hidden meanings?

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hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 6:53pm

Hi Everyone,
I am currently in rehearsals for "Into the Woods". I am playing Little Red. The director is emphasizing the "dark" side of the show. I was wondering if anyone could tell me some of the darker hidden meanings from the show or direct me to a website with this information. Thanks!

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 7:00pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_The_Woods

Eh, it might not be what you're looking for but it's a start.

Tick Tock

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 7:02pm

I've read analyses whose authors claim that the Wolf is supposed to represent a sexual predator (check out that schlong during "Hello, Little Girl").

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 7:23pm

Freud to his daughter:

"Anna, sometimes a banana is just a banana."

Catherine Sloper
Washington Square, New York

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 7:42pm

Freud to his daughter:

"Anna, sometimes a banana is just a banana."

#######
Although this is often true for bananas, art, i.e., musicals usually do include several layers and mulitiple meanings.

Updated On: 9/4/06 at 07:42 PM

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 7:57pm

I am friends with someone who did this show and brought up the hidden meanings. The Giant is meant to represent AIDS apparently and the people who die all commited the 7 deadly sins. I think thats all, I dont quite remember.

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:07pm

You're kidding right?

It's got darker themes in the sense that it's not a cookie-cutter musicals, which is what it can come off as. Rapunzel is trapt in this tower because her mother is afraid to let her experience the terrors of the world. She wants to keep her pure. The Baker's Wife wants to explore the woods, but her husband wants to keep her at home. Cindrelle realizes that all the fame and fortune might not be what she wanted after all.

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:10pm

Sometimes the things you most wish for are not to be touched...

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:15pm

Clumsy,

Sondheim acknowledges that he can get irked when people "overinterpret" his work, citing reactions to the giant in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods. "Back in 1987, I got a lot of letters from people saying, 'Oh, I see, the giant is supposed to represent AIDS.' I said no, the giant represents a giant, that's all. James and I were not trying to make a subliminal point about anything, from AIDS to politics.

"But with a series of fables, which Into the Woods is, everything is open to interpretation. I mean, after Sept. 11, who knows what people will think the giant is?"

http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/2002/2002-02-18-sondheim.htm

#10

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:17pm

Yeah, I'm not sure I understand the "Giant is Aids" thing?

#11

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:20pm

Isn't it Sweeney where the 7 deadly sins come into play, not Into the Woods?

"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli

#12

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/4/06 at 8:22pm

Like I said, my friend told me this. She played Little Red.
I dont know. I think maybe she was reading too much into it.

#13

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:19pm

Freud to his daughter:

"Anna, sometimes a banana is just a banana."

Countess Olenska
New York City

#14

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:23pm

Yes, wrq, I posted something to that very effect awhile back...

...although it doesn't make a lick of sense when considering the most recent interpretation.
My early days

#15

re: hidden meanings?

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:24pm

I think the show is much darker if you let it play as a real fairy tale.

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