But then, in Act II, things start going south as the one-dimensional characters become complicated human beings for whom Rob Berman's notion of "the importance of community" is the only thing that can save them from themselves and from a revenge-seeking giant.Įnough about the plot. The glue that holds the disparate parts together is a pair of characters created by Lapine: the Baker and the Baker's Wife, a couple whose longing to have a child triggers the plot.Īct I begins with the words "Once Upon a Time" and ends, after a few adventures in the woods, with everyone seemingly enjoying their "happily ever after" promised by the fairy-tale format. Their well-known stories intermix in Lapine's smartly-written Tony-winning script.
#WAY TO THE WOODS COMPOSER FULL#
Since I mention bringing the kids, I should point out that the production, confidently directed by Lear deBessonet and performed by a starry cast, does demand a hefty attention span, running as it does to close to three hours, with every minute devoted to giving us the full story as laid out by bookwriter James Lapine.Īct I is all fairy tale as we meet up with familiar characters: Jack from "Jack and the Beanstalk," Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Rapunzel and the Witch. By all means, bring the kids for the show's fairy-tale roots (there were plenty of young children in the audience at the performance I attended), but don't be surprised if they have questions afterwards.
You can read more about Berman in Brian Scott Lipton's fine article in the show's Playbill, but one thing that stands out from that piece is a quote from the conductor, in which he takes particular delight in ending his tenure with Into the Woods, a show he says is "about the importance of community." It is that, but, as the character of Jack's mother (here played by Ann Harada) says in another context, Into the Woods is about "a lot of things," including parental abuse and neglect, self-justified lies, foolishness, greed, misogyny, infidelity, and sacrifice of self and of others. But truly, it could just as well be dedicated to long-time music director Rob Berman, who is stepping down from the podium where he has held glorious sway since 2008. The eminently polished Encores! production of Into the Woods at New York City Center has been dedicated to the musical's composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. (This conversation takes place starting at 11:29 in the video below.Theatre Review by Howard Miller - May 6, 2022 … It was a lot of fun to do the arrangement.”Ĭhoir director Mack Wilberg added, “One of the reasons that I thought that this might make a good selection for this concert is that the piece that followed it, which is by Prokofiev, ‘The Troika,’ there’s sort of a similarity in riding a sleigh and going through the woods.” And then he corrected himself with a laugh, continuing, “Wood-I always thought it was ‘Over the River and Through the Woods.’ I think everybody did but, I remember when I saw Ryan’s arrangement I said, ‘You’ve left the ‘s’ off of woods and he said, ‘No, this is correct.’” “I wanted to be true to the original in that respect,” added Murphy.
He explained, “We did what’s called “asymmetrical meter” in it, which makes it feel like it’s a little bit off-kilter. In a behind the scenes video about the Choir’s new Hallelujah! album, which features “Over the River and Through the Wood,” associate director Ryan Murphy discussed his new arrangement of the song.
Traditionally “Over the River and Through the Wood” is sung as a Thanksgiving song, in which the original lyrics say, “Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!” rather than “Hurrah for Christmas Day!” Another lyrical change was that the original poem read “Grandfather’s house” rather than “Grandmother’s house.” The original poem also contained 12 verses. The poem was published in Child’s book of poems Flowers for Children, Volume 2, and was originally titled “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day.” In time, Child’s poem was set to music by an unknown composer, and over the years many children have grown up singing the song in school or community holiday programs. “Over the River and Through the Wood” was originally published in 1844 as a poem written by Lydia Maria Child.
0 kommentar(er)
