Into The Woods

At: The Comtra Theatre

Aletta Fischer

Characters
Baker
Bakers Wife
Cinderella
Jack
Wife
Jacks Mother
The Witch

Cinderellas Prince
Rapunzels Prince
Luncinda
Florinda
Mysterious Man
Little Red Riding Hood

Wolf
Steward
Granny
The Giants
Narrator
Rapunzel

Summary
Into The Woods is a musical about different fairytales
coming together. The story is mainly about Cinderella,
Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk), and a Baker and his wife.
Each of these characters has a wish. Cinderella wishes to
attend the Kings ball, Jack wishes that his cow will give
them milk, and the Baker and Bakers Wife wish to have a
child.
The Witch comes to their door and tells them to have a
child, they must go into the woods and bring her back four
things.

The Four Objects

1.
2.
3.
4.

A cow as white as milk (Jack)

A cape as red as blood (Little Red Riding Hood)
Hair as yellow as corn (Rapunzel)
Slipper as pure as gold (Cinderella)

Summary
The Baker and his wife manage to get these four objects and make

a potion for the witch. The Baker and his wife have a baby.
Everyone lives happily ever after in the end of Act I.
Act II however, is not so happy.
An angry giant comes down to the village and crushes it.
The characters need to work together to save the village and the
people in it.
Sacrifices are made and people die. In the end, the giant is defeated
and the Baker, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, and the
Bakers son live together in the village.

Cinderella
In the beginning of the show, all she wanted to do was go to the
Princes ball. Her stepsisters and stepmother taunted her and made
fun of her saying she would mortify the prince if she went.
After being taken in by her stepmother, she was treated like a maid.
She goes to her mothers grave by the hazel tree and tells her mother
that she wishes to go to the ball. Her mother sends down a beautiful
ball gown and golden shoes.
She ends up going to the ball all three nights but runs away from the
prince out of fear that if he knew who she really was, he wouldnt like
her anymore.

Cinderella
In the end of Act I, she marries the Prince and becomes the
Princess.
She changes in Act II when she realizes that she would much
rather be out helping people in the village than in the castle.
She knows the town needs help but Princesses arent supposed
to leave the castle unescorted, so she disguises herself as a
peasant.
Later, when she hears of the Princes unfaithfulness to her, she
realizes that she never actually loved him and that she is much
happier cleaning than being a Princess.

Cinderellas Portrayal
Cinderella was portrayed fairly well.
She was given a big personality and had the mannerisms
of a princess.
She was portrayed as sweet and caring.

The Witch
The neighbor of the Baker and his wife.
She was cursed with ugliness and age when the Bakers
father stole the magical beans from her garden. Because
of this, she cursed the Bakers family. This is why the
Baker and his wife couldnt have a baby.
The only way to get rid of the curse that was put upon her
was to make the potion with the four objects she told the
Baker to get.

The Witch
In the end of Act I, she drinks the potion and becomes
beautiful and young again.
In exchange for her youth and beauty back, she no longer
had magical powers.

The Witchs Portrayal

The witch had good gestures.
I liked the way she walked, talked, and stood.
The transformation was smooth when she turned young
again.
What I did not like was that she was hard to understand at
times.

Little Red Riding Hood

She was walking through the woods to get to her grannys
house when she encounters a wolf.
She sees no harm in talking to him and telling him exactly
where her grandmothers house was.
The wolf ends up eating her and her grandmother.
They are saved by the Baker when he cuts the wolfs
stomach open.

Little Red Riding Hood

She changes after she crawls out of the wolfs stomach.
She sings a song called I Know Things Now telling about
how she has learned lessons about people she doesnt
know.
After her experience with the wolf, she becomes more
cautious.

Little Red Riding Hoods

Portrayal
She was one of the best in the show.
She spoke and sang clearly and was easy to understand.
I liked the way she skipped everywhere she went.

Overall
Overall, Id say the show was decent.
It was done differently than I had ever seen it before.
The Comtra is a small theatre so there is not much room
on the stage. Their one major prop was a tall ladder used
as a tower and a tree.
The wolf was a puppet attached to someones hand
instead of an actual person being the wolf.
The scene at the very end of Act I was done well. I liked
the choreography.

Overall
I have seen this show six times and I have been in it twice.
In my opinion, CWNCs production was the best one.