Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		2.0
Audio		1.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

Into the Woods Blu-ray Movie Review

A Minor Upgrade of a Sondheim Classic (Updated)

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 24, 2014

Into the Woods is probably the most popular work from the later phase of songwriter Stephen Sondheim's career, which began in 1984 with the quasi-autobiographical Sunday in the Park with George, Sondheim's first collaboration with playwright James Lapine. Sunday in the Park was respectfully received but generally regarded as rarefied and "artsy", which is not surprising for a play devoted to the 19th Century French painter Georges Seurat. (Later productions have revealed unexpected depth in both Lapine's book and Sondheim's score.) But the team's second collaboration, Into the Woods, was an unqualified hit in its first Broadway production in 1987. Successfully revived on Broadway in 2002, performed internationally, and now about to be released as a major holiday film adaptation by Disney, Into the Woods has become one of Sondheim's most beloved scores.

No doubt hoping to capitalize on the upcoming Disney film, Image Entertainment has dusted off its previous recording of the original 1987 production taped for the American Playhouse series on PBS and first broadcast in 1991. Image previously released this edition on DVD in 1997. Featuring the superb original cast under author Lapine's direction, this production of Into the Woods has been, for anyone lucky enough to see it, the yardstick by which all subsequent productions are measured. The crew who taped the performance for American Playhouse did an unusually fine job of capturing the texture of the live performances by a cast led by Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason, who won a Tony award for her work in the show.

Unfortunately, good as it is, the recording reflects the technology of the era: It is standard definition and has been upconverted for Blu-ray. Although the upconversion provides a marginal improvement over the previous DVD, there is little reason for owners of the DVD to replace their disc. For those new to the experience of Into the Woods, the Blu-ray would be worth checking out simply because the performances are as good as they come, except for audio issues that have come to light since this review was published (see the updated audio discussion below).

Leaving aside its other delights, Into the Woods is popular because it retells a series of familiar fairytales, overlapping and interweaving them in the process. Everyone knows the stories of Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel or Jack and the Beanstalk. Audience members who have heard that Sondheim writes shows for intellectuals can take their seats in the theater secure in the knowledge that they're about to be treated to an evening of familiar subject matter. And so indeed the play begins with a Narrator (Tom Aldredge), who steps out to intone those familiar words, "Once upon a time".

The central story that unites the tales is one largely invented by Lapine, although it sounds like something straight out of the Brothers Grimm. A Baker (Chip Zien) and his Wife (Joanna Gleason) wish for a child but suffer under a curse laid upon the Baker's family by a Witch (Bernadette Peters) who found the Baker's father robbing her garden when his mother was pregnant with his sister. The Witch offers to lift the curse, but only if the Baker and his Wife obtain four critical items for her: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold. (Since I don't know how the upcoming film will deal with this point, for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the show, I won't say what she wants them for.)

The Witch's demands will eventually bring the Baker and his Wife into contact with Jack (Ben Wright), who is selling his beloved cow, Milky White, and to whom the Baker offers magic beans left him by his father; with Red Riding Hood (Danielle Ferland), whose ruby cape the couple notices when she stops to buy sweets on her way to grandmother's house; with Rapunzel (Pamela Winslow), whose tower the Baker's Wife passes in the woods; and with Cinderella (Kim Crosby), who will also run into the Baker's Wife while fleeing from the pursuing Prince (Robert Westenberg) a/k/a "Cinderella's Prince" to distinguish him from his younger brother, "Rapunzel's Prince" (Chuck Wagner).

Confused? You won't be while watching Into the Woods. Taking advantage of the familiarity of each story, Sondheim and Lapine freely let each of these characters cross paths with others, then resume his or her predestined course. Red Riding Hood may chat with the Baker and his Wife, but she still meets the Wolf (Westenberg again, in elaborate makeup) for whom Sondheim has written a hilariously racy song as he anticipates the "carnality" of galloping ahead to grandmother's house to devour the youngster ("Hello, Little Girl"). Cinderella's Prince and Rapunzel's Prince engage in a duet of rivalry over who suffers more from unrequited love ("Agony"). Cinderella stops to chat with the Baker's wife about her ambivalence regarding the Prince ("A Very Nice Prince"), but then fulfills her story's requirement that she leave one slipper behind for the Prince to find ("On the Steps of the Palace"). Meanwhile, the Baker and his Wife struggle to satisfy the Witch's requirements before it's too late, and the Baker keeps encountering a Mysterious Man who speaks in riddles (Aldredge, in a second role).

