INTO THE WOODS

US, 2014, 124 minutes, Colour.
Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, Chris Parlane, Meryl Streep, Lucy Punch, Christine Baranski, James Corden, Mackenzie Mauzey, Lilla Crawford, Billy Magnussen, Daniel Huttlestone, Frances de la Tour, Tammy Blanchard, Tracy Ullman, Simon Russell Beale, Anette Crosby, Joanna Riding.
Directed by Rob Marshall.

This is a lavish production and filled with quite an accomplished cast. Those who go to see the film without any previous knowledge may be taken aback and will have to adapt themselves to a style of musical theatre, which is a blend of the very theatrical treatment along with attempts at realism, all in the cause of telling fairy stories in words and music.

For many audiences, this is a great opportunity, a spectacular opportunity in fact, to be part of a Stephen Sondheim musical. From West Side Story and for over more than half a century, Sondheim has created many musical theatre pieces, often adapting films and plays, using his characteristic recitatif style for the singers and his own idiosyncratic mood melodies for the musical score. Not necessarily to everyone’s taste. But Into The Woods offers a rare opportunity for Sondheim lovers and those who wonder what his style is like.

It should be said that this is not a light entertainment. Even though it combines the stories of many familiar fairytales, it is not the sweetness and light of the fairytales but rather the grim aspects of storytelling, tales of the dark side of human nature, at times truly grim fairytales.

The film begins, Sondheim-style, with many of the characters, seen in a variety of situations, combining with the recitation of what it is to go into the woods. This introduces the range of characters which include Cinderella, her stepmother and the ugly sisters, the town baker and his wife, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel in her tower, Jack and his mother, the ugly witch and Prince Charming and his friends. The song also offers the opportunity for audiences to identify, quite quickly, the cast with characters. We find Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Christine Baranski, Lucy Punch, Tammy Blanchard as her stepmother and the sisters, James Corden and Emily Blunt as the baker and his wife, the Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood, Mackenzie Mauzey as Rapunzel, Daniel Huttlestone and Tracy Ullman as Jack and his mother, Meryl Streep as the witch, Chris Klein as the Prince. A number of prominent British character actors have small cameos. They include stage actors like Simon Russell Beale, Annette Crosby, Joanna Riding, Frances de la Tour.

While all of them give striking performances, there is the exception with Chris Pine as the Prince, not particularly charming, not particularly persuasive, even though he is offering something of a sendup of charming princes. It is James Corden and Emily Blunt as the baker and his wife who offer the most humanity. And by way of postscript, Johnny Depp has a very brief appearance as a rather odd Wolf.

At the core is a curse by the witch on the baker and his wife, hoping for children, but the witch preventing pregnancy until she collects four items belonging to the fairytale characters, Jack’s white cow, Red’s Riding Hood, Rapunzel’s hair, Cinderella’s slipper. This provides occasion for strange adventures in the woods as well as a number of musical interludes.

One of the major complications is that the baker pays for Jack’s cow with some beans which are carelessly tossed away leading to the growth of the giant Beanstalk and the descent of the giants to earth, with the need to combat them and destroy them. Another complication is that of the witch who has abducted Rapunzel as a little girl and kept in a tower, pretending to be her mother, transformed after she obtains all her desired objects into a much more familiar Meryl Streep.

This is not a story of happy endings, especially for the baker and his wife, which takes some time for an emotional adjustment. For those in the know, they will have a lavish Sondheim experience. For those not in the know, there may be more pleasure in reflecting on what they have seen than in the experience while they watched the film.


1. The work of Stephen Sondheim, his musicals, music, lyrics, style?

2. Screen adaptation of a theatre piece, the theatricality, plot, performances, situations? Attempts to make it ‘real’ – making the film less convincing cinema?

3. The locations, the woods, the edge of the woods, the interiors, the trees, the palms, the pit? Grandmother’s cottage? The castle? Cinderella’s house? Rapunzel’s tower? Jack’s house? The Beanstalk? The world of fairytales?

4. The stories, the tradition of the Brothers Grimm? Not just pretty stories? Dangers, threats, witch’s curses, cruelty, characters charming, characters sinister? The Beanstalk, the giants, death? The range of deaths and the sombre tone?

5. The mix of popular stories? The songs, the duets, recitatif?

6. The cast and the impact?

7. The introduction, Ella, the sisters, ugly and cruel, the stepmother, cruelty, work? The birds and their gathering? The dress? Going to the ball? The transition to Jack and his mother, the cow, poverty? The transition to the baker and his wife, nice, in the town? The transition to Rapunzel and her hair? The transition to the Palace and the prince? The transition to the witch, her appearance, curse? The baker’s father? The taking of Rapunzel? The witch becoming a mother, the warnings? The bakers and the curse, no child, the witch’s command for them to collect the items?

8. The setting for Into The Woods and all singing?

9. Ella, leaving, the prince, his friend, the ball, the slipper? The prince, charming or not? The reaction with the ugly sisters, the slipper, cutting the toe, cutting the heel to fit the slipper? Ella and the slipper fitting? The Baker’s wife and stealing the slipper? Ella giving it as a gift?

10. Jack, the Baker and seeking the cow, persuading Jack, the beans, the death of the cow, the witch and the resuscitation, the plan of covering the cow in flour?

11. The beans, throwing them away, stalk, giant, going to the land of the giants, returning with the coin, Jack and the harshness of his mother? He being a simple soul? The baker, the dangers, chopping down the tree? The death of the tree, the new stalk? Jack’s mother and her reaction? The second giant, terrorising, the decision and Jack as the bait, in the tree, the giant falling into the pit?

12. The baker and his wife, the search, earnest? The slipper and the cow? The wife and her cutting of Rapunzel’s hair? Red Riding Hoodor’s jacket? The transformation?

13. Red Riding Hood, travelling, the wolf, the forest, Johnny Depp as the wolf, deceiving her, going into the house, her grandmother, destroying the wolf? Red Riding Hood joining the group? Giving the red jacket?

14. The prince, riding, not charming, his friend, in love with Rapunzel, Rapunzel in the tower, thinking the witch was her mother, the escape? The vindictive witch? The prince, his approach to the Baker’s wife, and her response, and her death?

15. The witch, ugly, the transformation, but her dying in the pit? Fight against the giant? The Baker’s wife and the curse lifted and her being able to bear the child? The birth? Ella and Red Riding Hood minding the baby? The final appearance of the baker’s wife and her comfort to her husband?

16. Into the fairy stories, grim aspects, fairytales and threats? Fables and messages?