Into the Woods (2014, PG)

This is a movie that had me feeling excited and apprehensive in almost equal amounts.  It’s a show I love so much that I was invested in seeing it done right – no small task for a movie musical.  As information started to come out and a number of the casting choices were so unobvious and intriguing (although, after I heard that Alan Cumming was originally considered for the wolf, it was so perfect that I couldn’t get it out of my head,) I knew that, regardless of how it turned out, I wasn’t going to miss it for anything.

As it happens, the movie is pretty terrific.  Is it as good as some of the productions I’ve seen?  No, but it’s better than a lot of movie musicals.  It’s properly cinematic; some adaptations fall into a trap of basically just filming the stage show and dumping it onscreen, which doesn’t work for the medium.  Others, however, seem embarrassed about the fact that they’re musicals and shoehorn in “excuses” to sing, which usually winds up feeling far more ridiculous than simply being a musical.  Luckily, Into the Woods knows what it is and owns up to it quite readily.

Right from the start, with the intricately-lyriced opening number, featuring layer upon layer of overlapping melodies, you can tell you’re in good hands.  The camera flits deftly from scene to scene, weaving the different locales together as the voices bridge the distance.  From there, we largely have a very capable, very thoughtful movie musical.  I especially applaud the devices used to break up the visuals on monologue songs like “Giants in the Sky” and “I Know Things Now.”

The art direction is terrific – the film looks gorgeous, and the magic is especially well done.  I like that, while we get dramatic wind effects, there aren’t a ton of bright lights or flashes of color.  Rather, things tend more to burst in and out of being.  It’s a simple but highly effective technique that feels very naturalistic.  When the baker says, “It’s the witch from next door,” you can really buy this strange, sinister woman as both an enchantress and a neighbor.

My biggest gripe, predictably, is what’s not there.  I know some things have to be cut for time, but the reprise of “Agony” shouldn’t be one of them.  In addition to being hysterical, it sets up what happens with Cinderella’s prince later in the film.  Also, “No More” is quite possibly my favorite of the whole shebang and, even without the mysterious man in the movie, I was gutted not to see it included.  Finally, the movie just feels a bit toothless compared to the show.  It still has an edge to it, and some of the dark humor and moral uncertainty is certainly there, but it definitely has fewer stakes and wades less into questions of right and wrong.

My votes for film MVPs go to James Corden and Emily Blunt as the baker and his wife.  Corden grounds the film with his funny, sincere performance as an ordinary man in over his head, and Blunt is fantastic as a peasant reaching for something better in her life (“Moments in the Woods” is a highlight of the movie.)  Runner-up would be Anna Kendrick’s beautiful turn as Cinderella, but there’s a lot of talent to go around.

Warnings

Dark themes, some violence, and a bit of innuendo.

Top Five Songs: Into the Woods

As promised, here's more Into the Woods!  It's all music all the time today.  Believe me, picking just five songs isn't easy.  All I can do is my best, and if you ask me again tomorrow, at least one of them is liable to be different.

"Giants in the Sky" - Since the giants never appear onstage, we don't see Jack's adventure up the beanstalk.  Rather, we hear about it in this lively number tinged with exuberance and amazement.  In the span of a few minutes, we see how Jack's entire world has opened up.
Best lyric:  "And you think of all of the things you've seen, / And you wish that you could live in between, / And you're back again, / Only different than before, / After the sky."

"On the Steps of the Palace" - Cinderella's prince leaves pitch on the stairs to keep his dream girl from running out of the ball.  Stuck fast, Cinderella considers her options - whether she really has it in her to step into a new, unknown life and become a princess.  the melody is enchanting, and the conundrum is excellent.
Best lyric:  "So then which do you pick: / Where you're safe, out of sight, / And yourself, but where everything's wrong? / Or where everything's right / And you know that you'll never belong?"

"Agony (Reprise)" - "Agony" first appears in Act I, as a pair of princes mourns their lot to be in love with seemingly unattainable maidens Cinderella and Rapunzel.  Their self-absorbed theatrics are funny the first time, but it's even better when they come back in Act II pining for Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, naturally with no thought of the wives they were so desperate for earlier.
Best lyric:  (it doesn't really capture the humor of the number, but it's hard to take it out of the context of their back-and-forth) "Agony! / Such that princes must weep! / Always in thrall most / To anything almost, / Or something asleep."

"Moments in the Woods" - In what is perhaps the most interesting song in the show, the Baker's Wife talks through a recent imprudent decision, wondering why we can't get what we want all the time.  It's fascinating and, when well-delivered, a real standout moment for the actress.
Best lyric:  "Let the moment go... / Don't forget it for a moment, though. / Just remembering you've had an 'and', / When you're back to 'or' , / Makes the 'or' mean more / Than it did before."

"No More" - This gorgeous, plaintive duet, sung by the Baker and the Mysterious Man, might be my favorite of them all.  The Baker is disheartened, wrung out, and angry, and he wants to give up everything he's been working toward.  The Mysterious Man encourages the Baker not to make his mistakes.  The song always makes me think how much it'd really suck to live in a fairytale, your safety forever at the mercy of witches and monsters.
Best lyric:  "No more riddles. / No more jests. / No more curses you can't undo, left by fathers you never knew. / No more quests."

Into the Woods (1987)

Into the Woods is one of my perennial Sondheim favorites.  In addition to the DVD of the original Broadway production, I've seen in onstage four times and have no particular plans to stop.  Do things get a little sloppy and heavy-handed at times?  Sure, but that's small potatoes compared to the complete picture.

This musical tosses a number of fairytales in a blender, principally Cinderella, Jack (of beanstalk fame,) Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel.  It also features a baker and his wife, currently childless but desperate not to remain so; they're tangentially related to Rapunzel's story but largely invented.  At the outset of the show, everyone has a particular wish, and Act I plays out the original stories essentially as written:  wolves and giants are slain, princes ride in to carry the day, and everyone (who deserves it) gets their wish.

Some productions end the show at intermission, but they're missing the point.  As with Sunday in the Park with George, two seemingly-disparate acts come together to create a richer whole.  In this case, Act II explores what happens after the happily ever after, the consequences of getting one's wish.  To some extent, everyone gives something up or compromises their ideals to get what they want (or think they want,) and the second act shows a reckoning as they all try to repair what they've done.

The score is pure Sondheim, from intricate book pieces like "Your Fault" to searing melodies like "No One is Alone", from the sly hilarity of "Agony" and its reprise to the soft profundity of "No More."  I'm going to have to do a Top Five post on the music, because there's no way I have room to even touch on the magnificence here.

Thematically, the show maybe tries to cover a bit too much, but I appreciate its ambition.  It looks at themes of desire, dissatisfaction, sacrifice, and morality that doesn't align with binary divisions.  It refuses to be content with the overt "good" and "evil" monikers of traditional fairytales, making subtler distinctions and recognizing the potential for both good and evil within every choice.  In this way, it gives these stories a more thoughtful, grown-up treatment.  Here, "witches can be right," and "giants can be good," and the characters must learn to reason beyond their initial assessments of themselves and others.

Warnings

Some violence, drinking, sexuality, thematic elements, and scary moments.