NewsThe 8 Things You May Not Know About Into the Woods; 半岛体育 Will Debut World-Premiere Movie Clip半岛体育.com will premiere a world-premiere clip from the eagerly awaited film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods on Nov. 20. In anticipation, we share eight facts you may not know about the Woods.
By
Robert Viagas
November 18, 2014
Robin Williams
Check back to 半岛体育.com for exclusive coverage of the "Into the Woods" film.
.
1. Hollywood attempted a film adaptation of Into the Woods at least three times before. In the early 1990s Columbia Pictures announced it was working on an adaptation with a cast that was to have featured as the Witch, as the Baker, Goldie Hawn as the Baker's Wife, as the Wolf and Danny DeVito as the Giant. Nothing came of that beyond a reading.
A few years later Columbia partnered with Jim Henson Productions to develop a film that would have been directed by Rob Minkoff. Columbia's last effort came in 1997 with Variety reporting , Meg Ryan and were in talks to star. Nothing further came of that version either, until Disney acquired the rights.
2. The 1988 Tony Awards presented one of those situations where major writing awards went to one show, but Best Musical went to another. Into the Woods earned Tonys for Best Original Score and Best Book, but Best Musical went to , which is still running today and which got its own film adaptation in 2004.
Marin Mazzie
Photo by Mike Sharkey
3. understudied for (as well as the roles of Lucinda, Florinda and Cinderella) in the original production; she went on to replace in the role of Rapunzel. She would later create the role of Clara in Stephen Sondheim's . Replacements for Peters included , , and .
4. The original 1987 cast of Into the Woods was full of people who had appeared in the original casts of previous Sondheim musicals. Among them were Bernadette Peters, , and from ; Edmund Lyndeck from ; from Sweeney Todd, Company and ; and from .
Chip Zien
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN
5. , who originated the role of the Baker, took on the role of the Mysterious Man (a.k.a. the Baker's father) in the 2012 Central Park production.
6. At the time of the original production, the show was widely credited as having been influenced by the writings of psychologist Bruno Bettleheim, especially as expressed in his 1976 book, "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales." However, Sondheim subsequently denied it. He told : "Everybody assumes we were influenced by Bruno Bettelheim. But if there's any outside influence, it's [Carl] Jung. James [Lapine] is interested in Jung 鈥� Twelve Dreams is based on a case Jung wrote about. In fact, we spoke to a Jungian analyst about fairy tales鈥� It's about moral responsibility 鈥� the responsibility you have in getting your wish not to cheat and step on other people's toes, because it rebounds. The second act is about the consequences of not only the wishes themselves but of the methods by which the characters achieve their wishes, which are not always proper and moral."
7. Into the Woods contains characters from many different fairy tales. An early draft contained the characters of Rumpelstiltskin and The Three Pigs, which were cut, though the Pigs were restored (briefly) in the 2002 revival.
8. Disney has produced three previous television adaptations of Broadway musicals: Annie in 1999, in 2003, and in 2005, but Into the Woods will mark the company鈥檚 first feature film adaptation of a Broadway musical. Disney also produced a film version of the 1903 Victor Herbert operetta Babes in Toyland in 1961.
0
of
A Look Back at 3 Decades of Into the Woods
A Look Back at 3 Decades of Into the Woods
95 PHOTOS
Stephen Sondheim, Bernadette Peters and James Lapine in rehearsal for the original Broadway production
Robert Westenberg in the original Broadway production
Danielle Ferdland, Ben Wright, Kim Crosby, Chip Zien, and Bernadette Peters in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods.
