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Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival — Page 2

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#26

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 12:49pm

This reminds me of a funny Laura Benanti story. We'd seen the ITW revival in L.A. A while after that, we talked to Laura at the stage door after "Nine." My friend mentioned to her that we seen her in ITW in L.A., and he was brave enough to mention the poor woman playing Jack's Mother -- who, as someone else said, couldn't keep her eyes off the conductor, and practically counted out loud to find her place.

Laura looked up from signing a Playbill, with an appalled look on her face and said, "OH my god! 5, 6, 7, 8!" She rolled her eyes, we laughed, she laughed, and she went back to signing.
#27

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:01pm

IMO, Vanessa Williams is hardly as effective as Peters in the recording though she definitely doesn't have the kind of strong support that Peters did. She's good but I think she liked the edge and the comedic style that Peters so well captured, her Witch was a Witch for the ages while Williams' Witch is good, even great at times but it stops there.
I don't think anyone in the cast matches their original cast counterpart. Though Laura Benanti, Gregg Edelman, and Christopher Sieberman all sound great I just don't think they can compare, IMO.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#28

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:02pm

I saw this production 3 times. Ah, Broadway retail! Yes, there was a short period of the run where GITS was cut. It was when Chad was out due to an injury. When Chad was going on for Adam previously, he would sing the song. Wonderfully! As for the other Understudy (I forgot his name sorry) he did eventually perform GITS. This was all happening at the same time as Lauras exit. All kinds of Drama going on in the woods.
<< Gavin Creel and Kate Baldwin making vocal love... I adore these two.
#29

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:11pm

Adam Wylie's rendition ont he cast recording is not the best, but I feel that his low notes are worst than his higher notes.

I know I'm going to get shot for this, but I'm not a fan of Bernadette Peters. I don't like her singing voice and when it comes to the Witch's songs, I feel Vanessa Williams did a better job. But my dream Witch would be a mixture of the two: Williams' singing and Peters' comedic timing.

And Christopher Sieber did do a better job than Gregg Edlemann.
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.

-Dre-
You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~

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~Curtains~

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~A Tale of Two Cities ~
#30

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:29pm

My friend and I still laugh about the stool being strapped onto Jack's ass.
"I wouldn't let Esparza's Bobby take my kids to the zoo...I'd be afraid he'd steal their ice cream and laugh."- YankeeFan
"People who like Sondheim enjoy cruelty."-LuvtheEmcee
#32

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:37pm

Rockabye: What?
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#33

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 1:38pm

Am I the ONLY one who enjoys that cast recording?

I like it too. For some BIZARRE reason, I seem to like my Sondheim recordings to be post-2000. The only original cast recording of his I've fallen for straight away was 'Assassins'. 'Company' took eight months, 'Into The Woods' took over two years, 'Follies' didn't work for me until after I'd seen it, and I'm still working on 'Merrily We Roll Along'. 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Sunday In The Park With George' are okay, but I love the revivals so much more. 'Passion' should arrive by the weekend; we'll see how that one goes...

ANYWAY. XD
Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter
#38

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 3:39pm

I thought the revival was just okay. It wasn't as good as the original and half of the cast was miscast (Vanessa Williams was dreaful) but I enjoy Adam Wylie. I thought he was okay. He wasn't horrible though.

"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey
#39

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 3:50pm

I like the 2000 revival CD the best out of all of them followed by the London CD and then the OBC. It's great to have the original Broadway cast on DVD, as the energy and complexity of the piece is fully realized only in its entirety, and just listening to the cast recording on CD leaves a lot to be desired. The revival cast recording was able to fill in those gaps, at least, for me. I adore Vanessa Williams in anything so I guess I'm a little bias, but I love her as the Witch and I feel like people bash Adam Wylie just because it's the "in" thing to do. I don't mind his performance at all. He's not the strongest recorded Jack, but he has his own unique take on the role working in his favor and I don't mind it at all.
#41

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 4:20pm

It sounds like most of you are basing your assessments of each cast on listening to the recordings, which is silly...even the dvd is not the best representation of the original, because it is theater and is appreciated best live.

I saw both and there is no comparison. The original cast is superior in almost every way, though both princes were fine, Benanti was wonderful I understand (cant judge her, saw her understudy) and Williams did a very good job. None of them eclipsed their original counterpart...ONLY McMartin was better than Aldredge...He was wonderful!
Wylie was not very good, but he was nowhere near as bad as Little Red and Grandma...WOOF indeed!
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#42

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 6:51pm

I also like the 2000 recording best. Never cared for Peters as the witch, sacrelige though that may be. John McMartin is great, and the Princes have a lot more individual appeal. I also enjoy what I've heard of the London cast.
#44

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:24pm

I've never seen Adam give a good performance. he's pretty much one of the worst theater performers I've ever had to sit down and watch.

