ABOUT THE MUSICAL

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It
premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna
Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim to the production during its original Broadway
run. Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a
Musical, in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera.

The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them to explore the
consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. It is tied together by an original story involving a
childless baker and his wife, and their interaction with a Witch (who has placed a curse on them), as well
as with other storybook characters during their journey. A major motion picture will star Meryl Streep as
the Witch, James Corden and Emily Blunt as the Baker and his Wife, and Anna Kendrick as Cinderella.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The Narrator leads the company through the story as we learn about a series of wishes that are more
important than anything to the characters: Cinderella wants to go to the King's Festival; Jack wishes his
cow (named Milky White) could give milk; and the Baker wishes he and his Wife could have a child. The
Baker and his Wife learn the Witch next door has placed a curse on them to prevent them from having a
child. She explains that in years past, the Baker's father stole magic beans from her, and to punish him
for the theft, she took the Baker's sister - a sibling the Baker never knew he had. The witch claims she still
has his sister hidden away, and that he can break the spell that makes him childless by bringing her “a
cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn the slipper as pure as gold” within
three days time. As he prepares to journey into the woods, the Baker puts on his father's old jacket and
finds six beans in the pockets – he wonders if they are the Witch's magic beans. Meanwhile, Cinderella
decides to visit her mother's grave to tell her mother her wish, and is given a fancy dress and slippers to
wear to the ball.

While walking through the woods to market, Jack encounters a Mysterious Man who tells Jack his cow is
only worth a sack of beans. The Baker encounters Jack and his cow, realizes the cow is “white as milk,”
and persuades Jack to sell Milky White for five beans (which leaves one remaining bean). Jack's Mother is
furious with him for selling their cow for five seemingly worthless beans and she throws them away.
Little Red Ridinghood meets a Wolf who targets her and her grandmother as his next meal. She enters her
Grandmother's house to find the Wolf, who is pretending to be Granny. The Wolf eats Little Red, and the
Baker (in pursuit of her “cape as red as blood”) slays the Wolf, releasing Red and her Grandmother.
Grateful to the Baker for saving her life, Little Red gives him her cape. The Baker’s Wife chases after the
escaped Milky White. The First Midnight chimes.
The characters realize one midnight has gone and they have not realized their wishes. Jack discovers a
beanstalk has grown up overnight and begins to climb; he returns with an oversized money sack and tells
his Mother of his beanstalk adventure, who lets him keep five gold pieces (which he wants to use to buy
back Milky White.) He finds the Baker, but the Baker cannot sell the cow because the Witch wants it. The
Baker's Wife appears, sharing she discovered Rapunzel's “hair as yellow as corn,” which she was able to
get. The cow drops dead and all seems lost for the Baker and his Wife. The Second Midnight chimes.

The Baker goes in search of another cow, and The Wife goes off to try to grab a golden slipper. The Witch
warns Rapunzel to obey her and stay in the tower - Rapunzel refuses. Enraged, the Witch cuts off most of
Rapunzel's hair and exiles her to the desert. Cinderella leaves her visit to the Royal ball with only one
slipper and leaves the other shoe for the Prince to find. The Baker's Wife gives Cinderella her own shoes in
exchange for the remaining “slipper as pure as gold”. After a horrible thud, Jack's Mother screams that a
dead giant has fallen from the sky. No one seems to care. The Third Midnight is near.

The Baker and his Wife report to the Witch with their four objects, but she rejects the new cow, which
they have covered with flour to look like Milky White. The Witch restores Milky-White to life and
commands the Baker to feed the cow the other objects. A clock chime begins to strike. Jack tries to milk
the cow, but no milk flows. When the Baker's Wife says she pulled the hair as yellow as corn from a
maiden in a tower, the Witch screams she has already touched the hair, so the spell won’t work. The
Mysterious Man says to feed the cow an ear of corn. The Witch reveals the Mysterious Man is the Baker's
father. The cow eats the corn, the milk flows into the goblet and the Witch drinks it. She is transformed
into a beautiful woman and the Baker's father dies. The Third Midnight chimes.

The Narrator explains the Witch had been cursed with ugliness after her beans were stolen, but is now
beautiful once again. Milky-White is reunited with Jack. The Prince finally finds Cinderella and they marry.
The Narrator states Rapunzel, who has had twins, has been reunited with her husband. When the Witch
tries to put a spell on them, she realizes that in exchange for her own youth and beauty, she has lost her
magical powers. At Cinderella's wedding, her stepsisters are blinded. The Baker's Wife appears, very
pregnant. The Narrator observes that everything that seemed wrong is now right. The kingdoms are filled
with joy and those who deserve happiness to are certain to live long and satisfying lives. As everyone
congratulates themselves on their unswerving determination to get their wishes, a giant beanstalk
emerges from the ground and stretches to heaven. No one notices it.

While the characters seem happy, each has problems that still disrupt their joyous lives. After a huge
crash, the characters re-enter the woods and encounter the female Giant - she is the wife of the giant
Jack killed, and is looking for revenge. She demands Jack, but Jack's Mother gets in a furious argument
with the Giant. The Steward hits Jack's Mother over the head to stop her from endangering everyone, but
he accidentally kills her. Rapunzel runs toward the Giant and is crushed. The Royal Family escapes to
another kingdom. The Baker and his Wife leave their child with Little Red and go off to save Jack from the
Witch, who is on her way to turn him over to the Giant. The Baker meets Cinderella next to her mother's
ruined grave and invites her to join his group. The Baker's Wife becomes lost upon leaving the woods and
is trampled by the Giant. The characters begin to see the connections between their earlier individual
actions and the current problem. After the Giant is killed, the characters join in to proclaim the moral
lessons learned from the experience in the woods. They come to realize they have to act together in order
to succeed. The lively, irreverent fairy tale becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and
the stories we tell our children, reminding us there will be times when each of us must journey into the
woods, but we must mind the future and the past.

