The Musical Moral of Into The Woods

No One Is Alone

Sources:

"Into the Woods from Stage to Screen" by Mark Eden Horowitz, in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations

"Sondheim on Music" by Mark Eden Horowitz has a whole chapter on Into the Woods including a list of all of the leitmotifs that Sondheim used in the show

"Understanding the Leitmotif" by Matthew Bribitzer-Stull
I can't recommend this book enough, I find myself combing through it over and over again

Snugboy's video on adapting Into the Woods:

Sondheim (and Lapine)'s MTI Conversation Piece where they both discuss the show:

Sondheim discussing how he wrote Sweeney Todd:

Also, if you've got time, I'd highly recommend checking out Musical Hell's video on the 2014 remake as well:

[eh-bcdx]

theres this one part on stage where the baker just.. picks the cow up, like a suitcase.. and runs away with it and i will be forever bitter that they couldnt do that in the movie

[chickennuggets]

sideways come back please. the kids miss you.

[elisabethschmerzler]

*Into The Woods:* WHEN WILL YOU LEARN! WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE

[Jeff_Godoy]

To those wondering what happened: He started working on a big project for the channel (a maybe 4 hours long video on high school musical) wich would take a few months to do.
The project apparently went downhill by the end of 2021, making him take a pause to plan and do other videos.
In the meantime, people started harassing him on Twitter, Wich gradually escalated until he had to quit social media, his Patreon and his channel and take time to heal.
As far as I have researched, he has no plans to come back yet and, sadly, we might never hear from him again.
(sources: his Patreon and the sideways community subReddit)

[peterstamerra]

When I did this show, my director described this show in the most accurate way possible:

In the first act, they get what they want
In the second act, they get what they *deserve*

[WillScarlet]

A detail I love about "I Guess This is Goodbye" - Sondheim says it's the only song he's done with no rhymes, the idea being Jack is so dimwitted he can't rhyme.

[corhydrae]

The moral of the story is of course: Musical producers should finally get the clue that they should just start putting up professional recordings of their shows on streaming platforms rather than having them made into half-baked movies.

[brockdavis]

“You can talk to birds?” is one of THE best-delivered lines in Broadway history. Change my mind.

[gnomepng]

"this IS a good musical" finally... a smart person with TASTE

[mikebliss]

"The cow as red as corn, the hair as yellow as milk."

Wait what NO--

[lunatickgeo]

Um, actually (takes off nerd glasses, puts on geek glasses), Rapunzel is the Baker's YOUNGER sister. Witch's line, "In the past, when you were no more than a babe, your father brought his young wife and you to this cottage." Because as we all know, THIS is the most important point in the whole video.

[Alternm]

With Joker 2 and Wicked this year, we need Sideways more than ever.

[anna]

"and that doesn't even begin to discuss what is the main musical idea for the whole show"




T H E B E A N T H E M E

[saschabeth]

Rapunzel actually healed her lover's blindness with her tears in the original tale, so this show didn't make that up (it's also one of the only things Tangled didn't change, although they added all the bits with the flower and the hair powers that told us she was magical beforehand).

[imtheonewhobroughtthebeans]

“Friends come and go, but leitmotifs are *forever* “

[Arctan]

Local man makes his monthly pilgrimage to this channel to see if our king has returned, miss you bud.

[perfectlyhopeless]

Say what you will about the live action Into The Woods. Chris Pine dramatically singing and tearing open his shirt is a treat

[LU-qrkh]

I'm about halfway through this video, and to my understanding, I really doubt I'm wrong, the musical moral is that this is the musical equivalent of "Me and the boys at 3am looking for BEANS"

[Dreveryn]

I was literally just watching Sideways Cats video and was wondering "it's been about 3 months hope he's okay after that one."

[AeonKnigh]

I love the way that the Bean Theme is used during the three versions of "Children Must Listen." Specifically, the lyrics "Don't you know what's out there in the world. Someone has to shield you from the world." and how they reflect that the witch is being a hypocrite here. Sure, every character is flawed and they end up hurting each other, but the witch is no better. Who is she to think that she's any better than them? The bean theme is a representation of the beans as an object, but it's also a representation of the cycle of trauma and abuse. The witch's mother told her not to lose the beans, and punished her for them getting stolen even though it wasn't really her fault. But because if these beans, the witch gets a daughter who she equally abuses and traumatizes (as Rapunzel says, because of the witch she can never be happy). Because of the beans, the baker and his wife can't have a child. And then, in the struggle to get one, they lose themselves. The beans cause every death in the musical, they cause every child to lose their parent, from Jack to Red to the Baker, and it ripples down, causing the Baker's son to lose his mother. And because of this cycle, as the witch says, they all become liers and thieves, and if they keep going on like that the cycle won't break. The only way to change is to acknowledge the cycle and to move past it. They have to see that even the people they love can hurt them, and they have to work to fix those mistakes. Those mistakes were made out of love, but they're mistakes anyway. Everyone makes mistakes, but they have to do what they can to fix them. Even the characters who do the worst things, like the witch who exploits the Baker's desire for a child, kidnaps Rapunzel, and then blinds her and leaves her in the desert. All of these things are awful, almost irredeemable in any other story. And yet, Into the Woods somehow manages to build its moral of moving past abuse so well that it somehow stops us from hating her simply with "people make mistakes, " which by all accounts should not excuse any of those actions. But yet, we see that every single thing she does is motivated by love. She truly loves Rapunzel. It manifests in ways that hurt her, though, and by the time she realizes this, it's too late for her to change. Her daughter is gone and dead, and everyone around her is making the exact same mistakes as she is. So then, back to the bean theme. In No One is Alone, the bean theme resolves and is reversed. This reflects that they're moving past the mistakes of the past, and they're trying to be better, which is all that they can do. They can try. They'll still make mistakes, even in solving these problems. Killing the giant is, in some capacity, a mistake in and of itself. She's a nice person (who's doing horrible things out of love for her husband, fancy how that works), but they unfortunately have to kill her. Because in life, and in the story, there's no perfect solution. They do what they have to, even if it's not the best option. All they can do is their best. (That's also the point of the final line of the last song, being "I wish" sung again, showing that they may make the same mistakes again). This whole musical is about ending this cycle, or at least trying. Oops. I may have written an essay. Um anyway. I really like this musical.