishes "more than anything" and more than life itself to go to the king's festival taking place at the palace. Put in this context, suddenly the whole Cinderella story seems a bit backwards. Why after being treated so poorly all your life would you wish to go to a party? Surely, the desire for basic human needs such as love and touch and affection would be much greater. Thus, Cinderella is revealed to be a frivolous, indecisive (see: the entirety of Steps of the Palace) and occasionally spineless, although at heart still a sweet and kind young woman.

The Baker’s Wife & The Baker

Though the Baker and the Baker’s wife were created by Sondheim and Lampine, the characters may have been inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale, Thumbelina. It is in this tale that a childless couple seek the help of a woman with magic powers, asking her for help with their infertility. The woman gives the couple a barleycorn to plant, and from the flower of that plant emerges little Thumbelina. This of course heavily inspired Sondheim and Lapine's tale of the childless baker and his wife, as the spell that enables them to have their child requires hair as yellow as corn, or, the hair OF the corn.

Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf
This story’s origins can be traced back to the 10th century by several European folk tales, including one from Italy called The False Grandmother, and from France called Little Red Cap. The best known versions are those written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

For many years this tale has served as a fable, warning (and scaring) children of the dangers of disobeying your mother. Some interpret Little Red Riding Hood’s story as a sexual coming-of-age story. In Into the Woods, the Baker and his Wife seek the iconic blood-coloured cape from Red Riding Hood to give to the Witch to break her evil spell on them. James Lapine has stated, "Little Red Riding Hood is a naive, pubescent little girl wearing a red cape, which I believe represents her passage into adulthood. Until the Wolf comes along, she believes that everything and everyone is good in her life and everyone is to be trusted”

Although varied from tale to tale, the wolf broadly represents danger. Some, darker or more sexual than others. However in all of the tales the wolf comes to a different vile end. He usually killed by either a hunter or a woodcutter and has been made into a cape, a stew, and has even been cut open, filled with stones and then sewed up again whilst still alive. This Lapine references in the script, just before the song I Know Things Now takes place.
Jack and the Beanstalk
is an English fairy tale. In 1734 it was published as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" and as Benjamin Tabart's moralised "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole, publishing under pen name Felix Summerly, popularised the tale in The Home Treasury(1845), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890). The most commonly reprinted version is Jacobs' simply because it is believed to be closer to the oral versions than Tabart's because it lacks the moralising. "Jack and the Beanstalk" is the best known of the "Jack tales", a series of stories featuring the archetypal Cornish and English hero and stock character Jack. According to researchers at the universities in Durham and Lisbon, the story originated more than 5,000 years ago, based on a widespread archaic story form which is now classified by folklorists as ATU 328 The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure. In into the woods Jack is a young, dim witted boy on the cusp of puberty (around age 12), just like Little Red. The brave element to his character is clearly influenced by the original tales.
More inspiration for Into The Woods lies in psychology; Sondheim was a fan of the works of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung...

As explained in an article by the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Ace G. Pilkington, composer Stephen Sondheim built Jungian themes into the musical. Jung himself regarded fairy tales as centering on what he called ‘archetypes’ involving such characters as heroes (the princes), tricksters (the wolf), and evil (the giant). However, it’s the woods themselves that serve as the main transformative agent. As people explore the woods, they explore their own underlying identities.

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In order to cast the show, Hannah held auditions in the format of how auditions for West End shows are held. We were each able to choose which character we wished to audition for, and had to prepare a song that shows the audition panel how you rock at all the elements that character uses vocally and emotionally, without using one of the character's songs. This is why song choice is very important, because the audition song needs to be similar to the character you're auditioning for's songs, or at least the panel need to see why you chose what you did. I auditioned for The Witch because I adore the huge range of styles, techniques, comedy and deep emotions that she encompasses. I knew I had a difficult task on my hands to find a song that roughly fits these requirements but lo and behold after much searching I found If You Hadn't (But You Did). It is a beautifully hard song to sing, with flats and sharps that are near impossible to pitch correctly, long notes to sing in both head and chest voice and incredibly fast rhymes in the lyrics that are almost tongue twister-like. It has a wonderful quality to it that is very similar to Sondheim's genius and deadly quick rhymes, which is why I chose it. The control to blend belting and head voice and rapping all into one song is a quality that any good witch should have.

