Baker/Wife & Witch in Into the Woods

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 1/22/14 at 6:27pm

Why do Sondheim and Lapine always make an effort to stress that they themselves made up the story of the Baker, his wife and the witch in ITW...? I thought that all of that plot line came from Rapunzel?

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Rapu.shtml
Updated On: 1/22/14 at 06:27 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/22/14 at 6:31pm

And because there was never another musical about a Baker whose wife ran off with a handsome man.

Oh wait, yes there was. The Baker's Wife based on the French movie La femme du boulanger.

[artscallion]

Posted: 1/22/14 at 7:47pm

The Rapunzel story includes what we now think of as the baker's father, mother, the witch and Rapunzel. Nowhere in the Rapunzel story are Rapunzel's brother (the baker) or his wife mentioned. They were added to the Rapunzel storyline by Sondheim & Lapine.

Updated On: 1/23/14 at 07:47 PM

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 8:06am

^^^ I think you said it best, artscallion.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/23/14 at 9:48am

The main "invention" by Lapine and Sondheim was the search for "The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold" - the four items that bring the stories of Jack, Little Red, Rapunzel and Cinderella together. The witch's curse on Baker and his wife are the reason all these familiar characters are part of the plot.