One of my best friends is obsessed with all things Disney. She loves the original animated films and still regularly watches them (she faces many lighthearted jokes at her expense for this, but why let age deprive you of what you enjoy?). She is well aware of the original fairy tales (The Little Mermaid is turned to sea foam, ect.) but she still loves the happy endings and MGM Technicolor Finales. That being said, Into The Woods is her favorite musical. She is not particularly worldly in her view of musical theatre and is not a devotee of Sondheim (not to say she does not like him, but she isn't familiar with most of his works). That aside, she has watched the original production of ITW countless times and loves it for all it is. She loves the new details and situations of the first act, and recognizes the significance of the second. She knows it's not a happily ever after ending, and she enjoys that. She says that the second act makes the fairy tale characters more human, and that she can relate the them more. In fact, she was worried that Disney would cut out the Baker's Wife's death, and believed that the film would lose all its meaning - after all, the point of the show is the second act.
"You decide what's right, you decide what's good."
And to a Disney-loving, ordinary girl who loves joy and happy endings, Into The Woods is both right and good.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir