Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close? — Page 3

Artscallion, that's exactly the production I was talking about. Those designs are GORGEOUS!

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ok im thinking disney? i mean it was quite interesting in the prologue. mehhh

Wasn't the role of the Witch almost given to Patti Lupone?

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I wasn't really a fan of Stratford's production. From a design standpoint it was awsome and had some really innovative moments (the wolf costume, grandma's house, rapunzel's tower, bird gloves) but aside from Kyle Bair and Amy Walsh I didn't find much of the cast memorable. The 1920s approach was cool but I was a bit taken aback when the witch became a pilot for the finale, and the white mosquito hats the ghosts wore didn't work for me. I also couldn't see the justification behind them existing in a snow globe, although thats just the perception i had as an unenlightened 18 year old.

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I actually wanna hear more about the Stratford production, I LOOOVE the designs from the pictures but what were some of the changes made?

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Haha, Rockabye, you're not the first one I've heard that from.

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stratford production reflection for those who're curious:

there wern't many changes to the book or score that i remember, there was one part during 'a very nice prince' where cinderella and the baker's wife went into a bit more of a duet to the tune of 'agony'. I went to see it with the cast of my school's production of ITW so we managed to get a q&a session afterwards and i think the director said that sondheim approved the change but didn't write it. but dont quote me on that.

there were other noteworthy things that wern't technically changes so much as unconventional interpertations. Heres some stuff i remember, in point form:

- Little Red started out the show in the convention red hood but as the show progressed her wardrobe eventualy changed to a pair of denim overalls.
- the narrator was portrayed as more mysterious then the mysterious man. Both in costume and interpertation.
- grandmother's house was done by having a quilt take up the entire stage, it did a cool forced perspective thing that i can't think to describe properly
- the production was set in canadian woods and that influenced the type of leaves and trees that were used in the design scheme.
- the time period was the 1920s, lots of the female characters had their hair bobbed and the era was most prominent in the cinderella storyline design-wise. the director said it was because he wanted it to be in a time that was long ago & far away but still within the last century.
- the overall blocking was much more controlled and linear then usual. The best way to describe this is the approach taken to the first & second midnights- rather then having people run accross the stage in frantics they just walked in a straight line accross the stage at a controlled pace, not acknowledging the other characters. some walked forwards, some walked backwards. hard to describe, but visually effective.
- most of the set and costumes were black or white, in the prologue everything was mostly white. The witch's costume was the first bit of color seen (aside from red's cape). The witch was basically a vegetable- she was mostly green and her costume looked like it was compiled out of stuff you'd find in a garden. Then for the transformation she was in black and white like everyone else (one of the teachers who went on the trip said the transformed witch almost looked like a dominatrix)
- rapunzel wasn't in a physical tower, her dress was a platform about 20 feet high....hard to describe, but there are pictures.
- the entire production was set in a snow globe, which wasn't blatently obvious but some of the smarter people on my field trip figured it out and explained it to me. The show started with the narrator saying "once upon a time" and shaking the snowglobe, throughout the show there were projections on the cyc of faces watching the action onstage (people looking into the snowglobe), and then *MINI SPOILER* when the mysterious man died, he gave the snowglobe to the baker *END MINI SPOLIER*
- All the ghosts at the end were wearing hats with white fabric covering their faces, which as i said earlier looked like mosquito hats.

sorry, that was long, but its late and i felt like seeing what others would make of these interpertations :)

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Updated On: 1/22/08 at 01:42 AM

damn, i wish i could have made it to stratford that year! la sigh.

I actually liked the physical production, the sets and costumes and general direction of the revival more than the original production. For me, the big problem with the revival was the generally lackluster cast, a problem shared with the same year's disastrous revival of OKLAHOMA. Vanessa Williams' Witch was a major letdown, although she did look stunning in that red dress.

The little girl playing Red Riding Hood and the kid playing Jack were particularly annoying. I remember at one point thinking, "Go ahead, toss Jack to the Giant's Wife, nobody will miss him."

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