About the work
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical was premiered on Broadway in 1987 and weaves together several of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales into a multi-layered story about wishes and their consequences. The work is regarded as one of the most intelligent musicals in American theatre history.
Plot
A baker and his wife must break a witch's curse by procuring four magical objects from various fairy tales: Cinderella's slipper, Little Red Riding Hood's cape, Rapunzel's hair and Jack's magic beans. In the first act all the stories end happily. In the second act a giantess returns to take revenge for her slain husband, and the "happily ever after" shatters. The survivors learn that responsibility and community matter more than the fulfilment of individual wishes.
Cultural significance
Into the Woods deconstructed the fairy-tale genre with musical and dramaturgical brilliance and became a model for the postmodern reworking of classic material. Sondheim's score and the philosophical depth of the work make it a key text of modern music theatre.