Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
#1Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:34pm
I think the title says it all...
I haven't seen the revival, so could someone(s) list the changes made to the show for the 2002 revival?
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
purpleprince101
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#2re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:39pm
they retooled the plot to include the 3 little pigs from the original old globe tryout
i forget the rest
#2re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:39pm
Unfortunately, not too many things.
Which, I think, was ultimately its failure. NEVER have the original director direct the revival. Lapine didn't bring anything new to it.
"Our Little World" was added. They added an extra wolf and the three little pigs. That's pretty much the sum of it.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#3re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:47pm
It was staged completely different. It opened with three larges books on stage - CINDERELLA, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and THE BAKER AND HIS WIFE - which the Narrator opened up to reveal the actors and the following scenes that played out.
At the end of the show, all the actors lined up and danced into a giant book called INTO THE WOODS that was brought out. They disappeared into it one by one.
In addition,
- the Witch had the impression of being a snake. At the end, her hair would fall off (she pulls off her beautiful hair revealing a nearly bald head), and her arm also sheds. Earlier in the show, her witch's hair would rise up and rattle like snakes.
- Milky White was an actor, not a plastic prop, which worked oh so much better.
- Three Little Pigs were an unneseccary addition. Didn't mind two wolves, but you need the pigs to have the other wolf.
- It was much more darker. More enhanced special effects. The Giant was a projected animation (voiced by Judi Dench). As was Cinderella's mother in the tree. I believe Cinderella's birds were also projected.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#4re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:51pm
Still uninspired.
If it wasn't for the performances of Laura Benanti and Chris Sieber, I wouldn't have gotten any enjoyment out of it at all.
I love the story and the music. It's one of my favorite shows of all time. But the revival staging and casting was just bad.
Lapine changed some set pieces, added projections...made a tweak here and there but, ultimately, it fell flat.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#5re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:52pm
They changed the lyrics in "Last Midnight". In the original, the song was sung to the Baker. In the 2002 production, it was sung to the Baker's son.
Original lyrics:
"You're so nice/You're not good/You're not bad/You're just nice."
New lyrics:
"You're so pure/But stay here and in time/You'll mature".
And, "Like your father/Like your son will be, too" to "Like his father/Just like you will be, too".
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
bjivie2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
#6re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 1:55pmThey also tied the three "what I learned" songs in act one (Giants in the Sky, I Know Things Now, Steps Of The Palace) together and had them all sing together at the end of Steps Of The Palace.
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#7re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:08pm
Sounds interesting. The only thing I didn't like was having a young girl play Little Red Riding Hood. I like the idea of a sorta "chubby" older girl playing the part. I just think it adds some wit and humor into her part.
And I think the show needs to be MUCH darker. It didn't seem darker to me at all. It seemed darker originally, but this one seemed like family entertainment.
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#8re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:15pm
A terrible production of a terribly depressing show.
The book idea was very clever - I give Lapine credit for thinking of it.
The show also suffered from terrible miscasting - the only good part about VW's performance was the transformation from ugly witch to hot babe witch. John McMartin spent the show looking bored.
As someone said, Sieber and Benanti were the two good things.
#9re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:18pmRentBoy, Ferland was about 16/17 years old when she played the part.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
andyf
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/12/04
#10re: Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 6:15pmA revival of Into the Woods... what crazy stuff will you guys think up next?
Andrew, tonight isn't about you! It isn't even about me!!! - [FD]
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#11Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 6:20pm
"The Witch had the impression of being a snake. At the end, her hair would fall off (she pulls off her beautiful hair revealing a nearly bald head), and her arm also sheds. Earlier in the show, her witch's hair would rise up and rattle like snakes."
That sounds weird. Any videos?
#12Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 6:47pmJust wondering, does anyone know the exact part where the Witch's hair stood up like worms? Thanks!
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#13Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 8:08pm
Actually, Cinderella's birds were on a stick manipulated by the Narrator.
The Rapunzel tower was also a giant book (thespine of the book)
They also eliminated the cameos by Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.
