INTO THE WOODS.. question that's been bugging me forever — Page 2

Gothampc, thank you! I knew I hadn't made that up.

Even though the witch never told the Baker that Rapunzel was his sister, he DID witness her grief at her death. He DID witness the witch telling her: "Why could you not obey?" So it DOES stand to reason that the baker would put 2 and 2 together, and realize that Rapunzel was the baby the witch took from his family.

But there was a lot going on, so maybe the Baker just didn't think too much about it.

And the Prince is the reincarnation of Cinderella's Mother.

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It just helps connect the story. That's always been enough for me.

Okay.. I know what the lyric says. I listen to it once a day. Don't tell me what it says.

I just wondered if he was too stupid to figure it out. Obviously, he had a sister. Obviously, the witch only has one daughter, that obviously doesn't belong to her, since she took it from the Baker's parents.

So obviously, he's a stupid baker.

I think it's just not important to the story so it never comes up again. Isn't it convoluted enough? I think the only reason it's there at all is to make another connection to the story of Rapunzel. The complication of the book is one of the criticisms frequently given to Into the Woods so a person could consider that a flaw. And no, the baker probably isn't all that smart. His wife is the brains of the operation.

And no, the Baker and his Wife are not based on characters from some story that inspired Schwartz's musical. In fact, a little research shows that Schwartz's musical is based on an old French movie from the late 30's called "La Femme de Boulanger", which is in turn based on a novel that screenwriter wrote. The jury isn't decided on that last one since both apparently came out in the same year.

They're original creations. They just seem like stock fairy tale characters because they fit so well. I'm sure there are fairy tales with bakers with wives somewhere down the line, but I believe Sondheim has gone on record several times saying they created the characters.

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the baker even admits that it was his wife that came up with everything, all the ideas.

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You mean... it's possible the giant will come back then?

-is staring forlorn out the window, waiting for the giant to come back.

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