The end of the first act confuses some viewers—at early previews, a few audience members thought the show was over and left—because all of the traditional fairy tales conclude, and the company sings about "happy ever after". Lapine has something new in mind for the second act, where he and Sondheim go beyond familiar fairy tales into unexplored territory. Happiness turns out to be boring. The familiar structures collapse, as the characters attack the Narrator and decide they don't want him telling their story. Narratives that should remain separate crash into each other. ("This is ridiculous", sings the Baker's Wife, "what am I doing here? I'm in the wrong story!") An ethical debate erupts among the characters ("Your Fault") as actions taken in the first act turn out to have disastrous consequences in the second. By the end of the play, no one is singing about "happy ever after". Instead, a much chastened (and smaller) group must resolve to work together to put together the pieces of their shattered lives and move forward. What began as a fairy tale has suddenly acquired a startling sense of immediacy ("You Are Not Alone").

The woods in Into the Woods are an ever-changing metaphor for life and experience. Both dangerous and necessary, generous and cruel, fierce and beautiful, they represent the world in all its unavoidable and messy complexity. Into the Woods is filled with parents who try to protect their children from the world and ultimately realize that it is impossible to do so. All they can do is arm them with lessons—lessons that often take the form of stories beginning with "Once upon a time".

Into the Woods Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The most noticeable artifacts of the upconversion from the standard definition source on Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray are minor aliasing at the foot of the stage in long shots, especially when the full stage is lit. Otherwise, the 1080p rendition of a standard-definition source looks reasonably good, with the caveat that upconversion cannot supply detail that wasn't there to begin with. The imaginative lighting design, which takes full advantage of the fairy tale setting to bathe the stage in strong colors or veil portions in darkness, is well conveyed by the Blu-ray format, as are the distinctive colors of the characters' costumes, which, except for Cinderella and her family, rarely change. If SD sources are to be upconverted, let them be done this way.

Into the Woods Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The live stereo recording has been encoded on the disc as DTS-HD MA 2.0. It sounds very good, with clear and distinct rendition of the actors' vocal delivery both when singing the often tongue-twisting lyrics ("A thicket's no trick. Is it thick?" "It's the thickest!" "The quickest is pick it apart with a stick." "Yes, but even one prick—it's my thing about blood." "Well, that's sick!") and in delivering the dialogue that slides subtly between storybook and contemporary idioms. The Broadway orchestra has been carefully mixed to serve its appropriate purpose as accompaniment so that it never overwhelms the lyrics or interferes with comprehension. If there's any criticism of the track, it's that the original recordings are somewhat limited in their dynamic range, with neither deep lows nor intense highs, and one cannot hear the kind of detail that Sondheim's long-time arranger, Jonathan Tunick, typically incorporates into his scores. Here again, Image cannot be blamed for the inherent limitations of thirty-year-old technology.

UPDATE on Dec. 16, 2014: Thanks to the prompting of a member of the Blu-ray.com forum, I have been alerted to the fact that the audio track used for the Blu-ray is not the same one that Image used for its DVD released in 1997. The DVD, which I did not have when I wrote this review but have since obtained, has distinct stereo separation, whereas the Blu-ray is essentially a mono mix, with just enough reverb and phase-shifting to prevent a DPL2 decoder from identifying the left and right channels to the center. On direct comparison, the DVD's track is immediately superior, even though it is a lossy encode. Inquiries to Image Entertainment are pending, but for now I have reduced the audio and overall scores accordingly.

Into the Woods Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc has no extras.

Into the Woods Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Into the Woods is a magical work, and the original Broadway cast was a magical ensemble. Image's Blu-ray presentation isn't magic,but it's the best record we have of that remarkable production. Recommended for the content. and until we have word about a better audio track, I cannot recommend this disc.