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Bernadette Peters is so perfect as the old crone witch who turns beautiful at the end of the first act. She plays the bitter self-loathing cynic to perfection: when she sings "Last Midnight" its amazing, and of course the bittersweet "Lament"/"Children Will Listen" ties everything together...well, perfectly. A riot, and she can really belt out a tune!
At least as amazing as Ms. Peters is Tony Award-winning Joanna Gleason who is completely brilliant as the baker's wife. Her interactions with Kim Crosby (Cinderella), each night after the Festival, sparkle: every time I watch the exchange that ends with, "I need your shoe to have a child!" I nearly fall off my chair; her appearance as a ghost at the end is touching and a little sad.
Kim Crosby herself is quite good as Cinderella, and Danielle Ferland is wonderful as the jaded and cynical (and a little bloodthirsty) Little Red Riding Hood (she gets it from grannie, who keeps thinking of twisted ways to torture the wolf after they escape), and her song "I Know Things Now," is a cute little song (with just a hint of sexual imagery) about a young woman coming of age.
Some things to watch for:
- Cinderella's birds
- the horse that moves backwards
- "Milky White," especially after the baker gets tired of leading(dragging) her, and picks her up by the handle on her top
- the stepmother cutting off her daughter's heel and then picking it up by stabbing it with the knife like a piece of ham
- "Agony" by the two princes
- "No One Is Alone"
- and lastly, "Your Fault."
It's also worth mentioning that the lighthearted fun in the first act is matched perfectly with the dark and sober mood in the second act, although it may be a little heavy for young children.
Mentionable quotes:
"I don't like that woman!" - The Baker, about the Witch
"I was raised to be charming, not sincere." - Cinderella's prince
"I was just trying to be a good mother." - The Witch to Rapunzel
"Slotted spoons don't hold much soup." - Jack's mother
"There are times I do actually enjoy cleaning." - Cinderella
"You can talk to birds...?" - Little Red Riding Hood to Cinderella
"...some of us don't like the way you've been telling it..." - The Witch to the narrator, just before she sacrifices him to the giant
I could keep going... suffice to say, it's a fave.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Into the Woods (1991)
A baker and his wife journey into the woods in search of a cow, a red cape, a pair of golden slippers and some magic beans to lift a curse that has kept them childless. Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason and the rest of the original Broadway cast weave their magic spell over you in Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece, directed by James Lapine, a seamless fusion of fairy tale characters and what happens after "happily ever after. "With oft-recorded songs such as "Children Will Listen" and "No One is Alone," "Into the Woods" is a music lover's delight from start to finish--and will forever cement Stephen Sondheim's unparalleled position as the giant of the American musical theater.
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