9/31: Into The Woods
Photo: Peter Mountain / Disney
“Oh dear. How uneasy I feel. Perhaps it’s all the sweets.” – my new ringtone.
What a delight Into The Woods is! I’d never seen the show, but I expected I’d like the film, or at least find it amusing in spots — and it exceeded my expectations, in fact. It kept changing, evolving, killing people off and doglegging in a different direction; it’s a very clever book, good songs (if occasionally juuuust a bit lazy from piece to piece; it felt like every song for the women opened with that trilly 1 2 1 6 1 run), solid wordplay and great callbacks.
And everyone’s having so much fun. It’s unfair, I suppose, to compare ITW to Les Miserables, because it’s apples and turgid, overlong, miscast oranges (can…you tell I hated Les Miz? I even hate that shorthand for it!), and it’s difficult to inject a show where everyone’s languishing in grimy prisons or dying of TB with the same joie de vivre. But it’s not like nobody in Into The Woods has problems. People’s loved ones get squished by trees, eaten by wolves, and ensorcelled by other women; it’s serious to them. And yet nobody’s passing a kidney stone the size of a cocker spaniel in lieu of just singing it through and letting them fix it in post, Russell Crowe.
Again, it’s not a good equivalency, and if you liked Les Miserables, excellent — but it doesn’t have Billy Magnusson and Chris Pine striking hilarious poses, styled like roller-disco Ken dolls and utterly committed to their own beefcakey cluelessness. I would watch just those two for hours. Love. So happy Magnusson is about to blow up, too; he’s the tits. And can we talk about how beautiful Meryl Streep is? And how beautiful her voice is, too? Her first number is kind of a talk-singing thing, and I thought, you know, you’ve got the Baransk right there; she sings and dances. Did you have to cast Streep as the Witch even though she can’t sing so you could get the picture made or something? Then she sings, it’s absolutely her, and I’m all, well the Pride Of Summit might have left a couple talents for the rest of us but it’s like listening to a bird so why get mad. Hee.
I got a little mad at Into The Woods for that schmaltzy final number, and Johnny Depp’s affected performance and tiresome Cotton Club styling is chiefly mitigated by his rapid departure from the narrative; it doesn’t use Baranski enough, but this is a complaint I have about the world in general (“What do you think of this pesto?” “Pretty good; needs more Baranski”) so I won’t hold it against the movie, which is perfectly paced, funny, sweet, and — firsthand info — an outstanding musical for people who don’t like musicals.
Tags: 31 Days 31 Films Billy Magnusson Chris Pine Christine Baranski Into The Woods Johnny Depp Les Miserables Meryl Streep movies Russell Crowe
Given just how AMAZING Pine and Magnusson were, I’m sure everyone incolved with the production is kicking themselves for cutting out the reprise to “Agony.” As good as the movie was, and I recognize that it’s a very long stage show and cuts had to be made, I don’t think I will ever forgive it for depriving me of the chance to hear Pine sing “It’s no sicker than your thing with dwarves!”
Aw, I wish I didn’t know that existed and wasn’t included.
PS Chris Pine is the George Clooney of his generation. I am not a crackpot.
If you liked the show that much, Sars, you really, really, REALLY should see the Original Broadway cast (including Bernadette Peters as the Witch). A taped performance aired on American Playhouse in the early 90s and is available on DVD and Amazon streaming:
http://www.amazon.com/Into-Woods-Sondheim-Bernadette-Peters/dp/B00NC9TT8A/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1420924414&sr=1-1&keywords=into+the+woods+dvd+bernadette+peters
I loved the movie, but the show has even deeper emotional resonance and meaning. Some cuts and changes (won’t spoil) I didn’t agree with. The original show, the 2nd act is even darker.
By schmaltzy final number do you mean “No One Is Alone” or the final Into the Woods chorus that plays over the end credits?
I am convinced that Johnny Depp is on a personal quest to ruin EVERYTHING I loved in my childhood (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, Dark Shadows, the list goes on…) HAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God Into the Woods kept him from ruining TOO much. It could have been so much worse-traditionally in the stage show, the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince are played by the same actor. Johnny Depp doing the Agony scene. **shudder**
I’m so glad you liked it! I absolutely loved it, which is saying something, because I know the original show inside and out and spent a good part of my teen years obsessed with it. Do yourself a favor and find a copy of it on DVD (it exists, I just got it on Blu-Ray). It corrects a few of the faults you found with it, like the final number (It ends differently on stage), and you’ll understand the under-use of Baranski (The character isn’t in the show that much). Also, everyone has to see Bernadette Peters as The Witch at least once in their lives, and though I was so happy with Emily Blunt’s performance, Joanna Gleason just kills it as The Baker’s Wife.
I think you’ll really love the original production. And I’m happy that someone who hasn’t seen it thought the movie was good, because that confirms that it was well done, in my opinion.
I’m so glad you liked it. As someone who shed actual blood, sweat, and tears on a production in college, I was a little lukewarm because as much as I understood the cuts that were made because stage and screen are two different animals, I still missed every little thing that was cut, especially the Act I Finale. I am a huuuuge Sondheim fan, but I think that the fact that ITW translated as well as it did to film is due to the talent of James Lapine and just how tight his book was when it came time for it to be translated into a screenplay.
@Claire: “Dwarfs! Dwarfs are VERY UPSETTING.”
I, too, missed the reprise of “Agony” and a few other numbers. But, overall, I loved it. (Probably needed more Baranski, true — The Good Wife certainly does, lately.)
I also loved Joanna Gleason, but I think Emily Blunt was marvelous. I hope she gets to be a bigger star.
Billy Magnusson and Chris Pine are clearly having the time of their lives, and in the screening I attended on Friday night, the audience definitely had the biggest response to the “Agony” sequence.
Depp was the voice of the Narrator, right? Ucch. Everybody else was SO good! Is it okay to admit that I liked Lilla Crawford better than Danielle Ferland, who (I think) originated the role of Little Red? Something about Ferland’s voice always set my teeth on edge.
@Sandman, I believe it was the Baker as the narrator to bring it full circle at the end when he is starting to tell the story to the baby.
My daughter and I have been belting out “AAAaaaagonyyyYYYY” to each other for the last week. Loved it!
“By schmaltzy final number do you mean “No One Is Alone” or the final Into the Woods chorus that plays over the end credits?”
Sort of both, with the whispering about what children learn. It got After-Woods-Special in a hurry towards the end there.
The “Children Won’t Listen” song is way less schmaltzy in the play, because it references some (pretty significant) things that the movie didn’t include.
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