INTO THE WOODS reviews.....

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 12:55pm

Doesn't look like anyone else is making one..... and the reviews will get lost in the other thread.

So, post them here!

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 2:48pm

These should be interesting to see!
I have my fingers crossed that the plethora of outstanding aspects in this production are not shadowed by the few clear flaws.

Do you guys think that they're waiting for positive reviews to confirm a Broadway transfer? Or is it already official?

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 4:09pm

KirbyCat...

I just don't see a transfer happening. I wish them luck but if it does...why?

The original 1987 Broadway production ran 764 performances.
The 2002 Broadway revival ran just under 300 performances.
Those figures are not even taking into consideration the grosses, percentage of tickets sold, how much average ticket sold for...(don't feel like doing that much research).

This production is not remarkably different enough to spark the audience to suddenly make it a hit. It is for the most part the same show.

I'd love to be wrong. I am a fan of Into The Woods but I would not return to see it if it transfers. If they do transfer I hope they aren't sorry they did it. Good way to monitor the interest is to watch Craigslist to see how much the tickets are selling from the scalpers. I looked and they are going for $50 and $60 per ticket AND they deliver to you. For a very limited run that price is not promising when you consider the price of a Broadway show ticket exceeding $125 (more if you buy from Ticketmaster). If I remember correctly (coworkers in my office were buying them like crazy) - the Hair ticket scalpers were getting considerably much more.

[dreaming]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 4:14pm

Wait and see how the reviews are-if they're good, expect the scalpers to raise the prices.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 4:20pm

Prices going up even if there are good reviews still don't necessarily warrant a transfer. Simple economics...supply and demand. Each day closer to the end of the show wakes the lazy into awareness that time is running out and their frenzy will raise the prices even if the reviews aren't positive. That is why I posted the original Broadway run and Revivial figures...it didn't generate a big buzz originally or when revived.

[dreaming]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 4:27pm

They have one card to play with this production (a few, actually)-They'll have a 'name' in Amy Adams should she transfer with it.
Also-it's very different in concept (could work against it, but you never know). Hair did very well with its transfer. Should Into the Woods garner good enough reviews, I can imagine the advance word of mouth generated by its run in the park would help it. Also, I bet it will be a strictly limited engagement-making it a more tempting ticket, indeed.

[kyle4]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 4:33pm

see you guys TONIGHT !!!

for those not attending... i will have a FULL report on my BLOG !!!

p.s. itjay, thank you for starting this THREAD !!!

http://thetheaterbuff.typepad.com/the-theater-buff/2012/08/into-the-woods-opening-night-tonight.html

[AlfieByrne]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 6:00pm

You're using CL scalping ticket prices as a measure of the likelihood of a transfer...? And 2002 was quite a different year for Broadway.

Aside from some of the casting flaws, it is a beautiful production that could be done for a limited engagement on Broadway. I would be more worried about the competition that it would potentially face against the other "family-friendly" shows.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 6:06pm

If nothing else, it could transfer with a limited engagement.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 6:55pm

"If nothing else, it could transfer with a limited engagement."

Well, no. Transfers cost many millions of dollars. The award-winning popular UK revival didn't get an indoor transfer. And Amy Adams, if available, isn't that big a star to guarantee a sell-out for 3-4 months. If the reviews merit a sense that an extended run would be profitable, then it will move indoors.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:05pm

"Well, no. Transfers cost many millions of dollars..."


Thanks for clearing that one up for everyone. Case closed.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:06pm

We've had recent Broadway productions of ON A CLEAR DAY, SUNDAY IN THE PARK (without names), PACIFIC OVERTURES (without names), FOLLIES. There is no reason to think a revival of INTO THE WOODS, one of Sondheim's most popular musicals, is unlikely.

As far as this production is concerned, it could be brilliant, if O'Hare and Adams could be replaced.

Updated On: 8/9/12 at 07:06 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:07pm

And Amy Adams, if available, isn't that big a star to guarantee a sell-out for 3-4 months.

I actually think Adams would be quite a draw.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:08pm

Henrik: I agree, but...um...one of these does not belong there?




