Into the Woods lyric- Page 2
Into the Woods lyric
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#25More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 8:27am
There are more parallels throughout that score. The discovery songs of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and Cinderella all feature a variation on the same rythmic figure in the accompaniment. "Our Little World," "Lament" and "Children Will Listen" are all melodically linked together. The main melody of "Stay With Me" is also the five note bean theme.
Clever as the score of Into the Woods is, if you really want to go nuts, try this with the score of Sunday in the Park With George - there are so many allusions and inversions in Act Two of themes and lyrics from Act One, that anyone who says Act Two of Sunday doesn't belong is just not listening very closely.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#26More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:04pm
Maybe they just had one actor playing both parts because of cheap Producers.
Why else have the narrator playing the old man? Oh wait. Is it to show wisdom in story telling?
Yeah, hmmm, no can't be about being cheap. I mean, they did go and have 2 actresses play princesses that don't speak, which means they were on stage, which means they were hired.
I will go continue this conversation with myself now.
Viva La Wolfe!
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
#27More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:39pm
I object! They don't speak? On the LCR, you can hear them both clearly say, "Ohhhhh, excuse me" during the finale, after the princes say "The harder to wake, the better to have." I'm sure it took a lot of hard work to get that line in perfect unison.
Of course, the LCR also has different actors playing the Narrator and Mysterious Man. (I always thought this was odd, because when I did the show, the director did none of the double casting except for the Narrator/Mysterious Man).
Perhaps we're just cheaper than the Brits.
#28More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:48pm
True True. They also say excuse me on the Broadway DVD/VHS. I will have to go listen to the OCR. I'm not sure if it's on there. It probably is.
That just ups their salaries right there.
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#29More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:51pm
The reason why the same actor played the Mysterious Man and the Narrator in the original production is for a version of Act Two that got abandoned in previews on Broadway. At the end of the show, the Narrator was revealed to be the Baker's Son (the baby that the Baker is telling the story to at the end of the show, all grown up). So the Mysterious Man is the Narrator's grandfather. It brought the theme of fathers and sons full circle, and the way that we pass stories on to future generations.
It was not due to cheap producing.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#30More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:10pm
oooo I like that. They should not have cut that after previews.
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
Updated On: 8/10/05 at 03:10 PM
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#31More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:28pmOnce they ended up including that bit where the Narrator gets thrown to the Giant, they had to abandon the Narrator/Baker's Son subplot. We had a thread where we discussed this a few months ago, and there is a poster on BWW (perhaps KMF?) that had seen a preview of Into the Woods on Broadway where the earlier version of Act Two was still being used. I had wondered whether it was a confusing revelation for the audience, but he had said that it was not, and was in fact, very effective.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#33More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:40pm
Remind me -- the two wolves bit that was in revival, that was part of the original concept too, right? But it was cut (before previews?).
And I can see why. I thought making both princes wolves kind of overdid the point that it's supposed to make.
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#34More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:46pmI'm not certain that the second wolf ever made it to the stage for the original production. I remember reading in press for the revival that the bit with the second wolf and the Three Little Pigs was something that James Lapine always wanted to do, but had abandoned early on. Rumplestiltskin had also figured into an early draft (or even the Old Globe version?)
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#35More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:15pmThe two "extra" princesses in the original - Snow White and Sleeping Beauty - were there to be understudies for Cinderella, Little Red, Rapunzel, and the step sisters. They also sang offstage during the opening number and Act One Finale.
#36More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:35pmI think the idea of having the narrator as the son is brilliant. I wish they had kept that idea. It works either way--you can keep his death, it just makes the ending all the more depressing.
#37More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 9:33pm
"The phrase "people make mistakes" in NO ONE IS ALONE is the "bean theme" turned "upside down"!"
wow..thats awesome
i just played it backwards on my piano..and yeah, because the bean theme is like the lonliness theme, and then its backwards in "No One Is Alone"
GAAH I LOVE SONDHEIM
"No two shows are alike in the making. Each show is a living
piece of your life in a small unreal world with its own character
and integrity; its own new set of memorable experiences and
incredible happenings. You begin to love and adapt to its strangeness.
