Into The Woods By Stephen Sondheim

In the town of Grover’s Corner Wisconsin, there lies a small farm town with all the small town aspects. The newspaper editor runs the newspaper from his own house as the doctor runs the clinic from his house. The small town being shown through the combination uses of one building, giving off the small town feel, “The town hall and post office combined; jail’s in the basement” (Wilder 4). The younger men have the jobs of delivering the milk and newspapers in the morning. “Joe Juniors getting up so as to deliver the paper” (Wilder 6). In Our Town there is Irony among the fact that the Joe Crowell graduated from the head of his high school class and his college class, then went and died in the war. Throughout the story, the author Thornton Wilder uses mood and tone to really help describe and explain what the play is telling us.

Our Town is a play written by Thornton Wilder set in a small town known as Grover’s Corners. Wilder conjured the Stage Manager to be a representation to the theme of the play. The theme of universality placing Grover’s Corners in view with the rest of the world. Wilder makes a point to the audience that people have a big impact and influence over the next person, whether they were important or insignificant to that individual’s life. Therefore, the Stage Manager emphasizes on this very viewpoint that the lives of certain people are overlooked so are their influences. The Stage Manager himself is a physical embodiment of Wilders own views and opinions of humans and life itself. Throughout the play, the Stage Manager plays various of roles in order to force the realization to the audience into understanding the importance human life and the influence of others.

Into the Woods brings together all of the fairytales one learns to love as a child, but it brings interesting twists to their stories. Not only do these beloved character’s storylines intermingle, they work together, and sometimes against one another, for the ultimate goal: a “Happily Ever After”. The main plot of the barren baker and his wife’s hunt to break the curse the evil witch placed on their family leads them on an adventure, that gets them into many sticky situations, propels the long complex storyline along. You’re introduced to a spunky, almost bratty, little red riding hood; a Cinderella who runs from her prince; and two princes that are full of hot air. This musical leads the audience through many twists and turns with compelling

Into the Woods follows a baker and his wife who have a desire to have children and start a family. They soon learn that their inability to have children is a curse brought upon by a witch. Meanwhile, characters from different fairytales have other personal goals they want to achieve as well. Through certain circumstances, each respective character gets their wishes granted and lived happily ever after, only for consequences to occur afterwards. The story is set in a setting similar to the Middle-Ages, with kingdoms, farmers and a world filled with magic. The story is another fairytale that brings a number of fairytales together and brings in different worlds to merge into one to tell one unique story.

A term coined in the 1950s, McCarthyism is the general act of making accusations of treason or subversion without proper regard for evidence. Both Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck explore the theme of McCarthyism through numerous ways using conventions of their text types: respectively a play and a film. Each through characterisation and symbolism, as well as individually through the plays title and narrative style, and the films editing, camera techniques and sound track, the texts delve into the subject constructively through their own unique methods.

For many young theatre lovers, Stephen Sondheim is their introduction the the musical theatre world. Whether it be from Into the Woods to West Side Story, Sondheim has been a great inspiration to those wanting to be introduced to the musical theatre world. People praise Sondheim on his ability to create compelling characters and expanded worlds that the characters live in. What Sonheim is credited for most, however, is his creation of the plotless musical. He created a bunch of characters and then proceeded to round out their stories into one song. He took seven one act plays and created one musical. Company was created in the 1970s and reflected the values of the time while being able to still reflect the values of today.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder focuses on the lives of the residents of small town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire in the early 1900s, more specifically, the lives of young George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Throughout Act I, Thornton describes the daily lives of the people of Grover’s Corners. The milkman delivers the day’s milk, the paperboy brings the morning paper, mothers prepare breakfast, and children get ready for school. The day winds down, everyone has had their supper, homework is finished, and adults arrive home from choir practice. Life in Grover’s Corners is traditional, ordinary, and unremarkable, not much goes on out of the ordinary. Act II focuses on love and marriage in the town. The narrator says “Almost everybody in the world gets married, - you know what I mean? In our town there aren’t hardly any exceptions. Most everybody in the world climbs into their graves married.” and Mrs. Gibbs articulates that “People are meant to go through life two by two. Tain’t natural to be lonesome.”(54) George and Emily get married, much like the other young couples of Grover’s Corners, and proceed to live blithely and contentedly on George’s uncle’s farm. Act III looks into the last act in a person’s life, death. Emily passes away during childbirth, and at the cemetery, she meets the spirits of her mother-in-law and many other deceased townspeople.

