Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?- Page 2
Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
#25re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:15am
The production was a travesty to Sondheim and musical theatre.
And you think of all of the things you've seen, and you wish that you could live in between ,and you're back again only different than before...
After the Sky.
-Into the Woods (Jack)
BillFinn
Broadway Star Joined: 10/26/03
#26re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:50am
When Williams left, Broadway.com posted a rumor that Gloria Estefan was going to takeover for the Witch and then a few days later, they announced they were going to close. It was right around New Years I believe.
Stephen DeRosa and Kerry O'Malley were two of the strongest links in the cast. Don't believe what people are saying prior.
I think the problem was two-fold: 1) the original musical was still fresh in our minds and that was a stellar cast and 2) letting James Lapine direct it AGAIN.
Not that I'm saying Kerry O'Malley was a poor choice for the Baker's Wife. She certainly fit the "younger cast" vision James had going. However, in final callbacks, they could have had Carolee Carmello... Jessica Molaskey... and a few other big names. There was a rumor going that they wanted Billy Porter for the Witch, but the producers put their foot down.
It was just a very muddled production with no clear angle or purpose in telling the story. Every joke and bit was cheapened. They cut lyrics that didn't need to be cut. Added skipping and pole dancing, versus musical staging.
Bill Finn rocks. Woot.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#27re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 7:01ami hope i live to see a fullscale revival, done with heart & soul.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#28re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 7:11amyikes, triple post! Updated On: 1/21/08 at 07:11 AM
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#29re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 7:13amditto, dollface Updated On: 1/21/08 at 07:13 AM
#30re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 7:30am
I saw both productions with their full original casts. The 1987 show was indeed something magical, fun, and at times unexpected.
The 2002 revival (which earned even better reviews than the original) had some inventive new staging ideas but - some worked, some didn't - but overall the cast wasn't always as stong. Vanesssa Williams was fine but unremarkable as the Witch but Laura Benanti was an amazing Cinderella. It was not in any way a disaster and it did win the 2002 Best Musical Revival Tony Award.
The revival happend at the same time Washington was hosting its Sondheim Celebration which may have upstaged it some.
Still nothing matched The Stratford Festival production in the summer of 2005.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#31re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 7:54am
It was an astonishingly dull production.
Only John McMartin, Christopher Sieber, and Laura Benanti truly hit the spot.
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#32re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:13amWhen I saw the show, I was just happy to see a revival of Into the Woods on Broadway because I was obsessed with the show at the time. I bought the cast recording beforehand even though I already had the original broadway cast recording. I remember being less than enthralled by the cast recording but I had a blast at the show itself (maybe cuz Vanessa Williams was out that day). Looking back, I question all of the changes that were made (i.e. The Three Little Pigs)
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#33re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:39am
Have you forgotten Chad Kimball's performance as Milky-White the cow? He was very funny and I think he was one of the best things about the revival. He made the audience see why Jack cares so much about his cow.
By the way, I personally think that Joanna Gleason overdoes some lines in the taped performance (Her delivery of "We are moving" at the beginning of Act Two was too big for me).
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Ole Chum
Leading Actor Joined: 12/6/07
#34re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:50am
I saw the revival, not the original, and I found it fun but unmemorable.
That said, I thought Vanessa Williams was great. Very smooth, not all that exciting, but great voice, great delivery, beleivable... thought she was a highlight.
Also have to add that Chad Kimball was alot of fun and I remember thinking Laura Benanti's understudy was OK. And dont forget Marylouise Burke who is amazing in everything she does!
#35re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:59amIt was the second show I saw on Broadway and I absolutely loved it. I thought the cast was great and thought the production was wonderful as well. But I know I am in the minority, but I just loved it so much.
"A well-rounded performer will listen to all kinds of music. I like classical, Middle Eastern, and rock a lot." -- Patti LuPone
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#36re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 11:08am
How could I forget Chad Kimball. He was awesome.
"By the way, I personally think that Joanna Gleason overdoes some lines in the taped performance (Her delivery of "We are moving" at the beginning of Act Two was too big for me)."
What? Too big? That part was hilarious.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
ElFantasma14
Broadway Star Joined: 9/26/06
#37re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 12:01pmHate to threadjack, but I just recently picked up the DVD of the original production, and I cannot stop watching it. It is seriously the most enchanting and interesting musical I have ever seen. My question is, how did it not last longer? To my knowledge the original production played a healthy run of about 700 performances, but such a production surely deserved to run for years and years. Bernadette Peters was perfection, as was Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, oh hell everyone in that cast was amazing. I don't understand why this hasn't become a musical comparable to Phantom.
#38re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 12:18pmThe Wedding Singer had a better run then this piece of crap!
He's a faker, and you've been taken in by his con. And in doing so, you are enabling him. He is doing more damage to aspergers than papa's words ever could. -Chane/Liverpool on me having asperger syndrome.
#39re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 12:45pm
The main problem with the revival is that they fought the natural flow of the book too much. They tried not to be a copy of the original cast, and not look like they were copying all those brilliant original line readings (who can blame them?)
Unfortunately, the way they tried to accomplish this was to ignore the natural intent of the writing. Lines that were specifically written to be funny were either played as serious, or glossed right over. They then tried to add humor to lines that were not written to be funny. I spent the whole night thinking, "hey! Ya missed a great joke right there!"
Vanessa was good, as were the princes. The rest of the cast were sooo wrong. I completely agree with the people who say that Crosby nailed Cinderella, while Benanti just sang it well, but boringly.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#40re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 12:52pm
"How does a date answer the question WHY?"
