I rewatched Into the Woods last night!

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:03pm

Joanna Gleason was perfection in her role.
Updated On: 12/8/05 at 07:03 PM

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:09pm

I watched the video for the first time yesterday night. It's a mind-blowing production. I <3 Joanna as the Baker's Wife.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:17pm

i feel like that production is the way it should be. and it is perfection.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:26pm

Yeah, I think it's a great production, too. Joanna Gleason stole the show for me.

Why is it that it seems like there are so many Sondheim shows that get filmed? Is he just more liberal about it than other composers? Whatever it is, I enjoy it.

[Anne_here]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:27pm

That whole cast is so amazing! I loved Danielle Ferland's Little Red Riding hood!

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:31pm

What is Danielle up to nowadays? How about Kim Crosby? I know she married Robert Westenberg but does she still act?

[Anne_here]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 7:36pm

I know she did something for the Irish Rep not too long ago, I don't remember what it was called. My friend see's her out in Brooklyn (not acting) alot.

[littleredridinghood]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 8:56pm

a. That entire cast was amazing. Joanna is a standout, but just the entire cast HAS their characters down so well it's like they're not acting. I LOVE Barbara Bryne as Jack's Mother, too.
b. Did anybody see the Into the Woods in Stratford in Canada? I heard it was absolutely visually stunning and had the revival not just happened, would probably be in heavy discussion of coming to Broadway.

[Piazzaslight]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 9:21pm

Danielle Ferland was in A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD a few years ago, which I saw her in. She was great!

I love this taped performance as well. I love NO ONE IS ALONE. Anyone concur with me?

[hypertruffle]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 9:37pm

I watched only the first half a couple of years ago, and I remember being stunned. I need to buy me the DVD and finish watching it.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 9:52pm

i love the show! And I do love No One is Alone. And No More. and of course Agony. My community theatre did it last year, and I got to help out backstage and so happy that I did. it was so good! It was in a black box that they made into a theatre in the round sort of thing, and the staging was great, and all the singing was so good! I really liked the Baker, he made the character his own with facial expressions. and his singing was great. Really miss that show now.

[theatrebabe]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 9:58pm

I love this video!! I got it for my birthday a couple years ago. Amazing!! Love Joanna and Chip. They're so cute together. Can anyone tell me, how old was Danielle Ferland when she played that role? She's so hilarious. So was Bernadette, as always.

[SirLiir]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:05pm

A fanastic recording of a great (well 3 technically) show, this should be in any Broadway lover's collection. Joanne displays the same effortless and amazing acting style that makes her so great in DRS. She and Bernadette are must see.
Updated On: 12/8/05 at 10:05 PM

[iwearshoes]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:08pm

I have seen this dozens of times and love it. Each actor just slides into their role perfectly.

[Isabella2]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:18pm

That show was one of the few broadway productions that I grew up on. There are some old video tapes of me when I was five singing little red riding hood's theme. I played Rapunzel in my school production last year.

Absolutely nothing anyone could do could match up to the original. Nothing. The only thing that would match up would be if they got all the original cast members to do the exact same show over again.

Anyone who hasn't seen this show should!!
Updated On: 12/8/05 at 10:18 PM

[Flahooley]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 10:29pm

Joanna Gleason makes playing the Bakers Wife role look so easy, but I've yet to see anyone come close to what she did. It is a much harder role then it first appears to be.

Posted: 12/9/05 at 1:59am

Joanna makes me want to be the baker's wife sooooo badlyyyy....

[2nd dead woman]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 2:05am

Bernadette Peters!! Joanna!!
this show is so good it makes me want to climb into the screen!
I wish my univirsity would break down and do this show as our next musical.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 2:10am

b. Did anybody see the Into the Woods in Stratford in Canada?

I did. It certainly was visually stunning -- the inspired design looked like 19th-century Canadian painting (Cornelius Krieghoff, etc.) mixed with German expressionism -- and the first act was perfect (the audience's applause was like thunder). However, they muddled the crucial second act, and so the show lost a lot of its emotional power. One moment in "No One Is Alone" even elicited laughs, because the Baker and Jack were walking around in these funny snowshoes.

But with a bit of polishing, it would have done well on Broadway.

[Tag]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 2:35am

I saw the Stratford version as well. Basically it was coined 'visually stunning' because the set was black & white, and then you had breaks in colour (Red Riding Hood, etc.) I honestly wasn't very impressed. The most impressive aspect though was the backdrop which was a huge plexi/plastic? drop that filled with smoke from behind.
With a show like Into the Woods, I feel like if you haven't seen it, or if you know nothing about it, then you won't fully understand the show the first time.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 2:57am

Tag is quite right. Walking in and seeing the show "cold" the first time may be a bit rough and the 2nd act does try your patience a bit. (Still, it IS where the show's heart lies.)

Stratford's production blew me away because of the striking look, but as Blue Wizard pointed out there were a few ideas that maybe needed to be rethought. Still it worked well enough and was a huge audience favourite. I did not hear any talk of taking it to Broadway. Stratford has only once taken one of their musicals to Broadway: THE MIKADO in 1987 (for a limited run.)

I wonder if Sondheim or Lapine ventured up here to see Stratford's production?

[Jon]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 3:07am

I always felt Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason seemed like a couple out of a Woody Allen movie who somehow got lost in the woods. Then I an interview with Sondheim and Lapine in which they actusally said they envisioned the Baker and his Wife as "a couple from modern New York City who don't really fit in" in the woods. I guess I was right!

Thinok of the young Woody and Diane Keaton in LOVE AND DEATH or ANNIE HALL!

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 9:04am

Sondiem is a musical genius.

Into The Woods is one of his best works.

The cast is one of the best cast put together.

Perfect is too little of a word to describe the original "Into The Woods".

I love it so much!

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 9:55am

I love the flustered look Joanna Gleason gets on her face after she stops the show with her big number - the audience simply will not stop applauding, so she can't go on with the scene...those are the moments that make live theatre one of the most amazing experiences in the world - and I'm so glad it has been captured on DVD for all to see.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 12/9/05 at 1:55pm

Was this performance actually filmed live? I used to think so until I started noticing some insonsistencies. For example, in the second act (just before Rapunzel stumbles in) there is a close-up shot of the cast looking up at the giant and Joanna Gleason is cradling the basket with the baby in it. Then we get a faraway shot and she's now holding it with one hand. How did she manage that? I notice this in films a lot because in movies they shoot scenes repeatedly from different angles (sometimes days or weeks apart), which are later edited together in post-production. Thus, someone may have their shirt buttoned up in one shot and then buttoned down in a different shot.