“She’ll Be Back” from Into the Woods

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 1/10/22 at 11:29am

I recently rediscovered this song, written for Meryl Streep for the movie and then ultimately cut from it. I remember being so excited that Sondheim had written a song for her. I’m curious to know what you all think of the song, and if anyone has a recording of it that isn’t just a ripped audio from the deleted scene. It seems such a shame that they didn’t release this on the soundtrack. Also, I wonder if this song will ever be added into the stage show. It would be kind of exciting if it was included at City Center when they do Into the Woods in a few months.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 1/10/22 at 12:11pm

My take on it is Sondheim saw that without Rapunzel's death there was a beat missing that leads the Witch to have her cathartic angry "Last Midnight" and because the visit with the giant is far less Twilight Zone-ey and blood bathy you can tell he's trying to fit tonally with the mood that has been re written at that point. Cause I think the oddest and most unfortunate thing about the Into the Woods film is you lose the sense of REAL consequential dread early on in Act Two.

I think it's not a bad song at all and I think Meryl's performance is active and specific but it's a band aid to the damage done by changing Act Two. And they were right to cut it cause it's true it did disrupt the flow. And keeping it just "Witch's Lament" even if it doesn't land as deeply as it does in the original for pacing reasons it was a smarter change.

As time goes on it does feel tragically what hobbled this film that I do love- was Disney in the end. A musical should never be adapted to screen and have something "adult" changed unless it's the difference between a PG-13 rating and an R (just cause R they risk making their box office smaller) 

But then again, the Disney of it all and being released on Christmas probably contributed to the more than modest success this was. I'm glad Sondheim got to pocket some Disney money.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 1/10/22 at 12:15pm

You can bounce a coin off of Lapine's original libretto.

So to force him to have to make adjustments where they need not be, risked a domino effect and it showed in the Act Two portion. And maybe they didn't realize (or they did and couldn't do anything about it) changing Rapunzel's death was a domino effect for the effectiveness of the whole.