Stellar voices breathe musical life into iconic fairy tale characters

We directed the 2007 Manila production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into The Woods,” starring some of the country’s best musical-theater talents. So, listening to the soundtrack recording of Rob Marshall’s screen version of the Tony-winning stage classic was an exhilarating trip down memory lane for us—yes, including our decision to replace the “difficult” actress initially cast in the role of Cinderella’s mother with a floating puppet—but, that’s another story!

Of course, there’s nothing more thrilling than seeing characters you know so well come alive on the big screen—but, as we listened to the album, our imagination went into overdrive!

Even for the “theatrically” uninitiated, the premise of “Into The Woods” is hard to resist. In the movie musical (it opens on Jan. 28), familiar characters from different Brothers Grimm stories come together when the Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) go into the woods to find the four ingredients for the potion needed to reverse the curse of the vengeful Witch (Meryl Streep), whose magic beans were stolen by the Baker’s father.

The childless couple needs “a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, a slipper as pure as gold and hair as yellow as corn”—but, they only have three days to get them—from Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk” (Daniel Huttlestone), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy)!

There’s the Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp), Jack’s mother (Tracey Ullman), the Wicked Stepmother (Christine Baranski) and her cruel daughters, the Mysterious Man (Simon Russell Beale), Little Red’s Granny (Annette Crosbie), and the dashing princes (Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen) of Cinderella and Rapunzel!

Melodic complexity

Marshall delivers a carefully calibrated jump from stage to screen, utilizing movie stars without compromising the musical’s high-wire melodic complexity. Getting Streep onboard has turned out to be the fuel that keeps the movie musical’s motor running!

It would have been reckless to let an actor “just” “character-sing” Cinderella’s “On The Steps Of A Palace,” Jack’s “Giants in the Sky” or Little Red’s “I Know Things Now”—because, while their lyrics are deceptively fun-filled, frothy and feisty, their tricky melodies are extremely difficult to perform—in fact, Kendrick’s stunning trills in the Prologue are nothing short of breathtaking!

When Pine’s self-obsessed Prince Charming seduces the adorable Blunt in “Any Moment,” it isn’t hard to believe that he’s truly capable of sweeping the Baker’s Wife off her feet—because the dashing actor sings his song with narcissistic gusto and panache!

An initial concern was the casting of Depp, whose notes in “Hello, Little Girl” were adjusted to suit his low range—but, he doesn’t do badly, either—perhaps because Marshall wanted to diffuse the potentially contentious “sexual tension” between his character and his adolescent prey—this Wolf is more ravenous than lascivious.

Yes, we’ve been singing Streep’s praises for years now—and with good reason: You’d have to be musically inept or tone-deaf not to marvel at the iconic actress’ ability to turn Sondheim’s knotty notes and melodic convolutions into soaring, stirring, emotion-packed arias—from her rousingly sinister rap number in the Prologue to her gentle pleas, musical growls and bursts of anger in “Stay With Me,” as she rages against Rapunzel’s perceived betrayal!

Blunt will bring a lump to your throat when she reminds the scared widower about fatherhood and the “people who will leave us halfway through the woods”—followed by Streep’s stirringly rendered (and beautifully sung) “Children Will Listen.”

For Streep and company, life may not be a series of “Happily Ever Afters”—but, their musical reminds us that, with the help of the people we love, we shouldn’t be afraid of going “into the woods”—and finding our way out!