Giants is a difficult song...but NOT hard to sing at all...at least for someone who CAN sing

And he's god awful in wicked.
Now all I see are cute boys with short haircuts in a maze of their own...
#45

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:36pm

I thought that Benanti sang the role well but had no personality compared to Kim Crosby. In fact, I feel that was the major problem with the 2002 revival. Cinderella, The Baker and the Baker's wife were all competent singers but none of them had personality. None of them were "character" actors. The women were boring ingénues and the Baker was just plain unlikable. The rest of the characters were cast with bad imitations of character actors who couldn't sing.

Sondheim talks about acting a song on key when he talks about singing. Half the cast couldn't act and the other half couldn't stay on key. The only good things about the 2002 revival were the sets, McMartin and Williams.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#46

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:40pm

Yep, Giants goes to F#'s at the end, and that's the highest it goes. Wylie is hitting those notes...just not well.

Also, it really annoys me that Sondheim took out that one line, "The sky is lead and the earth is stone". Like, what was the point? LIstening to the revival cast recording I think that Adam Wylie messed up and skipped it.

Anyway, it's unfortunate that he wasn't out more often, because Chad Kimball was the understudy and he is just so much better.
#47

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:45pm

The evening also features two deliciously drawn performances from Laura Benanti (as Cinderella) and Gregg Edelman (as her Prince) that capture exactly the right balance of archness and anxiety. And there are moments that pierce the heart as no other musical this season does.

But it is Cinderella and her Prince who dominate this 'Woods,' suggesting Mr. Sondheim's 'Company' rewritten by the Brothers Grimm. The self-possessed Ms. Benanti sings like an angel. But her character is convincingly of this earth, combining poise and bewilderment as Cinderella lands the Prince she discovers she doesn't really want.

Like Ms. Benanti, Mr. Edelman gives you character and cartoon in one breath. His fatuous Prince is an expertly rendered medley of vague heroic flourishes with a Nelson Eddy tenor to match. (It is perfectly put to use in 'Agony,' a witty ode to obscure objects of desire performed with Christopher Sieber.)



Brantley's review of ITW, hailing Benanti
#48

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:48pm

"I think, as others have said before, that most of the problems arose because Lapine, who directed the original, also directed the revival. I think that was just...not smart. It was a revival so I would have liked to have seen it revived, not just replayed. It needed more life, a different perspective maybe. I feel bad for Adam because he was just completely...not good in the role. "

I think there's truth to this although I'd add that part of the problem for me was Lapine seemed to be trying hard to find a new appraoch to the piece (I can't hlep but thinking the lyrical changes "simplifying" Last Midnight, the Pigs being back from the workshop etc were done at his request not Steve's) but was unable to. So it just doens't really work--cuz the actual approach to the piece is undeniably different than the original.

They also added more dancing but I think, as much as I usually HATE how revivals cut dancing (Company is meant ot have *dance* express the characters :P grrr, etc etc) ITW doesn't really need the dancing. The effects were neat but I miss Staiges' original forest (has he designed anything lately?)

I think if you're gonna take the original in a different direction the only really valid way for me is in a darker more "adult" direction like the much hated here (but I *love*) London production did. Lapine if anything seemed to want to make it more family friendly, which it didn't need.
Is the Broadway revised script available to perform? I'm thinking not?

E
#49

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 8:01pm

I think the original cast of Into the Woods is perfect.

I don't hate Williams on the recording, I actually quite like her. She's quite competent, and handles the role well.

I think a lyric from ITW sums up my feelings about Vanessa Williams in ANYTHING she's ever done.

"You're so nice. You're not good, you're not bad; you're just nice."

Benanti is lovely, too, but I don't think anyone can hold a candle to Kim Crosby's sublime and just slightly off Cinderella. And I have a theory that Gregg Edelman STOLE Robert Westenberg's body. I SWEAR TO GOD they are the same person.

I don't like much of the cast, but I did listen to the revival recording a lot, considering my mediocre feelings about it. Maybe because it sounds crisper than the OBC.

Personally, I think I have too much bloom.

Updated On: 7/18/07 at 08:01 PM

#50

re: Giants In The Sky- Into The Woods Revival

Posted: 7/18/07 at 8:12pm

I also enjoy the lyric updates as well and the new ending for "On the Steps of the Palace". Also, the OBC doesn't have "Our Little World" which is another reason I tend not to listen to it.

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