Got Into the Woods from Netflix. Am very confused now. I've never listened to the score before, so it was a little hard at times figuring out what everyone was singing.
But suddenly we have several random deaths thrown in, some of which are taken seriously and some of which are not.
One of the problems with the video is that that performance had a particularly poor audience, as they laugh at some inappropriate moments. None of the deaths in the second act that seem to be comical due to the audience's reaction, are funny at all, as they usually play on stage, such as with Jack's mother and Rapunzel. The only really comedic one is when they turn on the Narrator, which isn't just a meta joke but has some disturbing thematic significance, too. Interestingly, in his very next play, Sondheim used the characters-turning-on-the-narrator concept again, in Assassins, when the Assassins gang up on the Balladeer and drive him off the stage in Another National Anthem.
But right after that consensus, they go and blind the Giantess and kill her without a second thought. Does the Giantess not apply for some reason?One of the major lessons of the play is that in some circumstances the regular rules we have been
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"Into the Woods is a very complex play, particularly in how the seeds for destruction (and rebirth) in the second act are all laid in the seemingly light operetta of the first act."
Yes. When i wrote "I actually tend to want to stop after the first act because i know dark and depressing stuff is ahead," i meant to add that although i want to stop watching there, i can't because having seen it before i see so clearly all the stuff that is set up and know that there is so much that hasn't yet been dealt with.
"One of the major lessons of the play is that in some circumstances the regular rules we have been taught growing up have to be ignored."
Agreed. Although it bears pointing out the characters don't reject the tenet that killing people is bad, that human life gets priority over all other kinds, though the potential for the former is broached by the witch, and the latter is problematized in the whole discussion over the problem of the Giantess. "Last Midnight" is possibly my favorite bit of the whole show.
"Last Midnight" is possibly my favorite bit of the whole show.
You're not good, you're not bad, You're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right. I'm the witch. You're the world.Completely agree. In the recent Broadway revival with Vanessa Williams, those lyrics were actually changed, which made me want to tear my hair out. It changed to (singing to the baby
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Yeah, that and the fact that Vanessa Williams is NO Bernadette Peters, and none of the new actors came close to matching the originals, and the fact that the sets weren't as good, really didn't make me like the revival at all. I went home and watched the DVD of the original afterwards to cleanse my brain.
Wait, she singsYou're so pure But stay here, And in time, you'll mature, And grow up To be them, So let's fly, You and I, Far away. to the baby? *boggles* What about You're all liars and thieves, Like his father! Like his son will be too! Oh, why bother? You'll just do what you do! She has given up on humans. She is watching people getting killed around her because no one will do the practical thing and sacrifice the one boy (oh the "Gift" parallels...) but instead they just stand around trying to figure out who's to blame (as if there's ever solely one guilty party). She tried to raise Rapunzel but Rapunzel turned on her, as children so often do, so i don't see her as eager to try again with the Baker's kid
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Totally. The original lines have resonance beyond the play's particular situation, and the new lines are very specific, and besides that, overstate the point in the case of the Witch being swallowed by the ground (I liked the ambiguity of what her fate would be.), and miss the point with regards to the lines about the baby. They tried this half-assed thing where for a moment it seems like the Witch is going to take the baby with her, which is why the lines were changed...but it wasn't convincing, and again not nearly as resonant as the original lines, and the emotions behind them.
One of the problems with the video is that that performance had a particularly poor audience, as they laugh at some inappropriate moments. None of the deaths in the second act that seem to be comical due to the audience's reaction, are funny at all, as they usually play on stage, such as with Jack's mother and Rapunzel. The only really comedic one is when they turn on the Narrator, which isn't just a meta joke but has some disturbing thematic significance, too. Interestingly, in his very next play, Sondheim used the characters-turning-on-the-narrator concept again, in Assassins, when the Assassins gang up on the Balladeer and drive him off the stage in Another National Anthem.
But right after that consensus, they go and blind the Giantess and kill her without a second thought. Does the Giantess not apply for some reason?One of the major lessons of the play is that in some circumstances the regular rules we have been ( ... )
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Yes. When i wrote "I actually tend to want to stop after the first act because i know dark and depressing stuff is ahead," i meant to add that although i want to stop watching there, i can't because having seen it before i see so clearly all the stuff that is set up and know that there is so much that hasn't yet been dealt with.
"One of the major lessons of the play is that in some circumstances the regular rules we have been taught growing up have to be ignored."
Agreed. Although it bears pointing out the characters don't reject the tenet that killing people is bad, that human life gets priority over all other kinds, though the potential for the former is broached by the witch, and the latter is problematized in the whole discussion over the problem of the Giantess. "Last Midnight" is possibly my favorite bit of the whole show.
You're not good, ( ... )
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You're not good, you're not bad,
You're just nice.
I'm not good, I'm not nice,
I'm just right.
I'm the witch.
You're the world.Completely agree. In the recent Broadway revival with Vanessa Williams, those lyrics were actually changed, which made me want to tear my hair out. It changed to (singing to the baby ( ... )
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But stay here,
And in time, you'll mature,
And grow up
To be them,
So let's fly,
You and I,
Far away.
to the baby? *boggles* What about You're all liars and thieves,
Like his father!
Like his son will be too!
Oh, why bother?
You'll just do what you do!
She has given up on humans. She is watching people getting killed around her because no one will do the practical thing and sacrifice the one boy (oh the "Gift" parallels...) but instead they just stand around trying to figure out who's to blame (as if there's ever solely one guilty party). She tried to raise Rapunzel but Rapunzel turned on her, as children so often do, so i don't see her as eager to try again with the Baker's kid ( ... )
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