Into The Woods

As a child, I adored fairy tales like most kids, and I still enjoy some of the morals that they show. I know that fairy tales aren't always realistic though, so this week's post is about the most practical fable, which is an oxymoron in itself. Yay for English and my remarkable abilities to use it.

Image courtesy of Majestic Theatre

Two weekends ago, I was privileged to see Into The Woods featuring one of my closest friends. It was great to witness some of my favorite characters in action once again. For those who haven't seen it, Into The Woods is a combination of fairy tales with a new and pragmatic twist ending. A few of the important fairy tale characters in Into The Woods include:

• Little Red Ridinghood
• Rapunzel
• Jack (and the beanstalk)
• Cinderella
• The Baker and the Baker's Wife 

Into The Woods follows several characters as they venture through the frightening, unforgiving, and fantastical forest. The story begins with the Narrator telling the four wishes of the aforementioned characters; Cinderella wishes to attend the King's festival, Jack wishes that his cow would give milk, Little Red Ridinghood wants to deliver bread to her grandmother, and the Baker and the his wife wish that they could bear a child.

Most of the characters begin their oh so famous journeys while the Baker and the Baker's Wife embark on a journey that is yet to be discovered. After learning that there is a curse of infertility upon the Baker's family set by the Witch, the Baker and his wife set out to find a "cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold" so that they can break the curse. As you can probably assume, getting these objects aren't so simple, it requires the collision of many a fairy tale story.

Everything Hilary, the version definitely matters if you want to see the second act.
Image courtesy of Bare Naked Islam

Now this is where it gets messy. I will warn all theatre-goers, there are different versions!  If you're someone like myself who researches a show before or after going, you'll want to know what version of the show you're seeing. If you go to a junior version of Into The Woods, the original second act is expunged from the script.  If you are planning to go to a three hour show, you're looking for the original version of Into The Woods. Due to this, I can't summarize the second act for those of you who will see the junior version. Spoilers, spoilers everywhere.

On a brighter note,  a film adaptation of Into The Woods hits theaters Christmas... of next year! So you have more than a year to see the original musical! Depending on who you are, having more than a year to wait for something can be a good or a bad thing. Anyways, I made a countdown timer for the Into The Woods' release! So now you can wait in excitement like me!

Grace's Song of the Week: "Your Fault" and "Last Midnight"