Wow... I am COMPLETELY losing it. Both times I looked at it, I could have sworn it said "WHEN."
I even thought it was a strange question, and still misread it. Too many glasses of pinot grigio last night I guess...
Nevermind. 
#41re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 1:15pmI think Vanessa was good. Everything else was bad. Especially Adam Wylie.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
DrTheatre
Broadway Star Joined: 9/23/05
#42re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 1:27pm
I saw both productions and produced a regional production myself. We did my production just before the revival and I remember making a comment to my director at one time saying "Wouldn't this be nice to have a big giant book at the end to kind of close the show" he laughed and said that would be fun, if we were doing a more of a "family" version. Then two days later I read that it was coming to The Ahamnson Theater and James Lapine mentioned he wanted to make it more a family musical. That is what Sondheim and Lapine wanted, to still somewhat keep the dark angels (as best as possible) but be able to bring your kids to see the show. And that is what they did. The original production, not many people wanted to bring their kids (no should they), so yeah, they wanted a more family friendly version, and they got it.
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You can have your say,
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To the head of the line-
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---Stephen Sondheim
#43re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 1:28pmBut we got a bunch of great Gilmore Girl bits out of Adam Wylie being in the show...
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
#44re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 1:53pm
I bought the revival recording, but I only listen to it for the (mostly) cool revisions to the score (I love the humms added to the opening number).
But Vanessa Williams was too evil, the princes didn't have chemistry, the Baker and his Wife were boring... the problems go on (although the kid who played Little Red was good).
And why did this production win Best Revival over the glorious OKLAHOMA! revival?
Which is my main reasoning that the committee will choose SOUTH PACIFIC this awards year (if SP and SITPWG both get good reviews).
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
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-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
theatreguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/31/03
#45re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 2:41pmVanessa Williams left one week before the show closed because that is when her contract ended. The producers decided to run the show one extra week (through New Year's) so they could hopefully get a little extra money before the closing. I believe it was Linda Mugleston who finished out the run as the Witch.
#46re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 3:11pm
The root of the problem of the revival (and count me among those who felt it was a mess) lies with James Lapine. If the producers (and James Lapine as author) wanted to revive the show, they simply should have passed the reigns to another director. Asking a director to come back twenty years after the original production to create a revival with a *new* concept rarely if ever works.
And James Lapine, by his own admission, had no idea what more to do with the material. He was clueless going into casting, and it became something of an inside joke on Broadway because virtually everyone on Broadway had been seen and called back for every role (when Emily Skinner and Daphne Rubin Vega are called in for the same role, you know you've got a director with concept crisis).
As it was, at the final callbacks, Lapine basically had two sets of actors for each role. One, who closely echoed the original casting choices (Caitlin Hopkins, Stephen DaRosa) and one that were radically different (Kerry O'Malley, Kevin Chamberlain).
Even then, Lapine couldn't make up his mind which direction he wanted to go in and so he compromised by picking half and half.
It was a poor decision, because what he ended up with was a cast that was mostly either an inferior copy or what felt like a random, bizarre choice for their role. *As a side note this is how the production ended up with two wolves – both Sieber and Edelman – originally up for the same role inevitably had a contract with Prince/Wolf stipulated in the role category.*
It didn't help that Vanessa Williams (who I thought was both funny and captivating in SPIDER WOMAN) just didn't have a distinct enough personality to spear head the production. When the most memorable member of the cast is the actor in a rubber cow suit, you know you've got problems.
Nothing about the revival was an improvement on the original, or even near its equal. Not the cast, not the unnecessary book changes, not the design - nothing.
Nobody much cared for it - and I truly believe its Tony Revival win was as much a salute to Sondheim (and the fact that the show originally lost to PHANTOM) as it was more a deliberate snub to OKLAHOMA (an inferior Broadway transfer of a British revival of THE American Musical). INTO THE WOODS was also supposed to tour - which pulled the regional Tony voters.
As for the production's box office failure - it was probably based partly on mediocre word of mouth and partly on the marketing which attempted to sell the show to family, Disney-style audiences. And WOODS even in this milquetoast production has never been that kind of show.
The revival was also highly unnecessary. Its performed all over the country by high schools and community theatres. To bring it back to Broadway successfully, it really needed an exciting excuse. A fantastic production radically different than the original (something akin to the strange and fascinating original London production perhaps?)
Anyway - I bet the show gets revived again in a few more years. Maybe John Doyle will do it.
Updated On: 1/21/08 at 03:11 PM
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#47re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 3:21pm
Anyway - I bet the show gets revived again in a few more years. Maybe John Doyle will do it.
Didn't he already do a production of it?
#48re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:02pm
Wasn't this around the time when Benanti was having some issues with the cast?
I can't believe Daphne Rubin-Vega and Emily Skinner were both called back for the same role. Was it the Baker's Wife? I somehow assumed that they always intended to cast a big star as the Witch. Was Williams their number one choice?
Someone posted pictures for a production a while ago, can't remember who did it but it had this operatic quality to it. Very fairy-tale like too. It had some of the most gorgeous designs I've seen. I'd like to see THAT on Broadway.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#49re: Why did the last revival of Into The Woods close?
Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:11pm
There was a very interesting Canadian production a few years ago. It was all snow and style.
INTO THE WOODS
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
Updated On: 1/21/08 at 05:11 PM
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