SHOW QUESTIONS
1) What were the four ingredients that will reverse the Witch’s curse?
The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure
as gold
2) Each character has a wish. What is Cinderella’s wish? Jack’s wish? The Bakers’ wish?
Cinderella wishes to go to the ball. Jack wishes to keep his cow, Milky White. The Baker’s wish to
have a child.
3) What is the name of the baby the Witch took from The Baker’s father? Rapunzel
4) What are three adjectives Cinderella uses to describe the Prince? Nice, tall, charming
5) What does the Baker find in his father’s jacket? Six beans
6) How did Granny and Little Red escape the Wolf? The Baker slays the Wolf and pulls Granny/Red out
7) Why does Jack give the Baker five gold coins? Jack gives five coins to buy back Milky White
8) What happens to the Mysterious Man? He dies
9) Why do the Baker and his Wife go into the woods? To find the ingredients the Witch demanded
10) What can you find in the sky, according to Jack? Giants
11) Bonus: Did any characters undergo a transformation during the course of the play? Who? In what
way?

ACTIVITIES
Beginner

1) Matching Words
Take one word from the left column and match it with a word on the right had column to find a well-
known fairy tale character or word.

Baker Stalk
Magic Man
Glass Cape
Ugly Egg
Milky Slipper
 Golden Wife
Red Wand
Foot White
Bean Stepsister

2) Create a list of familiar tales (Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood) in order to
create a chart that identifies elements that the stories share such as:
-“Once upon a time” - the use of magic
- good characters versus evil characters - talking animals
- a beautiful princess or handsome prince (or - a happy ending
both!)

Intermediate
1) Explore merging characters in different stories to create new stories with this improvisation exercise.

a. Select four students to act as “storytellers.”

b. Ask the audience for the names of three characters from famous fairy tales and a special location.
c. The teacher should serve as the story starter and “conductor” by beginning the story for the group (be
sure to set the stage and include a conflict). Then point to one of the storytellers to continue where you
left off. At varying points in the story, point to a different storyteller to indicate they should continue the
narrative.
d. Stop the narrative when it comes to a natural conclusion (sometimes this must be prompted).
e. Repeat with new storytellers, characters, and locations.

- Instruct the students that the main characters cannot die in the first round of the game.
- Keep it moving fast in attempt to prevent “planning ahead

2) Prepare a radio show about Cinderella, exploring how a poor girl who once cleaned fireplaces became a
princess. Working in a small group, prepare interviews with people who know Cinderella:
 Her father
 Her stepsisters
 Her Fairy Godmother
 The Prince

Get some background information on the story by interviewing:

 Some neighbors
 People who work in the castle
 The King or Queen
 Cinderella's friends
 People who went to the ball

Ask them questions about:

 Cinderella's life with the wicked stepsisters
 Her adventures with the Fairy Godmother
 The Ball
 The Glass Slipper
Advanced

1) Discussion Questions

• What was the wish of each character in Into The Woods? Trace the “history” of each wish. How was it
accomplished? What resulted? Did these wishes actually obscure some other needs felt by these
characters?

• Can you describe a situation in which you would consider it acceptable to take advantage of someone
else in order to accomplish your own wishes?

• What is the meaning of the final line in Into The Woods when Cinderella says, “I wish…”?

• How were the stakes involved in pursuing the wishes in Into The Woods influenced by the pressure of
deadlines?

• Does marrying the Prince solve Cinderella’s problems? Does having the baby deliver happiness to the
Baker and his Wife? Does the money stolen from the Giant satisfy Jack and his Mother? Does the return of
her beauty redefine the Witch’s life in a positive way?

• Are “good” wishes ever enough to effect real change in the life of an individual or a community? Can you
think of any change in your life or the life of your community that has come without “earning” the change
through effort, struggle, or pain?

• What does Into The Woods suggest about the worth of seeking perfection?

• Imagine one of the characters in Into The Woods had decided to sacrifice his or her wish and had not
pursued it. How would the tale have changed?

• Some of the characters in Into The Woods are driven by uncontrolled desires. Which characters fit this
description? What kinds of desires drive them? What happens as a result of their failure to control these
desires?

• What does the Baker mean when he asks: “How do you ignore all the witches, all the curses, all the
wolves, all the lies, the false hopes, the good-byes, the reverses, all the wondering what even worse is
still in store?”

• Cinderella says: “My father’s house was a nightmare. Your house is a dream. Now I want
something in between.” Describe what in-between she may be talking about.

 There is a song in the show, “Your Fault,” that deals with nothing but everyone placing blame on others
for all the terrible events that occur. The characters eventually find that they are each at fault in their
own way. How is this familiar to any situation you have ever witnessed or experienced? What is familiar
or universal about this theme of blaming others? What does it do for a person to put blame on someone
else?

2) Writing/Speech Prompts
a) Write three short essays, basing each one on one of the following lines from Into The Woods:
“Even flowers have their dangers.”
“Scary is exciting.”
“Don’t be scared … just be prepared.”
“Isn’t it nice to know a lot? And a little bit not.”
“Sometimes the things you wish for are not to be
touched.”
“The harder to get, the better to have.”
OR
“The prettier the flower, the farther from the
path.”
“The difference between a cow and a bean is a
bean can begin an adventure.”
“We had to lose a lot to win.”
“I ventured out and saw within.”
“There are shouldn’ts and shoulds.”
• “Nice” is not the same as being “good.”
b) Give a three minute impromptu speech based on their “line” (Write the lines down on slips of paper &
have students each draw one)