The Popular Musical Into The Woods

In “Rapunzel,” the now blind prince miserably wanders the wilderness for years before happening upon the sound of Rapunzel’s voice. The prince follows the voice and finds Rapunzel, who has given birth to twins. When Rapunzel recognizes him, she embraces the prince. Rapunzel’s tears fall into the prince’s eyes, and he is able to see again. In Tangled, Rapunzel powerlessly watches Flynn die after he cuts her hair. She sobs while holding his dead body. The magic in Rapunzel’s hair remains in her tears, and when her tears hit Flynn’s body they heal him. He is brought back to life, and the two return to Corona, where Rapunzel is reunited with her family and she and Flynn get married and live happily ever after.

Fairy tales have existed for years, some starting as oral stories for decades before ever being recorded on paper. These tales continue to hold an importance in the present such that they reflect the changes in time and progression of thought and ideas. Over time, many fairy tales are retold for various reasons including reforming them to be used for new audiences to make the story more relatable or to convey a different point of view to various specific audiences. This can be seen in various renditions; Andrew Anderson’s Shrek can be compared to Steig’s “Shrek!” and Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” and evaluated as a retelling of either based on specific criteria. Although some may argue that William Steig’s “Shrek!” appears more closely similar to Anderson’s Shrek, as evaluated from the presence of similar characters, general plot structure, and targeted audience, the movie Shrek is more closely a retelling of Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.”

The beginning of the production is, for the most part, light-hearted with comic relief coming from the princes, Red Riding Hood, and Jack and his mother. The musical number “Prologue” sets up the storyline and shows the audience what familiar characters they will be seeing, it is a catchy number that gets the audience engaged from the very beginning. Sondheim, the lyricist of the musical, gives just the right amount of discourse in his music to keep progressing the storyline but keep it engaging to audiences. The over encompassing theme of the first act is to pursue what you want and your happy ending will come to you. However; this theme changes within the shorter second act. After the characters obtain their “Happily Ever After” they realize that it is not all they wished for. I feel as though this fundamental shift Sondheim and Lapine portray is very deliberate; they want to make the audience feel for these characters and their loss and pain. The music of this musical plays a key role in this, more so than the script in my opinion. The compelling melodies and heart-wrenching lyrics, like in “No One is Alone”, highlights the character’s pain and keeps the audience emotionally investing in the production. While the second act portrays a more depressing storyline, the end-like any good fairytale-shows that you can

Orenstein uses the Disney princess persona and describes it as a major turning point in the perception of fairy tales. The original fairy tales described as grim and macabre, transformed as time passes and started to appeal to many more people; the dark theme turned into a happy and pleasant princess love story that Disney is now famous for. An example, stated by Orenstein is the tale of Snow White, which originally, in short, involves rape and murder. Eventually, over

The Disney version of the story, Cinderella, illustrates a different moral than that of the original story. This story believes an ideal child should do what they are told and follow directions and in the end they will reap the rewards. In this story, Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries to a woman who has two daughters. While the daughters are pampered, Cinderella must work to keep the house from falling into disrepair. She befriends the animals and they help her to get ready to go to the ball by finishing her chores and making her a dress. When the evil stepsisters discover the dress they become furious because the mice used trimming from their clothing when making the dress. In revenge, the stepsisters rip the dress, leaving Cinderella out of options and out of hope. Just as Cinderella is about to give up, her fairy godmother appears and with a wave of magic creates a dress and turns a pumpkin and the mice into a horse and carriage. The only problem is that everything will turn back to what it was beforehand at midnight. Cinderella and the Prince fall in love at the ball but she must quickly leave because the

Peering into the treasure chest, a small gasp slipped out of Belle’s mouth as she began to see the truth about her friends. Laying on a crimson cloth was a book titled “Cinderella”. Delighted to find one of her favorite fairy tales, Belle sat under a tree and began to read. Her delight soon turned to disgust as she realized it was not the fairy tale she loved. Overcome at the gruesome, gory details of this version, Belle quickly slammed the

Walt Disney’s movie was released in 1959 but is still considered a modern version of this fairytale and is watched by many people every year.

The Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella is a written down oral story that people passed down from generation to generation, meant to teach a lesson about piety and good behavior. Before the Grimm Brothers ever wrote it down, the story had been told several times by memory. It is thus not surprising that the descriptions of certain events in the story, such as the way Cinderella went to the Ball, are lacking in details. It is obvious that these parts of the story are unimportant to the overall message of the story. Instead, it focuses on the piety of Cinderella and the wickedness of the step-sisters. Through the events of the story, it becomes obvious that the goodness of Cinderella is justly rewarded, and that

Everyone loves a good fairytale, and nothing is quite as magical and heartwarming as a Disney fairytale. The themes of love, comedy, and morality deem them as more than just little kids' stories, but suitable and entertaining tales for the entire family. This is known by a majority of the stories' readers. However, what one may not be so familiar with is the origin of these tales. Where did the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, and Rapunzel come from? The Disney writers certainly did not create them themselves. The differences in the originals will shock anyone familiar with Disney. And what about Snow White? There are differences between the original Brothers Grimm version of the ebony-haired, white-skinned princess and the Disney movie, believe it or not. Some major differences between both versions are the multiple ways the evil queen tries murdering her stepdaughter, the cause of Snow White's revival, as well as how the evil queen died. Why the story was altered is obvious:

As a child, I was told fairytales such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs every night before I went to sleep. Fairytales are an adventurous way to expand a child’s imagination and open their eyes to experience a new perspective. Modernizations of fairytales typically relate to a specific audience, such as adolescence, and put a contemporary spin on the old-aged tale. Instead of using whimsical themes heavily centered in nature, the contemporary poems connect with the reader in a more realistic everyday scenario. Also, many modernizations are written in poetic form to help reconstruct a flow in the piece and to develop or sometimes completely change the meaning from that of the original fairytale. Comparing Grimm’s Fairytale Snow White

Into the Woods is a musical that was written by songwriter, Stephen Sondheim and director, James Lapine. In this musical, several Disney stories are humorously re-told by creatively combining their stories into one interrelated adventure. This show opened on November 5, 1989 and ran 764 performances before this film of the musical was released in 1990. Into the Woods was one of Sondheim’s most popular works in over 25 years. He is known to be the “giant” of musical theatre during his time for such a creative style. Sondheim combines several fairytales to explain what happens in an adult mind after “happily ever after.” Lapine and Sondheim harmonize their theatrical talents of an adult fairy-tale through portrayal of adventure, comedy, tragedy, and reality. Like all Broadway performances and morality, Into the Woods forms pure quality and very little suffering through establishment.

Like the introduction, the main part of the tale is also composed of three distinct parts which form a short story on their own. A clear beginning, a central story, and an ending exists. The opening of the main part is concluded after the prince, although enchanted by Rapunzel’s singing, gives up his plan to pursue her when faced with a barrier: no entryway to the tower in which Rapunzel lives. When the prince enters the forest a second time, he is a changed person – he now has a motivation to act on his desires for Rapunzel. The prince is no longer a man who easily gives up; he is eager to form a plan for entry into the tower, and at the same time, the life of the sheltered Rapunzel. She too undergoes a

The fact that he is first drawn to her voice rather than her appearance seems to suggest an attraction more to who she is rather than anything physical. Her “voice” may be symbolic of Rapunzel’s thoughts and personality. However, the first time the prince finds Rapunzel, he is obviously unprepared to proceed into this facet of his life. He searches for a door through which to reach her but is

An example of how fearsome the witch can be is how Mr. Beaver had to sneak around while gathering the children because some of the trees were on her side. It seems she will never end her cycle of viciously, violently, and ruthlessly spreading her fear across Narnia. As shown by how she turns those who defy her into stone. It appears as if the inhabitants of Narnia will not stand for it much longer, as there seems to be a plan to put an end to her reign once and for all. Which is as evidently fearsome as she is, the witch strikes fear into the heart of almost everyone she meets.

Continuing in her position as the moral control, the witch tries to protect her Rapunzel by locking her up. This attempt to preserve the girl's chastity ultimately fails because a prince discovers her when he hears her singing. Song is a symbol of