Question about "Lament" from Into The Woods...

When was this part of the song cut? Was it cut during previews of the original production?

Now you know what's out there in the world.
No one can prepare you for the world,
Even I.
How could I, who loved you as you were?
How could I have shielded you from her
Or them...

This section is on on the OBCR and the revival recording, it's not on the London recording. Vanessa William's version even has different lyrics for this section, but it seems she did not perform this part of the song live. Why did Sondheim rework the lyrics if it was cut? I am confused.

Can anyone make sense of this? I love this section of the LAMENT, I do not understand cutting it in the first place.

Updated On: 1/13/09 at 02:46 AM

Thanks for the response. Why did they cut it? It's not like cutting would save much time. I think it's a lovely part of the song.

To my knowledge, they've never publicly discussed why they cut it. I'd guess it was cut because it's a longish show and the second act was slightly tough going for the audience and they thought they could do without it. Obviously, Sondheim liked it enough to have it included on the recording. I know that some productions have put it back since it's not too difficult to reconstruct it.

Personally, I like it but I don't think the show suffers for it being cut. The part I do think should be in the show (or at least offered as an option) is the cut bit for the Baker's Wife and Cinderella.

I also prefer the version of "No More" that was done at the Old Globe, but that's another story, never mind . . .

I never noticed that the lyrics were revised for "Lament" until just now. I rather like them though it's true that Vanessa didn't sing them live. I've always been a fan of the revised lyrics for "Last Midnight". On CD it seems pointless, but live when you could see her holding the baby, and then giving him up, pulling her hair out, and having her arm start to turn back all old and ugly -- it was frightening. It was a great change.

Updated On: 1/13/09 at 04:57 AM

Aren't the Lament lyrics in the PBS Broadcast?

Personally, I prefer them, it gives the Witch a little more humanity.

What I'm more curious about is what happened to half of the lyrics in "Our Little World" in the revival?

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Yes, I was referring to "A Very Nice Prince," ljay889.

I know that section was in the Old Globe production. I think it was in the show during early Broadway previews but was cut fairly soon.

I don't really care for the changes made to "Last Midnight" in the revival.

Of course, there's always the question of what I would feel if the revival version were the original version and the original version were the revival version. But I can't know that. Anyway, I didn't think that bringing the baby in there was an improvement.

I have to agree with Cats, Vanesssa pulling her hair out is pretty chilling. Her version is on Youtube.

Agreed. I loved both Williams and Benanti in this. It was the first time I saw Benanti, and I said, "WHo is that?! She's incredible!"

I also liked the post-giant destruction at the end of Act II. I thought Laping did a beautiful job with the tone of loss, fear, and hope. It's true, it did resonate as a post-9/11 sentiment.

Brick-
For those of us who didn't see the revival, what do you mean by the destruction? Just the design itself...or was there more?

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I've always thought that even though her mother was dead, but still has power even in death.

I don't think the Witch is going to join her in death or she wouldn't be singing "Give me claws and a hunch / Just away from this bunch!" She seems to be making a bargain with her mother: get me out of here, even at the price of making me ugly again. I'd think she'd be more likely to take her chances with the Giant than ask her mother for death.

I enjoyed the last revival. And I actually prefer Williams' LAST MIDNIGHT to Bernadette's.

Williams was chilling...funny but dark and even frightening at times.

another bit of trivia :

the revised lyrics of the 'Lament' in the revival, "no one stays untainted by the world, only I, only I who loved you as you were. Only I, who's frightened less of her, than THEM."

were actually in the original production, but changed during previews. Sometime after the 3rd preview, the same show where Bernadette sings 'Boom Crunch' and then right at the end sings a refrain of 'Last Midnight'.

I feel that they could have easily done the revival staging of 'Last Midnight' with the original lyrics. I was in a production of ITW last spring and that's how we did it, and it worked just fine, could have used better direction BUT that's not the point .

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To Brick:

Oh, okay. Yes I definitely remembered the ending. And, yes, it was very chilling. And to each their own on Last Midnight.

And to eatlasagna:

Yes, as far as I know, she turned into a snake through out the out of town tryouts. Though no one really got what had happened and that's why they changed it. I got this information from Vanessa Williams herself so I'm pretty sure it's accurate. Here's how it happened. She eats the beans and rips her hair and sleeve off. But instead of being all old and gnarly, her arm and head were covered with gold and green shiny scales. Then after she sank into the ground a snake slithered up one of the trees. But what most people saw was just the green and shininess and not that they were scales. Some people actually thought that beanstalks were starting to grow out of her because of the whole eating the beans part. Also since the rest of the stage was pretty dark, not every one noticed the snake going up the tree.