Parody Of Into The Woods By James Lapine

Into the woods is a play created around 1980’s to 1990’s by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. This musical has won an Academy Award, eight Tony, eight Grammys and a ton more. Stephen Sondheim wrote the music/lyrics and was directed by James Lapine, who also he wrote the book (dialogue). Into the woods was a like watching a movie and watching a secual of a movie, but it was only one. Into the woods is a musical that has a lot of famous characters from Disney movies which makes act one look like a parody. James Lapine did an excellent job directing this musical, and transmitted his message and manage to make us laugh.

Into the wood is a two act pay, one act is comedy and the other act is a drama. It has a lot of popular characters from Disney movies. It has Cinderella, red riding hood, Rapunzel, and jack from the magic beans movie. By adding this characters and having them perform in a similar way to the main movies but a funny was it looks like act 1 is a parody of Disney movies. Stephen Sondheim wrote the music/lyrics and was directed by James Lapine, who also he wrote the

book (dialogue). The plot also make this look two different plays because in play one there is a problem and there is a solution and it repeats in act two. Act one the plot was not dramatic, there was not really a full or clear climax. In act two there was a clearer climax (when jack decides to return and kill the giant). In my opinion part one was really funny and maybe was setting all the background story for act two and therefore there was not a big changing plot. The production concept was to make a funny story and also transmit an important message to the audience and in my opinion they succeeded in doing this, this movie was funny and it thought me that life it’s just like riddles in the wood. I think Stephen Sondheim did a fantastic job with the lyrics, they communicated the story and also were very catching songs. Probably one of my favorites lines was at the beginning when the witch goes to the baker’s shop and she start singing and then one of the lines she says “I said Fair is fair can can Let me have the baby that your wife will bare, and we call it square” (8.50). This line was catchy, it was informative which is something that the lyrics do all throughout the musical. I don’t really agree with the book as much as I do with the music and jokes because understanding the theme is really hard, but with assistance of other experts it can be achieved. Woods and a lot of things in the play reflect scattered, which means that the life of these people interconnect with each other. Also the costumes and lighting designers did a well job into transmitting the message because it made it appear that everything was linking with each other.

James Lapine did a good job in making a funny movie and with an important message. The choreographer did an outstanding work in making all the characters interweaving with each other and transmitting the idea of trouble, and life. The scenic designer made the woods look like they all associated with each other, and the dark scenery made them look scary. The costume designer used rough materials that let us see the waving and the lighting designer used gobos to show us some roots scattered in the floor, also the change of lighting made it look like every scene different even if taken in the same place. The sound designer is what brought a smile in my face. the sounds when the baker and jack interchanged the beans for the cow, when the witch made a spell, and all the background music. These sounds sometimes sound cartoonish which made the play even funnier. In my judgement the best actors were Joanna Gleason as baker’s wife, and Bernadette Peters as the witch. In my opinion these actors were fantastic in transmitting the idea of being funny, they were dynamic, energetic and looked natural throughout the play. Jerome Herbert as the baker did not do an excellent job job in acting, he looked a little awkward but it doesn’t mean that he did bad, one part that I liked was when he found the lost cow and he was in a hurry so he graved the cow from the handle and ran, I liked the way he transmitted the energy in the scene it made it look so spontaneous and it made me laugh. I found fascinating that these actors played multiple characters, the costumes where so astonishing that I didn’t notice it.

Into the wild had a dep message while still manage to be a really funny story.

I feel that James Lapine accomplish in making us learn, laugh and feel a sense of gratitude that no other movies do. The lyrics were really good, they manage be really meaningful, and really catchy. Since this movie was recorded live, I notice the importance of the audience in theater, I recognized that the audience behavior affected the performance of the actors. I find the importance that the designer had, and they did an exceptional job in making us get the message.

I may only watch one play but these totally appear to be two different plays, one was funny the other one was meaning full. It made me laugh and I could say that I got the message that they were trying to transmit. Life is complicated, and is dark just how the woods tend to be, and there will be other around with us having the same

problems.