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.
"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.
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.
"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):
You'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.
I'm the hitch, I'm what no one believes...etc.
The end is changed too to...
I'm leaving you alone, Squirming in the mess that you've made. Fix it on your own, Time for me to go, I'm afraid.
Back to what I know, Back to long ago, Safe inside the world that I'm from Better ugly and spurned With my powers returned--
And I fear, midnight's here. Time to disappear... Mother here I come!!!
I think Sondheim should have left well enough alone and kept them the way they are. The original is so much more powerful and meaningful, whereas the new lyrics seem rather trite and dumbed down.
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.
And yeah, "Better ugly and spurned / With my powers returned..." is so trite and dumbed down compared to the powerful original. Especially because my interpretation of the original was that she didn't even necessarily demand that she get her powers back along with the curse of being ugly and spurned just so long as she was able to get the h*** out of Dodge -- away from the Giantess (so as to not be killed) and away from all these humans (who are driving her crazy).Punish me the way you did then! Give me claws and a hunch, Just away from this bunch And the gloom And the doom And the boom Nothing about powers in there, and i think it works better that way, on a lot of levels.
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.
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, 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.
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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):
You'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.
I'm the hitch,
I'm what no one believes...etc.
The end is changed too to...
I'm leaving you alone,
Squirming in the mess that you've made.
Fix it on your own,
Time for me to go, I'm afraid.
Back to what I know,
Back to long ago,
Safe inside the world that I'm from
Better ugly and spurned
With my powers returned--
And I fear, midnight's here.
Time to disappear...
Mother here I come!!!
I think Sondheim should have left well enough alone and kept them the way they are. The original is so much more powerful and meaningful, whereas the new lyrics seem rather trite and dumbed down.
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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.
And yeah, "Better ugly and spurned / With my powers returned..." is so trite and dumbed down compared to the powerful original. Especially because my interpretation of the original was that she didn't even necessarily demand that she get her powers back along with the curse of being ugly and spurned just so long as she was able to get the h*** out of Dodge -- away from the Giantess (so as to not be killed) and away from all these humans (who are driving her crazy).Punish me the way you did then!
Give me claws and a hunch,
Just away from this bunch
And the gloom
And the doom
And the boom
Nothing about powers in there, and i think it works better that way, on a lot of levels.
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