Into The Woods: Secrets Behind the New Disney Fairytale

Into The Woods has a screenplay that will have you reciting lines forever after, thanks to literary genius James Lapine penning his magical words for both the original stage musical and the big screen adaptation. Read the secrets behind this master wordsmith’s magic here…

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James Lapine’s landmark musical, Into the Woods, which he wrote with composer Stephen Sondheim, hits cinemas on January 8, 2015. The highly acclaimed writer, who wrote the screenplay for the original 1987 hit musical Into the Woods, as well as the film adaptation, has written and directed plays, documentaries and feature filmswith a scroll full of awards to show for his talents. He received an Emmy nomination for the HBO documentary Six by Sondheim, has been nominated for 12 Tony Awards, winning three, and has received five Drama Desk Awards, the Peabody Award and the Pulitzer Prize. If that’s not impressive enough, in 2011, he was also inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

Writer James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim at the world premiere of Into the Woods in New York. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Copyright.

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Here, Writer James Lapine reveals…

… What his story, Into the Woods, is all about

“Into the Woods is a story about wanting, wishing and hoping. It begins as a story about individuals, in this case Cinderella, the Baker and his Wife, Jack from the beanstalk and a Witch. Each of them individually wants something. It’s a story about how they go about getting what they want on their own and how later they are forced to stand up collectively to do something that’s in the best interests of everyone.”

The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) meet Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) and his cow, Milky Way, in the Woods. Based on the 1987 Broadway Musical Into the Woods, the big screen adaptation is a modern musical twist to the Brothers Grimm fairy tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish for a child, and a witch who has put a curse on them. © 2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

… How the idea of combining fairy tales came to him

“The genesis for Into the Woods began in the early ‘80s. I had always been interested in fairy tales and Jungian psychology, and the idea of doing a fairy tale as a musical was very interesting to me and to [composer] Stephen Sondheim. I set out to write an original fairy tale, but since fairy tales are by nature short, I soon realised that expanding one into a full-length show was stretching it beyond what it was meant to be. Fairy tales are not about deep character development. Then I hit upon the idea of taking several fairy tales and putting them together with an original tale, which became our story of the Baker and his Wife. My frame of reference for fairy tales was the Grimm and Perrault stories, while Sondheim was mostly familiar with them through the animated movies.”

… Why he turned Into the Woods into a musical

“I wrote the first scene, which interweaves the three main stories and found it rather sprawling. I told Steve [composer Stephen Sondheim] I didn’t think there was any way to musicalize this, which was a great way to get him to do it because no one loves an impossible challenge more than Stephen Sondheim. And he turned around and wrote that wonderful opening number, and we were off and running.”

… The most important theme in the story

“Be careful what you wish for. We don’t think enough about what we want… I think we know we want X, Y and Z, but we don’t think about why we want it and how our lives might change if we succeed in getting it. The story is about the consequences of our actions, no matter how small they might be.”

… The metaphor of the Woods

“The Woods are a place of discovery. That place we go to in order to face ourselves, to face the difficulties of life and to test our mettle. The Woods is the place outside our comfort zone – the place where we are tested and are confronted with forces beyond our control and discover the strength within ourselves to survive.”

… Working with Composer Stephen Sondheim

“Working with Steve is just a fantastic experience. There is no one more fun or stimulating. I actually think we proved to be excellent collaborators. It’s very important for Steve to make sure that his music and lyrics meld with the spoken word and the story that’s being told. He has an extraordinary ability to get inside a character’s head and to speak in their voice; to take dialogue and monologues and turn them into song. His work is going to live on for a very long time because it is always revealing itself in interesting and complicated ways and speaks not only with great wisdom and intellect, but also with a very big heart. There’s a sense of humour in what he does but also a sense of passion that touches people. Music reaches people in a way that is ineffable. You can’t describe in words the effect music has on us, and Steve brings that element of emotion and joy and pain and mystery to every score.”

Writer James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim at the world premiere of Into the Woods in New York. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Copyright.

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