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Over two lessons we spent time as a class reading through the entirety of the musical. This initial cast read through of the script is exceptionally important as it offers insight into how the cast respond to the text as a whole, and also provides an opportunity for the director to divulge some of their ideas, plans and opinions of the show. For example, Hannah used this time to discuss some of the symbolism in the show, and it became clear to all of us that symbolism would be a key theme.
Symbolism
Hannah explained that she wanted very little colour to be featured in our rendition of the first act, with set and costumes all appearing monochrome with only the gold shoes, red cape and yellow hair being vibrantly pigmented to show the juxtaposition.  I also imagine that set and costume should vary shades of black through to grey but never bright white, so that "the cow as white as milk" will be able to stand out as well. The importance of this choice is that it represents how two dimensional the characters are in Act One, each merely consisting of their traditional and well known beginnings, middles and ends, with only the witch's spell (clearly defined by the brightly coloured objects) linking all the tales together in a nontraditional sense. Then, in Act Two, colour will start to appear in costumes and the set will change to reveal more colour. This is because as the characters progress through their lives after their stories have ended, they become much more real and human. They go on and find their own destinies and develop and grow as people in a way the traditional tales do not show.

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The time we spent playing with the material in the first week was exceptionally helpful in allowing me to explore my character's voice. I feel that I have her quite well pitched - as she is a child, she has a high voice. I also think she speaks quite sharply, and loudly. This may be because looking at the text, a lot of her lines are short and blunt. Out of all of the characters I feel that she is the most straight forward and upfront in the way she speaks, which shows her age, naivety and provides comic relief. She oozes confidence and energy and is a vivacious young girl. This I need to show through my vocal skills and later in the process my physicality as well.
When we started reading through the material as a class I began by speaking with an American accent. Whether it is the bold, friendly and talkative association I have with people who have American accents or what I don't know, but I certainly liked the twangy quality that it gave her speech. I found it a lot easier to sound bouncy, bold and sharp in an American accent because I think it makes the words sound a lot brighter and snappy, rather than an English accent's dragged out, long vowels like the long "a" in last, which goes to a short "a" when spoken with an American accent.
However, Carl did mention that it may sound a little odd if the whole cast is English spare one character, therefore I am going to find some reasoning for Little Red's unique accent. I am setting this as a target to resolve further on in this process.

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Today we began to sing through some of the songs from Into The Woods as a class. We began to pick up the melodies and have a basic understanding of how to sing to fit the particular style. We focused on the Prologue for the most part. As it is such a big ensemble number with so many different sections and parts to it, spending so much time on this number was really important. I found that although I was familiar with the song, the rhythms of my parts are easy to get wrong. Most of these tricky parts are entrances where instead of starting a line after for example two bars of music to bring me in, I have some entrances where I begin a line after a bar and a half. To conquer this challenge I just have to practice - counting before I enter if necessary - until it feels natural. The music is also seems a lot faster when concentrating on diction and pitch at the same time. I'm going to make sure I learn the songs correctly by listening to professional cast recordings and referring to the sheet music available online when unsure of any notes.
As a class we worked together well, respectfully listening to each other when we were singing solos and duets. I started working on the vocals for Hello Little Girl with Harvey who plays the Wolf, Hannah leading us through the song.This is an incredibly significant song and one we need to rehearse thoroughly in order to relay the deep subtext it carries to the audience. It presents many messages about rape and "the male gaze" that we need to think about when learning the vocal part of this song. Commonly romantic, innocent language such as "flowers" and "sunsets" are used to create a guise of pleasant imagery - a false sense of security. The Wolf's intentions are of course much darker than this flowery language would make it seem. The literal analysis of the song shows that he wants to eat her, but figuratively the song serves as a metaphor for rape. Words such as "flesh" "supple" and "carnality" begin to pop up, at which point the sexual objectification and uncomfortable nature of the song is clear. See also: the wolf's costume from the 1991 cast recording.

