8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 1.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
A baker and his wife journey into the woods in search of a cow, a red cape, a golden slipper and some yellow hair — all necessary to lift the curse that has kept them childless. They meet up with a cast of characters drawn from classic fairy tales in a modern re-imagining of those stories. From the original Broadway production of the musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
Starring: Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Tom Aldredge, Robert WestenbergMusical | 100% |
Comedy | 56% |
Fantasy | 20% |
Dark humor | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p (upconverted)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Image Entertainment has remastered its December 2, 2014 Blu-ray release of the Broadway taping of Into the Woods, after it was discovered that the original pressing contained a mono soundtrack rather than the stereo recording that appeared on the 1997 DVD. The remastered disc is identical in appearance and packaging to the original version and can be distinguished only by its UPC code, which is 0014381002539. It has a separate listing at Amazon, for which a link appears above this review. Purchased of the version with mono audio should contact inquiries@rljentertainment.com about obtaining a replacement. With minor updates, this review is largely identical to the one which appeared for the mono disc. The major difference is the audio discussion. Into the Woods is probably the most popular work from the later phase of 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 an Oscar-nominated film adaptation by Disney, Into the Woods has become one of Sondheim's most beloved scores. In advance of the Disney film, Image Entertainment dusted off the recording of the original Broadway production taped for the American Playhouse series on PBS and first broadcast in 1991. 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 is worth checking out, now that the audio has been corrected, simply because the performances are as good as they come.
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.
What a difference! As before, the encoding is DTS-HD MA 2.0, but the source is another story. From the moment the opening titles appear on screen, the superiority of the stereo recording is evident. The birds twittering in the background are split between left and right. When the orchestra springs to life after the Narrator says "Once upon a time", it is spread across the front soundstage, with the strings distinctly to the left and wind instruments to the right. With the vocal performances evenly focused between the two channels—a good ProLogic decoder should steer them to the center channel—the effect is to pop out the vocals slightly in front of the musical accompaniment, which is exactly where they should be. The mono mix attempted the same effect, but the stereo achieves it better. With the stereo separation, the actors' delivery of the lyrics, which was clear on the mono recording, is even clearer now. While the dynamic range of the orchestra is still somewhat limited by the source recordings, the clarity of the individual instruments is much improved. To put it simply: everything sounds better.
The disc has no extras.
Into the Woods is a magical work, and the original Broadway cast was a magical ensemble. Image's Blu-ray presentation isn't visually magic, but it's the best record we have of that remarkable production, and it now sounds good enough to be worth recommending. Especially for anyone who was disappointed by some of the omissions and elisions in the Disney film, which gave short shrift to portions of the musical's second act, this Blu-ray is a chance to see what the work's creators originally intended without having to wait for a theatrical revival in your hometown. Recommended.
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