#1
Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:17pm
At the excouragement of a couple people, I've decided to post the "John Doyle reinvents Into the Woods" drabble I typed out in Microsoft Word a couple days ago.
The other day I was thinking about how amazing a production of Into the Woods would be if it were refashioned and directed by John Doyle, using the actor-musician style he’s become well known for as of late, with Sweeney Todd and Company. I first thought, actually, "'Your Fault' with instruments in there as well... good luck.” But the more that I think about this concept, the more I realize it could really work extremely well.
He’s already done a production in this style, and I’m sure it’s nothing like what I’m imagining. I quote from The Sondheim Review:
"He has also previously done Into the Woods using actor-musicians. Asked how the show responded to it, he answers, 'Brilliantly! The show is already fanciful and in the world of the imagination and the storyteller, so that allows for the fact very comfortably that a performer might walk across the stage playing a double bass!'"
But I wanted to expand on the idea of it all being inside the minds of the audience, so I took it farther - the show would start at the end. The characters who make it out of the fairy-tale alive would be bringing the story to life for the Baker’s child, and as Cinderella, Jack, and Little Red Ridinghood stand around the Baker and his kid the Narrator - who, like in all productions, would double as the Mysterious Man - would step out from behind the group and begin the story and take the baby as the music starts.
The set wouldn’t be half as extravagant, in fact I can imagine it being almost pointedly minimalist: no separate houses, no carriages for the stepfamily and princes, no tower for Rapunzel - as more and more of the characters joined the story, they would help to "build" it up even more with chairs, tables, ect. By the end of the first act the set would be completely built up, and as the second act progresses and more and more people were killed off, they would slowly take away more and more until by the end of “Children Will Listen” the stage would be back to the way it was in the beginning.
The acting itself could be considerably different from the [absolutely wonderful] work of the original cast, but overall I believe that would come down to direction and conscious acting choices. However I do remember reading somewhere that in this show there is no typical "villain," but the attitudes and morals of the “good guys” are their own downfalls in the end - this angle could be played up a little bit more...
As I said, it would employ the actor-musician concept, and since most songs in this show, with the exception of the prologues and finales of both acts, are solos, duets, and the like, it wouldn’t be extremely difficult to have the cast play the score. It would make some sort of sense to have the Narrator on the piano, but that’s all I’m going to say about the separate character/instrument relationships.
Anyway. Your thoughts? Feedback? Am I totally cracked out or could this work? Who would possibly be in the cast? Am I asking too many questions here? I believe I am. But I personally think it could do well. You?
The other day I was thinking about how amazing a production of Into the Woods would be if it were refashioned and directed by John Doyle, using the actor-musician style he’s become well known for as of late, with Sweeney Todd and Company. I first thought, actually, "'Your Fault' with instruments in there as well... good luck.” But the more that I think about this concept, the more I realize it could really work extremely well.
He’s already done a production in this style, and I’m sure it’s nothing like what I’m imagining. I quote from The Sondheim Review:
"He has also previously done Into the Woods using actor-musicians. Asked how the show responded to it, he answers, 'Brilliantly! The show is already fanciful and in the world of the imagination and the storyteller, so that allows for the fact very comfortably that a performer might walk across the stage playing a double bass!'"
But I wanted to expand on the idea of it all being inside the minds of the audience, so I took it farther - the show would start at the end. The characters who make it out of the fairy-tale alive would be bringing the story to life for the Baker’s child, and as Cinderella, Jack, and Little Red Ridinghood stand around the Baker and his kid the Narrator - who, like in all productions, would double as the Mysterious Man - would step out from behind the group and begin the story and take the baby as the music starts.
The set wouldn’t be half as extravagant, in fact I can imagine it being almost pointedly minimalist: no separate houses, no carriages for the stepfamily and princes, no tower for Rapunzel - as more and more of the characters joined the story, they would help to "build" it up even more with chairs, tables, ect. By the end of the first act the set would be completely built up, and as the second act progresses and more and more people were killed off, they would slowly take away more and more until by the end of “Children Will Listen” the stage would be back to the way it was in the beginning.
The acting itself could be considerably different from the [absolutely wonderful] work of the original cast, but overall I believe that would come down to direction and conscious acting choices. However I do remember reading somewhere that in this show there is no typical "villain," but the attitudes and morals of the “good guys” are their own downfalls in the end - this angle could be played up a little bit more...
As I said, it would employ the actor-musician concept, and since most songs in this show, with the exception of the prologues and finales of both acts, are solos, duets, and the like, it wouldn’t be extremely difficult to have the cast play the score. It would make some sort of sense to have the Narrator on the piano, but that’s all I’m going to say about the separate character/instrument relationships.
Anyway. Your thoughts? Feedback? Am I totally cracked out or could this work? Who would possibly be in the cast? Am I asking too many questions here? I believe I am. But I personally think it could do well. You?
