Looking Back: Original INTO THE WOODS Actors Not So Good?

I paid a visit to my old friend, the DVD of INTO THE WOODS. And I know things know, many curious things, that I hadn't known before - er, noticed before.

Some of the acting is horrible. Laughable. Amateur.

Bernadette Peters - LOVE her. However, I couldn't help but seeing Bernadette Peters on stage, rather than the Witch. She was an actress, not a character. There was a moment where she says a line, and her head is still down, and then her eyes look up toward the audience. She TOTALLY stepped out of character for a moment. Took my right out of the story and reminded me it was a play. But she has a wonderful voice and did some great things.

Joanna Gleason, Kim Crosby, Danielle Ferland, Barbra Byrne - Incredible. The best acting in the show. Especially Danielle. Not sure how old she was at the time, but she WAS a little girl. Just A+ all the way. Everyone was great.

Chip Zien - the worst acting in the entire show. Some of the worst I have seen on the professional stage. He sings, on pitch, at least. Awful facial expressions. They don't coincide with his vocal emotion. Many times there is lack of emotion. Why hadn't I noticed this before? He was dreaful. Especially in the first scene/song: "Into the Woods." And when his father died and the cow was milking. And mostly everything he did. Awful.

The Princes - both fantastic.

Ben Wright - Very mixed in his portrayal of "Jack." He had a lot of great things, and a lot of "not the best choice" things. Minor little personality annoyances here and there. I think he was holding back vocally.

I saw the revival in 2002 with Vanessa Williams. I liked the Narrator in this production better. I liked the set design better as well, however in the original, I loved the conveyor belt ONLY in the final time it was used, when the Baker's Wife, now deceased, came out. Motionless, but moving in on the belt. Overlooking real life, deceased. Powerful. Mixed on many of the actors here. Curtain call was definitely better. I DESPISED the choreography in the Finale of the original production.

Take a look back, re-watch your INTO THE WOODS videos, and let me know your thoughts.

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Phenomenal is definitely the word. Bernadette is a goddess, and she can do no wrong, at least not in my eyes.

Out of curiosity has danielle done anything since then?...I rather liked her

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There seems to be controversy about Bernadette's portrayal of the Witch; people either love it or hate it. Bernadette certainly fuses the vaudeville elements into the character, and it's arguable whether that's appropriate or not. I myself didn't mind this wink-to-the-audience approach (the material does sometimes play up the Witch as a comic character, such as the Witch's Rap), but it's problematic when you try to reconcile it with the Witch's more serious moments.

I actually enjoy Chip Zien's performance, although I understand why others don't like it. He was like a character in a Woody Allen movie, which I believe is how Sondheim wanted the Baker to be played.

I absolutely love Ben Wright in the original production; he gives one of the best performances in the show, if you ask me. I think he captures that wide-eyed innocence and space-cadet naivete very well, and his voice is just gorgeous.

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Wow, Capn, I had a similar experience very recently...

I borrowed the movie from my theatre teacher. We used to watch the movie ALL the time whenever there was a sub. I LOVED it.
I borrowed the movie, and, it wasn't as wonderful as I remembered it. I adore Bernadette, but her singing wasn't as good as I had remembered. Neither was Joanna Gleason's. I adore both of them, but they just seemed really different to me for some reason. It might be because I saw the revival live, and I have the OLCR, so I was used to them...
On the other hand, I still loved Danielle, Chip, and Ben.

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Original actors not as good? As good as....

Vanessa Williams. The shreaky Little Red. And the legendary Jack's Mother.

Yes. The revivial cast rocked. They were perfection.

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Agree about Chip Zien.

He kind of yells a lot, too, really dopily (which I just made a word). "DON'T STRAY AND BE LATE," pops into my head right away. And I also hate how he's jumping around at the end of the opening, like an idiot. He has a great voice, but his "acting" definitely bothers me, I just thought it was blasphemous to say anything against the original cast of Into the Woods.

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Danielle Ferland was a great Little Red. She always cracks me up with her delivery of "You talk to birds?"

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Could not disagree more Capn. Just watched the DVD about a week ago and thought at the time what an extraordinary cast it was. Wouldn't have recast a part.

Joanna Gleason is extraordinary. I always love to hear her see "Moment in the woods" and then hear the amazing ovation the audience gives her-- the applause just seems to go on and on. One of the great performances in my opinion.

It's one of those unexplainable mysteries that no preserved performance of a live event can capture 100% of the live experience. The DVD of the OBC Into the Woods is a perfect example; that show just awed me live, and though the dvd is a nice souvenir of the live experience, it's not the same.

with regard to specifics like the details of Zien's performance, it's also important to remember that the use of close-ups and certain camera angles in a recording makes watching it a different experience from always watching the entire stage during a performance -- in a way, the video director overpowers the stage direction, and forces the video spectator to focus on whatever the camera is zooming in on. Zien's performance worked VERY well in the theater; he and Lapine didn't conceive his portrayal with a video in mind.

tangentially, I was VERY moved by Zien's recreation of his role at the Wall to Wall Sondheim event at Symphony Space in March. he still embodies the Baker for me.

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I almost wet my pants when I read the title of this thread...
I did when I read it...
I did again when I learned that there weren't more people with the opinion that the acting in this show is flawless...

Bernadette is AMAZING and captures the role PERFECTLY
Chip...genuine
Gleason...wow
Ben...wowsers

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I've always adored all the original cast performances, but twice I saw Chip Zien walk through the show; in fact, on one occasion he was also breaking up and trying to make other performers go up. So, I'm afraid I'm no longer a fan.

Reconsidering, I wish I hasn't replied to this thread. I think Capn is just trying to "stir some sh*t up." I don't think even he believes his basic premise. He certainly hasn't proved his ridiculous charges that the performances were "laughable" or "Amateur."