#14Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 8:13pm
i absolutely loved the revival....i thought the scenery with the fairy tale books was brilliant. i was so glad when i got to be in into the woods last summer because i had adored it after seeing it on bway
i think everyone has named all the changes i can think of....the only other thing was that "woods" was up the octave in the revival when the baker's wife sings "Now I understand and it's time to leave the WOODS"
milky white was so funny as a person and brought for some funny lines on gilmore girls, as was mentioned a couple of days ago
eatlasagna
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#15Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 9:02pmthe only thing i really didn't care for was the addition of the three little pigs and the extra wolf...
#16Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 9:20pm
"i think everyone has named all the changes i can think of....the only other thing was that "woods" was up the octave in the revival when the baker's wife sings "Now I understand and it's time to leave the WOODS" "
That's actually the way it's written in the original score. One of my voice students played the Baker's Wife last year, and we were thrilled that the "real" note was a better note for her to sing.
Parks
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/04
#17Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 10:02pmWho could forget Williams' strut down the stage and Jack staring at her before the Act I finale?
"If it walks like a Parks, if it wobbles like a Parks, then it's definitely fat and nobody loves it." --MA
#18Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 10:18pm
I loved the new lyrics in "Last Midnight" so much more than the original.
I loved the witch holding and singing to the baby. I thought the end was much more powerful...
I just wish Bernadette had been singing those lyrics instead...
"I believe that art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, to engage in a constant search for the truth."
- Barbra Streisand
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#19Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 10:24pm
I saw this production live and the original on DVD. I prefer the Revival production above and beyond. The characterizations were far more captivating and interesting.
The physical production was PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT. The show seemed as if it had been designed by the same person. That's something that does not always happen in a show with a different designer for each physical aspect.
Vanessa Williams was better than I think people give her credit for, though I do believe they likely could have found someone more suited.
By making it seem more of a fairy tale, it was easier to get a bigger impact from the consequences of the characters' actions in Act II.
And Last Midnight is far better in tis 2002 incarnation than it was with Peters. I've read the arguments about the original having symbolisms and what not, but please. A song's got to have some flow to it. The original sounds like a Captain Crunch Commercial for goodness sake.
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
Updated On: 2/16/07 at 10:24 PM
broadwaystar2b
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/04
#20Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 10:28pm
There was some slight book change too
After the Wife said "Will only a giant's footstep stop your arguing" the Baker said something along the lines of "I'm the man and you will obey me" to which he leaves her with the baby. Little Red and the Wife then had a brief discussion about why "grown-ups" fight and then the Wife goes out on her own to search for Jack
Also, the Witch's staff deflated instead of breaking in half. She then handed it off to the narrator and the staging made it look like he had a long penis. I'm not kidding.
sondhead
Broadway Star Joined: 10/25/06
#21Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/16/07 at 11:16pm
"It was much more darker."
Are you kidding me? It was specifically made more with a family audience in mind? Nothing about the production was darker than the original, most noticeably the physical production. The revival's set was much more colorful and bright than the original's, even in the first act.
The sets were however beautiful. I understood where they were going with Last Midnight but it was very apparant it had not been originally written that way. It is a very un-natural rewrite. I do think the ending and the witch's demise could stand some clearing up. It would probably take a new song to do properly unfortunatly.
#22Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/17/07 at 12:51amI hate the change in "Last Midnight". Those lyrics are so important to the theme of the show: "You're so nice, you're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice..." seems to nicely sum up the show for me. I think the OBC was perfection. The revival looks and sounds like Disney had money in it. The revival seemed to be pushing too hard to re-invent something that didn't need to be changed. The perfections of the original just dwarfed this bigger, misguided, and badly cast revival.
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#23Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/17/07 at 1:53am
I thought both were pretty excellent.
The diffrences worked for each production. I do feel that the revival was a shade darker then the original though.
#24Changes to INTO THE WOODS for the 2002 Revival
Posted: 2/17/07 at 3:05am
The revival had the additional song which was written for the original London production - Our Little World - which I didn't really care about.
I do love when Vanessa William's transformation, HOT & SPICY! haha! Anyway, which one's better? Original Broadway or Original London production? Original London looked MUCH MUCH darker!
Anyway, can't wait for the new production in London!
All That Jazz
Check out & support my drawings @ www.facebook.com/felixdrawings
Videos