Into the Woods Report.

Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic 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 to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them. Some people think that “Into the Woods” is like a Disney story but eventually it’s not , while it appears that Disney does have a monopoly over characters like Cinderella and Rapunzel, the story was not born out of the mouse House, but the studio is producing it. “Into the Woods” is based on the idea of “Once upon a time”, but no actual Disney characters. These are completely different characters, all coming from Stephen Sondheim’s 1986 musical of the same name.

Stephen Sondheim
American composer Stephen Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, in New York City. After early practice at songwriting, his knowledge of musical theater was influenced by master lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who served as a mentor. Sondheim's contributions to West Side Story and Gypsy in the 1950s brought him recognition as a rising star of Broadway. Known for the startling complexity of his lyricism and music, his major works for the theater also include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods.
Early Life and Musical Interests of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, in New York City. His parents, Herbert and Janet (née Fox) Sondheim, worked in New York's garment industry; his father was a dress manufacturer and his mother was a designer. They divorced in 1942 and Sondheim moved to Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his mother. He began studying piano and organ at a young age, and he was already practicing songwriting as a student at the George School. In Pennsylvania, Sondheim became friends with the son of Broadway lyricist and producer Oscar Hammerstein II, who gave the young Sondheim advice and tutelage in musical theater, and served as a surrogate father during a time of tumult. In his teens, Sondheim had penned a satire about his school, the musical By George!, which he thought his mentor would love and thus asked for feedback. Hammerstein in fact thought the project needed tons of work and offered honest criticism, which Sondheim would later see as invaluable. Sondheim also worked as an assistant on 1947's Allegro, one of Hammerstein's theater collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, with the experience having long-lasting implications on the young composer's approach to his work.Sondheim attended Williams College, where he majored in music. After graduating from the school in 1950, he studied further with avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt and moved to New York City.
James Lapine
JAMES LAPINE was born in Mansfield, Ohio and lived there until his early teens when his family moved to Stamford, Connecticut. He attended public schools before entering Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he majored in History. He went on to get an MFA in Design from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.After graduate school, he moved to New York City where he worked part-time as a waiter; a page and tour guide at NBC; a free-lance photographer and graphic designer; and an architectural preservationist for the Architectural League of NY. One of his free-lance jobs was designing the magazine of the Yale School of Drama, Yale/Theater. The dean of the School of Drama, Robert Brustein subsequently offered Lapine a full-time job designing all of the printed materials for the School of Drama and the Yale Repertory Theatre as well as a faculty position teaching a course in advertising design. While at Yale, his students urged him to direct a play during the annual January period when both faculty and students undertook a project outside of their areas of study or expertise. At their suggestion Lapine directed a Gertrude Stein play, PHOTOGRAPH. The play was five acts, and just three pages in length. Assembling students and friends, it was presented in New Haven and came to the attention of director Lee Breuer, who helped arrange for a small performance space in Soho to produce the work for three weeks. The production was enthusiastically received and won Lapine an Obie award. Lapine was then approached to create a new piece for the Music-Theatre Group. He wrote and directed a workshop version of TWELVE DREAMS, a work inspired by a Jungian case history. The play was later presented at the Public Theatre and revived by Lincoln Center Theatre. Lapine eventually left the visual arts for a career in the theatre where he has also written and directed the plays TABLE SETTINGS; LUCK, PLUCK and VIRTUE; THE MOMENT WHEN; FRAN’S BED; MRS. MILLER DOES HER THING; and ACT ONE, a stage adaptation of the famous Moss Hart's autobiography. On Broadway he has written the book for and directed Stephen Sondheim’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE; INTO THE WOODS; PASSION; and the multi-media revue SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM. He also directed MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG as part of Encores Series at New York City Center. With William Finn he has collaborated on MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS and FALSETTOLAND, later presented on Broadway as FALSETTOS; A NEW BRAIN; MUSCLE; and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. He has also directed on Broadway David Henry Hwang’s GOLDEN CHILD; THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK; Michel Legrand’s AMOUR; THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE; and the 2012 revival of ANNIE. Among his many off-Broadway offerings were three Shakespeare productions for the Public Theatre. With Frank Rich he co-produced and also directed the HBO documentary SIX BY SONDHEIM for which he received an Emmy nomination and a Peabody award. Lapine wrote the screenplay for the film version of INTO THE WOODS directed by Rob Marshall and is completing the film CUSTODY which he wrote and directed starring Viola Davis, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Hayden Panettiere and Ellen Burstyn. He is slated to direct a revival of the musical FALSETTOS on Broadway this Fall. He has been nominated for twelve Tony Awards winning on three occasions and has received five Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and in 2015 was the recipient of the Mr. Abbott Award presented by the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers for a lifetime of exceptional achievement in the theatre. Lapine is a member of the Dramatist Guild Council and for the last fifteen years has been a mentor for TDF's Open Doors Program. He currently lives in New York City.
Prologue:¨Into the Woods¨