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The Wolf's costume from the 1991 cast recording leaves little to the imagination...

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In today's lesson we used a device called Hot Seating to help everyone's understanding of their characters. It requires you to do thorough character research and make informed decisions regarding your character. The exercise entails each actor leaving the room in turn, re-entering as their character to sit on a chair and be interviewed. I was initially quite nervous for this because I was worried that I hadn't done enough research, but I soon settled into the exercise, feeling confident enough in my character to improvise accurately. I recognised that  this was an opportunity for me to delve into my character and pick up on any important information that I might be missing in order to make my character better, that it's not a test.
I felt reasonably comfortable whilst being hot seated as I had thoroughly considered all of the conceivable relevant factors in my character's life. All the detail that I had put in about my family and their situation, where I live and what sort of things I like doing, all helped me to build up a rounded picture of my character that I was able to confidently show to my interviewer. Also during this exercise I figured that Little Red's accent could come from her grandmother; the more traditionalist, self sufficient peasants who live in the woods (such as the lineage Little Red comes from) all have their own accent and dialect. This I think is plausible reasoning enough to not leave a plot hole.

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Today we began to set and choreograph Hello Little Girl. This was a positive experience as I felt I was quickly able to gauge what the director wanted to achieve and how to help get there. The first element of physicality that I picked up on and started to do was creating a juxtaposition between the Wolf's movements by making my character more stiff and rigid. As written in the stage directions, the Wolf starts to move like Fred Astaire, dancing smoothly but with a sly, slimy, smarmy air. This is through his confidence in his charm and in her innocence and naivety - he knows that he is going to eat/rape her later, he is just playing with his food. This is shown in the playful quality to the melody and thus the dancing.
I used my movements in a way to oppose the Wolf's by acting tensed up, as if she had left her wallet at home. After the momentary annoyance, she shakes it off and continues on, smiling. This way it is clear that she doesn't understand the unsavoury nature of the situation and although annoyed, she keeps brushing the Wolf off, being the happy go lucky character that she is. The pattern shown through the number is Little Red being confronted, and then wriggling away. This is shown through pathways zig-zagging back and forth across the stage. Little Red's lack of concern or understanding throughout the number plays up her vulnerability to the audience, therefore increasing the tension dramatically. During this rehearsal I realised that the  audience of course know exactly what's about to happen (duh). From this obvious realisation I grasped perspective on how this particular number should be pitched to our audience. The song is funny, light-hearted and entertaining despite the darker undertones, with a great deal coming from the fact that everyone knows what is going to happen to Little Red, apart from Little Red herself. In order for this dramatic irony to reach its fullest potential I must play into it as fully as possible.

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Mother said, 'straight ahead'
Not to delay, or be misled
I should have heeded her advice
But he seemed so nice

And he showed me things, many beautiful things
That I hadn't thought to explore
They were off my path, so I never had dared
I had been so careful, I never had cared
And he made me feel excited..
Well, excited and scared.

When he said, 'Come in,' with that sickening grin
How could I know what was in store?
Once his teeth were bared, though, I really got scared
Well, excited and scared...
But he drew me close, and he swallowed me down
Down a dark, slimy path
Where lie secrets that I never want to know
And when everything familiar seemed to disappear forever
At the end of the path was Granny once again
So we wait in the dark, until someone sets us free
And we're brought into the light
And we're back at the start

And I know things now
Many valuable things
That I hadn't known before
Do not put your faith
In a cape and a hood
They will not protect you
The way that they should
And take extra care with strangers
Even flowers have their dangers
And though scary is exciting
Nice is different than good

