#emily blunt

Emily Blunt

AsPhilandAngela have said already today Into the Woods is the strongest touchstone of our youth. No matter how old we got or far apart we grew, if someone popped in that worn and warped old VHS of the Original Broadway Cast recording (usually once or twice a month) we would all eventually drift in and sit, laughing and singing, until we were all enthralled by the end of the performance. It’s probably the clearest example of something that we universally agree on and love. Into the Woods is also a fitting allegory for our little experiment this past year. We all set out with our own ideas and our own goals. We started on different paths in the same wood but as the year went on we drew closer and closer winding in and out of each other’s stories and by the end we were a stronger family then when we started.

How appropriate then that the silver screen adaptation of our unifying cinematic experience gets released in the last week of our year long journey. All in all, the new movie was a thoroughly satisfying experience. I hope that it will serve as a gateway to the brilliant stage performance and the full musical the PBS recording/stage production provides. At the very least it’s a totally acceptable way to introduce those who would never see the show to the power and awesomeness of one of the world’s best musicals.

If it isn’t apparent from the songs themselves, Sondheim is a total genius. He’s so smart in fact that he has weaved a musical puzzle throughout the score of Into the Woods just to keep himself entertained. What am I talking about? Well! As anyone who’s seen the musical knows the Witch and her beans are critical components of the story. The Witch has a dissonant chord of five notes that follows her throughout the story. Now those are the same five notes that make up the main theme and most iconic melody for Into the Woods, only played all at one time. Each one of these notes represents one of the beans the baker sells to Jack and as each bean is used and resolved, those notes drop from the Witch’s chord. As if that wasn’t enough the spiritual finale of the show ‘No one is alone’ serves as the end of the story of the beans. Fittingly, Sondheim inverts the lead melody representing the beans and the which, playing it backwards to form the melody on the line ‘People make mistakes’. It’s ingenious, tricky, beautiful, and done ON TOP of everything else he lovingly created JUST BECAUSE HE CAN. Amazing.

As good as the original is, we’re all very happy with Anna Kendrick’s Cinderella, Emily Blunt as the Baker’s Wife, and most delightfully Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen as the agonized princes. The film is certainly a Disney-fied version of what is a distinctly non-disney (anti-disney?) musical but ultimately it works. Meryl Streep even manages her version of the witch well but no one, NO ONE will ever match Bernadette Peters when it comes to this song:

Ultimately the Into the Woods movie was an utterly satisfying experience even to those of us who hold the musical near and dear to our hearts.

This year we’ve gone farther than we thought we could and we did it together. Not just the three of us though: we ALL did it together. Without you all, our readers, we might have given up a long time ago. Just as in the show, though this particular journey is at an end, our happily ever after isn’t over. This coming year will be our third act and we’re counting on all of you to help make it happen. Like in the story this site went from a little to a lot and now we’re hoping for something in between. Please stay tuned for a lot more we’ve been chomping at the bit to talk to you about and thank you so much for sharing our labor of love and walking with us through the woods.

As for me, I’m so thankful for this stupid little idea we had. I don’t know if I’ve found myself or if that really was the point but I can honestly say I’ve found something better: I’ve found my family again. To say Phil, Angela, and I didn’t always get along is quite the understatement but this past year I’ve talked more, laughed more, learned more, and drawn closer to my loving, funny, beautiful family than I ever have before. So thank you all for working so hard. Thank you for all the insight and laughs. Thank you for being my friends when I really needed friends. I love you all and I can’t wait to get started on our ever after.

-Andrew

It’s hard to believe that my favorite musical has finally made its way onto the big screen. As Phil said, we’ve been obsessing over every detail for over a year now. Our family tradition is to go see a movie on Christmas Day and there was no debate over what our choice would be this year.

Into the Woods weaves together several classic fairy tales. We see Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel all in the same story. But how do you connect them? Easy. Invent a witch!

The witch on the big screen is played by Meryl Streep. Hailed by many to be the greatest living actress, I personally think she is the worst. Most of the time, I cannot stand her performances. She doesn’t really seem to understand subtlety or nuance and that really gets to me. So needless to say, I was majorly upset when I heard she had been cast. But I’m glad to report that she was fine as the witch. That’s about the highest praise I can give. I’m so used to Bernadette Peters as the role that it’s hard not to compare. Streep did interpret the character a little differently, but she’s worked on her vocals a lot since Mama Mia (because UGH that was terrible) . So all in all, I wasn’t mad at the end of the film concerning her, and that’s pretty good.

Anyway, the witch is the connecting factor between all the stories. She cast a spell of infertility upon her neighbors, the Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt). In order to reverse the curse, they must retrieve four items before three days has passed: the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold.

It’s through this adventure that we meet the other characters of the story. Cinderella is played by the wonderful and always fantastic Anna Kendrick. Kendrick has made a series of musical films lately and she’s definitely on the right track. I’m sure she doesn’t want to only do musicals, but she has a natural talent for it. Her performance as Cinderella is charming to say the least. This Cinderella is much less passive that the classical telling and I’m all for that! As you all know, I love a strong female. While the typical love story is still present, we see a much more level headed princess who doesn’t get swept away by “happily ever after”.

Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) is the proud owner of a cow named Milky White. Huttlestone really knocked me off my feet in Les Miserables. For one so young, he has such a strong presence. This is no less true in Into the Woods. As a naturally curious boy, Jack enters the world of the giants, much to his mother’s (played ever so perfectly by Tracy Ullman) dismay. The transition from poverty to riches at the hand of the giants is not lost on Jack’s mother who eventually comes around to his involvement with the giants. Little do they know how much small acts of thievery will effect everyone.

Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) must face her wolf (Johnny Depp) deep in the woods. On her way to her grandmother’s house, she meets the creature bent on her demise. Red is another strong female character and my personal favorite. Although she survives the wolf only with the Baker’s help, she evaluates what has happened and actually learns from it. She is feisty and funny and I’ll always want to be her.

The highlight of the film for me was the duet between the two princes, Cinderella’s prince (Chris Pine) and Rapunzel’s prince (Billy Magnussen). Brothers who are always in competition with each other, they play off one another perfectly. They escalate their bravado with every new phrase and I haven’t laughed so hard in a while.

Fairy tales are stories meant to inspire us to find happiness. At least that’s how we view them now. But when these tales were written, they often held much darker moral teachings. Stephen Sondheim in his infinite brilliance returns to this idea after “Happily Ever After” in the second half of Into the Woods. We see that things are often not happy at all. Fairy tales last only for a little while and then life gets in the way. Our choices effect those around us, hurting the ones we love and doing things we thought we could never do.

While the Broadway version is plenty dark, Disney made a few choices to lighten the mood in small ways. There are fewer deaths, no unwed pregnancies, no sexual affairs. And for a family friendly movie, I’m fine with it. I understand why they scaled back on the dark tone of the second act. It was sad to see a few of my favorite songs cut, but it’s hard to fit it all in a feature film.

Visually, the film was stunning. Rob Marshall definitely has a way with visuals and this movie is no exception. It’s lavish without looking fake. There is CGI, but it’s sporadic. The woods look and feel like woods. What more could we ask for? The orchestration was also totally on point. It was a beautiful adaptation of the original score, weaving in songs that didn’t make the cut in with the songs that did. The cast is fantastic and all of them play their parts well. I was majorly impressed with the vocals of a few of the cast members who I didn’t know could even sing, especially Chris Pine.

Even with all the changes, the movie itself was enjoyable and true to the spirit of Into the Woods. Life may seem perfect, but it never is. Tales are just stories, not real life. Life is hard, but worth the journey.

-Angela