Into The Woods: Music Analysis

Through the first term of the Theatre 1 class, we have watched many musicals. Some include Les Mis, My Fair Lady, Newsies, and my favorite, Into the Woods. Into the Woods stars many fairytale characters from different backgrounds, those being Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk), his mother, Little Red Riding Hood, The Baker, his wife, and the Witch. In Act 1, the narrator starts with a classic story introduction, Once Upon a Time. The narrator then introduces the 3 main set of characters, Cinderella and her family, Jack and his cow, and the Baker and his Wife. The song that was selected for this is called “I Wish”. This song is different based on the characters, but it shows they don’t get what they want. Cinderella wishes to go to the king’s festival, Jack wishes his cow would produce milk, and the baker and his wife wish to have a child. Upon this ending, the Witch appears telling them what they must do to have a child. They must bring the Witch the following items: Cape as red as blood, Slipper as pure as gold, the hair as yellow as corn, and the cow as white as milk. And the catch, the items can only be brought in 3 days time before midnight, or it will not work.
One detail is the originality of the stories. Normally, the stories would be broken down into an aspect in which it was appropriate for kids, but here it is not. This musical features murder, brutality, cheating, and false hope. Such examples of this are when the baker’s wife cheated on the baker with Cinderella’s prince, or when the giant kills many of the characters featured. Brutality can be ruled when the prince is looking for Cinderella, and her step-sisters mangle their feet in order to fit their feet into the glass slippers. They resemble the versions originally by The Brother