Updated On: 8/9/12 at 07:08 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:10pm

Playesq, i didn't say Night Music, because Night Music, unlike the other shows I listed was, relative to the other shows, a big hit in its original production.

IJay, I think Adams could be a draw as well. (I also thought she would be terrific. To say I'm disappointed by her performance is an understatement.)



Updated On: 8/9/12 at 07:10 PM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:15pm

Maybe you meant A Little Night Music and not Clear Day?

But why did you include clear day? Doesn't seem to fit as it had a star and is not Sondheim like your other examples. Updated On: 8/9/12 at 07:15 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 7:41pm

I included it because it was a huge risk, a first revival of a not particularly successful musical which took very gutsy adaptation choices. it doesn't fit the other shows in that it's not Sondheim true but that wasn't my point.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 8:12pm

The Hollywood Reporter

Adapted from an acclaimed production seen at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre two summers ago, this version doesn’t entirely smooth out the rough edges of this darkly beguiling work. But its numerous imaginative touches, as well as a first-rate cast headed by Amy Adams (in her New York stage debut), Donna Murphy and Denis O’Hare, provide ample compensations.
A hoped-for commercial Broadway transfer seems a definite possibility.


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/into-the-woods-theater-amy-adams-360420



Updated On: 8/9/12 at 08:12 PM

[artscallion]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 8:16pm

Is that really a review for "Jism 2" on the same page?

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 9:22pm

Newsday (though not very well-written) is a Rave.

But the waggers of this tale are the barren couple: flour-dusted Baker, Denis O'Hare, whose unremarkable voice empowers him as Everyman, and his wife, beleaguered Amy Adams, who charms us with her folk grit. Adams' verses in "No One Is Alone" haunt us as the woods grow darkest behind music director Paul Gemignani's ominous accompaniment.
John Lee Beatty and Soutra Gilmour's Escher-like treehouse set keeps director Timothy Sheader's character flow churning like a storybook Ferris wheel, accented by Emily Rebholz's iconic costumes and Ben Stanton's terror-in-the-night lighting.
You could get lost in "Woods" and not care if you emerge from its enchantment.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/review-into-the-woods-1.3890348

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 9:23pm

AM New York



2 Stars

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 9:40pm

Philadelphia Inquirer is a Rave.


http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20120809_N_Y__review___lsquo_Into_the_Woods_.html?cmpid=138887484

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 10:02pm

Theatermania is very Positive.

An extraordinary array of surprises lie in wait for audiences lucky enough to snag a ticket to the new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods, being presented by the Public Theater at Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Directed by Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel, the show brims with playful inventiveness.
http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/reviews/08-2012/into-the-woods_60307.html

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 10:04pm

The New York Times is up. Brantley does not like it.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/theater/reviews/into-the-woods-by-stephen-sondheim-and-james-lapine.html

"The fairy tale forest of “Into the Woods” has suddenly grown a lot thicker. This 1987 musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, which stirs up the shadows of classic bedtime stories, was never what you’d call uncrowded. But Timothy Sheader’s overreaching revival, which opened on Thursday night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, has added a whole new bramble of interpretive undergrowth....

....Yet very little feels natural in this exhaustingly busy production. On the contrary, pretty much every element smacks of artifice. Mr. Beatty and Ms. Gilmour’s multitiered treehouse of a set (though ravishingly lighted by Ben Stanton) feels less like part of the sylvan views beyond than a plopped-down theme park installation, like the Swiss Family Robinson segment of Walt Disney World....

....This high-concept repackaging of beloved archetypes feels like the work of an overeager Hollywood production team desperate to tap the tweener market. (The second-act special effects, which are impressive but misguided, conform to that sensibility.)....

....In this version, though, the music is never allowed to hold its own or even to take center stage. Admittedly, much of the cast isn’t up to the demands of an intricate Sondheim score. But even those who are, like Ms. Murphy and Ms. Mueller, find their numbers undermined by the distractions of frantic and unfocused staging. When the songs in a Sondheim show get lost in the woods, you know it’s time for some serious deforestation."

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 10:06pm

About what I had expected from Brantley.