Dreams harden into substance. Values come into focus. You wish
it would never end. The dream world vanishes like mist before a
rising sun; part of you vanishes with it. And back you land in the
real world with a thud- fogged, uneasy, jittery, difficult to get
along with. There is only one cure. A new show. A new, small
unreal world; new visions, experiences, incredible happenings.
Again you love it, adapt to it, wish it would never end.
But end it does. Another part of you vanishes.
That's show business."-Anonymous
#38More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 9:36pmI love this show, and their are so many lessons on how to live life to the fullest, reminds me of rent.
"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
CurtainUp
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/9/04
#39More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 9:42pm
My favorite show! Sondheim certianly knows how to carry a motif! Both of the characters - the wolf and the Prince - resemble lust, temptation, risk and "straying" from the normal path. Both of the strayings are literally bad - cheatnig on your husband, et al - but figuratively it is all about carpeing the diem :-P
Edit: ahh, this has been said, my apologies.
And with the narrator/mysterious man, I love how the two omniscient characters are played by the same actor.
And, Kringas, as someone who isn't that musically oriented, that's so fascinating about the "bean theme"! Wow!
Sondheim. is. pure. brilliance.
Rosencrantz: "Be happy - if you're not even HAPPY what's so good about surviving? We'll be all right. I suppose we just go on."
- from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Updated On: 8/11/05 at 09:42 PM
Nath
Stand-by Joined: 7/3/05
#40More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:08pm
I have always thought that Rapunzels prince should have played the wolf. The witch makes reference to a wolf in her song to rapunzel
"princes yes, but wolves and giants too"
and I have always thought that you see cind. prince being the 'wolf' to cinderella, that you should see rap. prince 'be' a wolf to little red, so they both have there 'seduction' time, and the ability to show different aspects of the wolf stereotype.
(and yes I know the revival created this, but pre revival)
#41More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:13pmWe actually thought about that in our production. Unfortunately, the way the script is done, Rapunzel's Prince's first scene is way too close to "Hello Little Girl" and the costume change wasn't possible.
Nath
Stand-by Joined: 7/3/05
#42More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:20pmtrue, cut that scene, its difficult to do anyway, always looks odd. be betetr to have the wolf watching rupunzels scene, then turning and going after little red.
#43More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:27pm
Or it could be done with keeping part of the body hidden behind a tree or bush or something, sort of the way the wolf hides beneath Granny's blanket when he gets killed ('cause that scene is close to one of Cinerella's Prince's scenes). That way, it doesn't have to be a complete costume change.
I particularly like it 'cause that's the role I had, and aside from the two Agony songs, it's something of a thankless role.
Nath
Stand-by Joined: 7/3/05
#44More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:39pmI played it too! yeah very thankless, but gets to sing teh best bits in agony! but even befre I played it I always thought he should be the wolf....
#45More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:42pmSo true. "You know nothing of madness 'til you're climbing her hair..." and "There's a dwarf standing guard" never failed to get a laugh.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#46More links
Posted: 8/10/05 at 11:23pmAnother thing to consider: Might the Mysterious Man be Jack's father as well? We know Jack's father left him and his mother ("Your father's not back" sings the mother. In Act I, when Jack first meets the Mysterious Man, the script indicatres that the Man reacts negatively when Jack mentions his mother. Later, when he hears the mother approaching, the Man hides so she won't see him. Perhaps, The Baker's father deserted the Baker and his mother (and Rapunzel), hooked up with some other strange woman, knocked her up,and deserted her after she gave birth to litte Jack. In other words, Jack is the Baker's half-brother (Rapunzel's as well).
Nath
Stand-by Joined: 7/3/05
#47More links
Posted: 8/11/05 at 1:50amooo I like that theory! gee those fairy tales were incestuous ...
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