In the popular musical Into the Woods, composed by Stephen Sondheim and written by James Lapine, a twist is placed on long-loved fairy tales, such as those of Cinderella and Rapunzel. The fairy tales all start out normal- Little Red Riding Hood is going into the woods to bring goodies to her grandmother, Jack to sell his cow for money. Cinderella wants to go to the ball; Rapunzel wants to escape the tower and be with her prince. Everybody wants something, as humans generally do.

I loved this production of “Into the Woods”, it was a unique look at the fairy tale world that everyone knows and loves. This new and fresh look is what keeps you entertained and interested once you are automatically connected to the famous characters. However for these known characters, this was not a fairy tale it was reality, where everything can fall apart and people not always live “Happily Ever

The crustaceans twitched slightly as Issac looked over the boiling water, Joan looked at his actions, what was the boiling water for? How did the machine create heat without fire? What were the small devices and large door in front of the giant hulking thing known as an oven. Issac picked up one of the creatures by its tail as he hung it over the boiling water and casually dropped the lobster in.

The door man cries when he see how upset Dorothy is and say he will get them in to see the Wizard of Oz.. They walk down a long hall and see fire and a large head of a god like figure who identified himself as the Wizard of Oz and demand to know who they were. The Wizard of Oz is acting evil and mean, but his action is a mask, a persona. He presents himself through fire and smoke, and is full of insults for his uninvited guests. He command the Tin Man to step forward, he is aware he is coming for a hearts, he calls him ugly names, including junk. The Tin Man speaks to him and is told to be quiet. The Wizard of Oz addresses the Scarecrow, knowing he wants a brain, he calls him ugly names. He calls the Cowardly to step forward, who is frighten and faints. Dorothy becomes angry at the way the Wizard of Oz is treating them and steps forward in their defense. Dorothy tells the Wizard of Oz he should be ashamed of himself, she shows her maturity in defense of her allies.

Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (first staged in 1938), has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring American plays ever performed (VORK, 2017). For the first time in 1938, the play was performed for a live audience in Princeton, New Jersey (Weinbloom, 2006). The audience did not agree with Thornton Wilders vision for the play. He along with his play was criticized. Many individuals back then thought the play was a complete waste of talent for Mr. Wilder. Miraculously, when the play was performed in New York, the audience were very delighted with the performances in the play.

In Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the tradition of New Comedy is faithfully brought to life in a musical set in ancient Rome, but relevant to the sensibilities of its 1960's audience. Through movie sets that suggest Roman surroundings, and comedic sequences that embody the spirit of the sixties, Sondheim creates a story where Roman characters, acting according to their types, draw in modern audience members and create a energetic romp through ancient Rome that is firmly rooted in the past, but could only have been taken in sixties-era America.

The Civil Rights Movement that began in the late 1950's was a struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to primarily African American citizens of the United States. In the end, African-Americans won basic rights long denied to them, as well as inspired other discriminated groups to fight for their own rights, which had a deep effect on American society. Many blacks took part in this movement, whether it was through protesting or holding demonstrations. However, some blacks used writing as a means of contributing. James Baldwin published Stranger in the Village as a means of expressing his views of African-American racism. As a result, their efforts helped set the foundation for equal rights among blacks for generations

Sociology teaches that society has naturally produces standards, that people are preferred to follow. Gender, arguably is basis from which all following norms branch from. Pierre Bourdieu writes in his boot “Masculine Domination”, “The social world constructs the body as a sexually defined reality and is the depository of sexual defining principles of vision and division” (Pierre 11). These divisions produce gender roles that are based on the patriarchy. Traditionally, gender roles states that men are the leaders in society and the family, while women play submissive role in raising children and caring for the immediate needs for the family. However, William Shakespeare’s Olivia, in the Twelfth Night, and Oscar Wilde’s Gwendolen, in the comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest narrative seemingly contradict orthodox gender norms. Olivia and Gwendolen both live in a social construct based on male dominance. Yet both of them upends this norm and play dominant role in both of their relationships.