Now I know
Don't be scared
Granny is right
Just be prepared
Isn't it nice to know a lot!
And a little bit not

In this song, Sondheim takes Little Red Ridinghood on a journey from innocence to sexual awakening. This theme is prevalent in the musical, with Jack going on the same journey of growing up with strong themes of sexuality in the song Giants In The Sky. The story of this song is as follows:
Stanza 1 -
Little Red sings of disobeying her mother's instructions by straying from the path. She knows that this was wrong, but explains that The Wolf (who persuaded her to stray) seemed rather nice.  The way Sondheim has used four short rhyming phrases in the first two lines creates a simple, repetitive and lively rhythm immediately at the very start of the song. This instantly reflects the simplistic nature of Little Red's thought process as she is a young girl. However, this stanza also demonstrates her (albeit new-found) maturity, as she is self aware enough to know that she has done wrong and should have done better, also knowing that her mistake was trusting The Wolf simply because he appeared "nice".
Stanza 2 -
In this second verse the song begins to pick up a flowing melody that rises up and down in pitch quite merrily. It is also at this point in the song that it becomes just as much a stream of consciousness as it is her telling a story, because whilst she sings she relives the events. This is shown through the repeated use of the word "and"

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Analysis

The narrator begins the song in the traditional fairy tale manner of ‘Once upon a time’. The characters are then introduced one after the other by the narrator who isn’t seen physically on the stage. In the first verse the characters begin reflecting on their lives and situation and wishing for things that they perceive would much better their circumstances. The characters look equally desperate and hopeful for their wishes to be fulfilled from the Baker and his wife wishing to have a child due to no such success, Cinderella feels she has to go to the King’s festival and Jack along with his mother wishes that their cow would produce milk. The song then proceeds to break for narration once more and we can see the obstacles stopping Cinderella from going to the festival, in the form of her wicked Step Mother mocking her appearance and degrading her with comments such as “Look at you nails! Look at your dress! People would laugh at you!” from this we can see her step family don’t care for her happiness. After, we see Jack’s mother and her lack of faith in her son and her situation changing for the better:

“I wish my son were not a fool.
I wish my house was not a mess.
I wish the cow was full of milk.
I wish the house was full of gold-
I wish a lot of things...”

The baker’s wife then proceeds to let in Little Red Riding Hood who-in her naivety, asks both of them for some bread to give to her sick Granny before she carelessly wanders into the woods. We can see from the way it is sung that she is excitable and jumpy, this shows she has the general optimistic curiosity you would expect from a girl of a young age in her situation. She then keeps asking for more, clearly not understanding social boundaries and proceeds to insist for “A sticky bun? Or four?” which many perceive as somewhat brattish behaviour, and adding to the image that she is quite an irritating character. It then appears that Cinderella can apparently talk to birds and get them to do her extra chore so she might go to the festival and indeed the ball. Jack then sings, encouraging his cow Milky White to produce milk so that his mother doesn’t sell her. This helps to show Jack’s character as optimistic, hopeful and caring – if unintelligent. Unlike his mother who views Milky White as solely an asset to be used for food and money, he is shackled by emotion and his attachment to his friend regardless of her apparent ‘use’.

After asking further for even more food with her mouth full of what she needed for her “Poor old Granny”, Little Red Riding Hood begins her journey into the woods. When she utters the following it is a clear indication of what her obstacle is; her naivety.

The way is clear,
The light is good,
I have no fear,
Nor no one should.
The woods are just trees,
The trees are just wood.

Such an extreme fearlessness ironically almost tells the audience straight away that she is in fact vulnerable and trusts people way too easily, before asking the Baker and his Wife (who are still strangers to her) for a basket as well, adding insult to injury.
The song continues and The Witch appears to the Baker and his Wife, coincidently being their neighbour meaning they are familiar with her. Terrified, they immediately blurt out that they have run out of bread. The Witch of course, cares not for their bread and instead

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Hello little girl: talk about dance moves
vaudeville style
Harvey straddling me
back bend