James Lapine | Into the Woods / 1991

it’s the last midnight, the last wish

by Douglas Messerli

 

Stephen Sondheim (composer), James Lapine (writer and director) Into the Woods / 1991 [TV (PBS) production].

 

I should begin as I move “into the woods” to tell you that artificial intelligence sites told me that this production never existed. I think we have properly entered into the dangerous world which Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s beautiful opera—and I do argue that in its original almost manic version it is an opera, not a musical as later performed—took us, using the “fairytale folktales of the Grimm Brothers into a new world we might never before have imagined.. I might also mention that the IMBd site, which fortunately artificial intelligence has not taken over, doesn’t even bother to mention the it was composed by Stephen Sondheim. We have certainly ventured into woods which I don’t want to enter. But, of course, I must.

    But then there was, after all, this PBS production, filmed over three previous nights at the then-named Martin Beck Theatre to remind us of what the original production was all about. Here all of our various illusions of transformative love and hate mingle together, both whirling up their characters into a sexually confused and terrified world as they discover themselves in their dark explorations of possibilities outside of the confines of their homes.

     Here we explore the wonderful myth of Cinderella (Kim Crosby) who longs to escape from her slavery to her stepmother and her sisters, the Baker and his Wife (Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason) who long for a child, Rapunzel (Pamela Winslow) who has been locked into a tower by her avenging witch of a mother (the real star of the show, Bernadette Peters) and longs for the man who climbs up the tower through her hair, and Jack (Ben Wright) and his mother (Barbara Bryne), who together just desire to survive given the fact the Jack’s favorite cow, Milky Way, which he imagines as a male friend, doesn’t provide them any milk. And there are the agonized Princes, Cinderella's always suffering lover (Robert Westenberg) and Rapunzel’s constantly frustrated admirer (Chuck Wagner) who long, of course, for their lovers but also in their agony for one another. It’s a confused mess.   And I haven’t even mentioned sweet, obedient Little Red Riding Hood (Danielle Ferland) on her way to visit her grandmother, who discovers the rather enchanting Wolf (also Robert Westenberg), who “wants to eat her.” Well, indeed we have entered into another world. Who hasn’t ever been wanted to be eaten by the Wolf.

     I saw a wonderful production of this work at the Wallis here in Los Angeles, and then the movie after, and I truly loved both versions. But this, fast-paced, brilliant original production is the one that truly works.

     This time through I not only cried for the Baker and his Wife’s desires and later desperation, but realized that the central figure in this film was actually the queer young boy, Jack, who couldn’t even realize that his beloved cow was a female, but kept longing for a friend. His mother even describes his as queer. And unlike any of the other figures, with his beans, he climbs into a new world of "Giants in the Sky,” which no one else imagines, bringing back the golden harp of Orpheus and mythology.

     There is, obviously, a punishment for such an action, which effects all the characters who must now deal with the Giant’s dreadful wife (Merle Louise), who destroys a great many members of the cast, including the truly caring and desirous Baker’s wife who dares to have a tryst with one of the wandering Princes in the woods into she has been drawn by the drama.

      In Lapine’s and Sondheim’s vision, stories get mixed up, confused, and intertwined, but it’s clear, nonetheless, that the queer boy Jack has been the major aggressor for just reaching for the sky. He felled the giant; he dared take his wonderment and desires out of bounds of the local society. And even worse, he is an innocent, since he can’t even recognize that his climbing the beanstalk might even have been a sin. In the end he gets another mother and a friend. After all, that’s what he truly wants out of life. Even in fairy tales you can’t truly settle down with a male lover.

     I have to say, this production once again brought me back to the immense enjoyments of Broadway theater, which always bring tears to my eyes. The numerous wonderful songs, such as the Wolf’s wonderful attempt to seduce Little Red Riding Hood, “Hello Little Girl,” Red Riding Hood’s realization that “I Know Things Now,” Jack’s wonderful recognition that there are “Giants in the Sky,” the final recognition between the Baker and his Wife that “It Takes Two,” the terrifying rail of the Witch of “Last Midnight,” and the full company recognition of “Children Will Listen” make this a true operatic delight. The tears fell as they generally do with such remarkable songs and performances.

     Despite my absolute delight of this original production of the musical (sans one performer, Jean Kelly, replaced by Cindy Robinson), I do have to say that Johnny Depp’s performance in the movie was so very much more enticing, I would have gone with that Wolf anywhere without any question. And, as much as I truly love Bernadette Peters, well I do have to say Meryl Streep in the film took it to a level that I mightn’t even have imagined, knocking it out of any Broadway stage into the West 45th Manhattan Street and spilling it over into our theater imaginations. She was a true Witch, a true wonder, a singer to deal with.

Shh!

It's the last midnight

It's the last wish

It's the last midnight

Soon it will be boom

Squish!

 

Told a little lie

Stole a little gold

Broke a little vow

Did you?

Had to get your Prince

Had to get your cow

Had to get your wish

 

Doesn't matter how

Anyway, it doesn't matter now

It's the last midnight

It's the boom

Splat!

 

     Yet, this fast-paced version of the Sondheim masterpiece is one I might recommend to anyone who truly loves Broadway theater. This is what it’s all about.

 

Los Angeles, March 30, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (March 2025).