Comparing James Lapine And Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods

The book by James Lapine and the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Into the Woods greatly compare and contrast with one another. I love how both elements drive along the story and keep it moving forward. Lets look at the first scene for example. We have a narrator overlapping with the music and speaking parts of the characters. It catches the audiences attention and leads to smooth transitions.The music intertwines the fairtale plots that are originally written by the Brothers Grimm, but James Lapine incorporates their plots for Into the Woods into a musical adaptation that makes sense and explores themes surrounding each characters choices, desires, and the resulting consequences. Without the storyline being rewritten the music and lyrics wouldn't make sense.

I absolutely love how James completely renovated the classic tales.

I feel like character is the most important element in this play because it is through the characters we understand the message fully of this story. Each character represents life struggles and the consequences of trying to get what we want. Into the woods can be seen as a metaphor for life and the deeper we get into it, the harder decisions become, the more enemies we potentially can make, and the sacrifices our decisions cause. It is easy to see that literary and musical components nicely compliment each other in this play. The music becomes more intense at the right times, the music during scenes where a character is telling a story of what they learned is incorporated nicely. An example of what I am talking about is seen in Little Red Riding Hoods, “I Know Things Now”. She sings it with her light hearted innocence, but as she gets to the parts in her song where she describes the more macabre lessons she has learned, the music gets more minor, but then she comes back to her light heartless by the end of the song. Absolutely

brilliant!
I Loved this musical and it is one of my favorites because there are so many characters’s whose problems are just so relatable and it teaches you about life lessons that are important to acknowledge. Into the Woods is not as much about fantasy as it is about reality. I touched upon the overarching theme briefly in the beginning paragraph, but thematically it is trying to show the audience that 'No One Is Alone’. The notion that you're not alone because all of your actions affect everybody else, and you can't run away from the consequences of those actions. Humans are unavoidable ably interconnected. This personally speaks to me because I am always conscious before I make designs because I empathically feel the affects it causes. The characters in Act I tried to act like their lives were their lives and their decisions were not going to impact others. The Baker's Wife during her 'moment in the wood’ is an example of this. The good news that is offered as a lesson at the end of the play is that by working together, and forming a strong community, problems do not become overbearing for just an individual to conquer. There is strength in working together. Fun Fact! I actually was cast as Little Red Riding hood when I was 12 at a professional theatre in LA!