Into Which Woods?

One of Stephen Sondheim's most interesting and popular musicals, Into the Woods, a dark and thought-provoking variation on Grimm Brothers fairy tales, premiered in 1986 at the Old Globe in San Diego. It later transferred the following year to Broadway, where it became a success unusual for Sondheim during the bleak years of Andrew Lloyd Webber's reign.

In the Bay Area, we'll have two very different productions of it coming up. First in order and promise is San Francisco Playhouse's revival, June 28-Sept. 6 (previews beginning tonight), more about which below.

The other is an already controversial and somewhat Disney film version, set for release on Christmas Day. Directed by Rob Marshall, it stars Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Anna Kendrick, and Emily Blunt. Who could have a quarrel with that? Sondheim for starters, daring to take on the Disney Empire.

In the current issue of The New Yorker, Sondheim is quoted saying that the relationship between the Wolf and Red Riding Hood is returned to its asexual fairytale format and — the unkindest cut of all — Cinderella's Prince does not have an affair with the Baker's Wife. Therefore, the version kills (or modifies) the show's most complex and memorable songs, "Any Moment" and "Moments in the Woods" with lyrics such as:

Let us meet the moment unblushed.
Life is often so unpleasant,
You must know that, as a peasant.
Best to take a moment present
As a present, for the moment.

Here's an excerpt from The New Yorker article:

“Disney said, we don’t want Rapunzel to die, so we replotted it," Sondheim said. "I won’t tell you what happens, but we wrote a new song to cover it.”

[A teacher told Sondheim] she always tells her kids to be daring and original, but she has to put on bowdlerized versions of musicals, and she said she felt like a hypocrite.

“Can you let them read the original and then discuss why, say, Rapunzel is not allowed to die in the adulterated version?” Sondheim asked.

“We do that, but they just get angry. They feel censored — they don’t feel trusted.”

“And they’re right,” Sondheim said. “But you have to explain to them that censorship is part of our puritanical ethics, and it’s something that they’re going to have to deal with. There has to be a point at which you don’t compromise anymore, but that may mean that you won’t get anyone to sell your painting or perform your musical. You have to deal with reality.”

No such problems back at the Playhouse, where the unadulterated Into the Woods is being offered, complete and not made to conform to San Francisco's puritanical ethics.

Still, Director Susi Damilano is diverting from the original by introducing a Time-Traveling Boy, "a silent role, the baby [of the play] as the older boy, the idea being to make this the story of how he came to be," says Damilano.

The cast includes Louis Parnell as the Narrator, Safiya Fredericks as the Witch, El Beh (Baker’s Wife), Keith Pinto (Baker), Tim Homsley (Jack), Joan Mankin (Jack’s Mom), Monique Hafen (Cinderella), Becka Fink (Cinderella’s Stepmom), identical twins Lily and Michelle Drexler (Cinderella’s Stepsisters), Noelani Neal (Rapunzel), Corinne Proctor (Red), Ryan McCrary and Jeffrey Adams (Princes/Wolves), and John Paul Gonzales (Steward).

"Wolves?" Sondheim had only one — so, is Playhouse Disneyfying? The July 8 Music News will have the answer. Dave Dobrusky leads a seven-piece orchestra, Kimberly Richards is choreographer.

A final note about Streep, who has transformed herself into Margaret Thatcher, Anna Wintour, Julia Child, the Witch, and so on. Her next starring role will be as Maria Callas. Really. More about that later.