Theatre Arts: Into the Woods (October 2016)

Into the Woods will be performed

at Price Theatre on

Thursday, October 20, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 21, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 22, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 23, 2016, at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 28, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 29, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.

Into the Woods (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine) opened on Broadway in 1987, ran for 765 performances, and won the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score. 

A baker and his wife get involved with their neighbor (a witch) and with characters from traditional fairy tales—Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (-and-the-beanstalk), Rapunzel—with chaotic results.  By the end of Act One, all these characters get what they’ve wished for.  Then in Act Two, they face the consequences.

You’ll find many library resources for Into the Woods and other Stephen Sondheim musicals on our Sondheim Library Guide.  Here are a few (on the Upper Level of Lewis Library unless indicated--some may be temporarily on display on the main level):

DVD

• Into the Woods - Original production starring Bernadette Peters (call number DVD PN1997 .I551 1999)
• Into the Woods - 2014 film starring Meryl Streep (DVD PN1997 .I5945 2015)

Script

• Into the Woods (ML50 .S705 I5 1989)
• Also in Best American Plays:  Ninth Series (PS634 .B4 1993; lower level)

Vocal score – call number M1503 .S6974 I6 2010

Recordings

• Original Broadway cast on CD (call number CD M1505 .S694 I68 1991)
• You can also listen to this recording online from Naxos Musical Library
• Naxos also has the recording of the 2002 Broadway revival starring Vanessa Williams

Books include:

• Look I Made a Hat (ML 54.6 .S69 S662 2011) – Chapter 2  (pages 57-85) has all the lyrics from Into the Woods (including those cut or written for later productions) and Sondheim’s commentary
• Sondheim on Music (ML 401 .S6872 A5 2003) – Sondheim discusses Into the Woods in Chapter 3 (pp. 81-90)
• Sondheim & Co. (ML410 .S6872 Z2 1989)

For a biography of James Lapine, see this article from the Dictionary of Literary Biography database (vol. 341, 2008).

For articles, try the International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance database.