Martha Swope / The New York Public Library
Robert Westenberg and Kim Crosby
Kim Crosby
Cast
Danielle Ferland and Robert Westenberg
Ben Wright and Barbara Bryne
Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason
Joanna Gleason, Bernadette Peters and Chip Zien in the original Broadway production
Tom Aldredge
Chuck Wagner and Robert Westenberg
Martha Swope/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
Bernadette Peters in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods
Martha Swope/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
Joy Franz, Edmund Lyndeck, Lauren Mitchell, and Kay McClelland
Robert Westenberg and Kim Crosby
Martha Swope/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
Ben Wright and Danielle Ferland
Kay McClelland
Pamela Winslow
Robert Westenberg
Cast
Joanna Gleason
Martha Swope/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
Chip Zien
Martha Swope/漏NYPL for the Performing Arts
Danielle Ferland in the original Broadway production
Bernadette Peters, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg, Joanna Gleason and Chip Zien in the original Broadway production
Barbara Bryne
The original Broadway production
Robert Westenberg and Joanna Gleason
Nancy Dussault in the original Broadway production
Phylicia Rashad in the original Broadway production
Cynthia Sikes, Nancy Dussault and Chip Zien in the original Broadway production
Betsy Joslyn, Chip Zien and Mary Gordon Murray in the original Broadway production
Chip Zien, Betsy Joslyn and Mary Gordon Murray in the original Broadway production
Cynthia Sikes and Chip Zien in the original Broadway production
Joy Franz, Kim Crosby, Lauren Mitchell, Kay McClelland, and Philip Hoffman
Cynthia Sikes and Robert Westenberg in the original Broadway production
Brian d'Arcy James, Daniel Frank Kelley, Tracy Katz Paladini and Patricia Ben Peterson in a 2000 production at the Ordway in Minnesota
Laura Benanti in the 2002 Broadway revival
Kerry O'Malley, Stephen DeRosa and Vanessa Williams in the 2002 Broadway revival
The cast of the 2002 Broadway revival
Gregg Edelman and Christopher Sieber in the 2002 Broadway revival
Gregg Edelman and Christopher Sieber in the 2002 Broadway revival
Vanessa Williams in the 2002 Broadway revival
Melissa Dye and Vanessa Williams in the 2002 Broadway revival
John McMartin in the 2002 Broadway revival
Derrick Cobey and Erin Childs in a 2008 production at the Great Lakes Theater Festival
The cast of the Great Lakes Theater Festival production, 2008
Yvette Cason
Jeffry Denman and Vicki Lewis
Kim Huber
Jeffry Denman, Vicki Lewis and Yvette Cason
Gordon Goodman and Jason Forbach
Euan Morton and Zachary Hoar
Michele Ragusa and Lauren Braton
Dana Steingold and Claybourne Elder
Brynn O鈥橫alley, Zachary Prince and Michele Ragusa
Katie Karel, Lauren Worsham and Katie Kalahurka
Euan Morton
Claybourne Elder and Brynn O鈥橫alley
The cast of Into the Woods
Beth Leavel
Sara Jean Ford
Jen Cody and Kevin Earley
Brynn O鈥橫alley
Hunter Foster, Brynn O鈥橫alley and Beth Leavel
Stanley Bahorek
Hunter Foster and Brynn O鈥橫alley
The cast of Into the Woods
Douglas Jabara, Rachel York and Shannon Lee Jones
Rachel York
Greg Stone
The cast of Into the Woods
Hannah Waddingham
Helen Dallimore and Jenna Russell
Jenna Russell and Mark Hadfield
Hannah Waddingham
Michael Xavier and Beverly Rudd
Jeffry Denman in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Jenny Latimer and Danielle Ferland in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Lauren Kennedy and Britney Coleman in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Alma Cuervo, Eleni Deopoulos and Nikka Graff Lanzarone in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Justin Scott Brown and Dana Steingold in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Lauren Kennedy in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Nik Walker, Jenny Latimer, Jeffry Denman, Danielle Ferland and Erik Liberman in the 2012 Baltimore Center Stage-Westport Country Playhouse co-production
Sarah Stiles and Ivan Hernandez in the Shakespeare in the Park production
Amy Adams and Denis O'Hare in the Shakespeare in the Park production
Ivan Hernandez and Jessie Mueller in the Shakespeare in the Park production
Denis O'Hare, Noah Radcliffe and Donna Murphy in the Shakespeare in the Park production
The cast of Into the Woods at Shakespeare in the Park
The piece stars Obie Award winner Jodie Markell as propagandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose work in service of the Nazis defined the visual identity of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.