Editing Into the Woods (section)

==Analysis of book and music==
In most productions of ''Into the Woods'', including the original Broadway production, several parts are doubled. Cinderella's Prince and the Wolf, who both cannot control their appetites, are usually played by the same actor. Similarly, so are the Narrator and the Mysterious Man, who both comment on the story while avoiding any personal involvement or responsibility. Granny and Cinderella's Mother, both matriarchal characters, are also typically played by the same person, who also gives voice to the nurturing but later murderous Giantess.

The show covers multiple themes: growing up, parents and children, accepting responsibility, morality, and finally, wish fulfillment and its consequences.<ref>Flatow, Sheryl. Liner Notes, ''Into the Woods'' CD, 1988, RCA Victor 6796-2-RC</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time Magazine]]''<nowiki/>'s reviewers wrote that the play's "basic insight... is at heart, most fairy tales are about the loving yet embattled relationship between parents and children. Almost everything that goes wrong—which is to say, almost everything that can—arises from a failure of parental or filial duty, despite the best intentions."<ref>Henry, William A. and Bland, Elizabeth A. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,965986,00.html "Theater: Some Enchanted Evening 'Into the Woods'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729002813/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,965986,00.html |date=2012-07-29 }}. ''Time Magazine'' (abstract, subscription required), November 16, 1987.<!--cannot verify this quote, the link is to abstract only--></ref> [[Stephen Holden]] wrote that the show's themes include parent-child relationships and the individual's responsibility to the community. The Witch isn't just a scowling old hag, but a key symbol of moral ambivalence. Lapine said that the most unpleasant person (the Witch) would have the truest things to say and the "nicer" people would be less honest.<ref>[[Stephen Holden|Holden, Stephen]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/07/19/specials/sondheim-tale.html "A Fairy-Tale Musical Grows Up"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305040941/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/07/19/specials/sondheim-tale.html |date=2016-03-05 }}. ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 1, 1987</ref> In the Witch's words: "I'm not good; I'm not nice; I'm just right."

Given the show's debut during the 1980s, the height of the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|U.S. AIDS crisis]], the work has been interpreted as a parable about [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]].<ref name="newyorker">{{Cite magazine |last=Schulman |first=Michael |date=December 24, 2014 |title=Why "Into the Woods" Matters |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-into-the-woods-matters |url-status=live |magazine=The New Yorker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118104411/http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-into-the-woods-matters |archive-date=January 18, 2015 |access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="slate">{{Cite magazine |last=Stevens |first=Dana |date=December 24, 2014 |title=Into the Woods |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2014/12/into_the_woods_starring_meryl_streep_and_emily_blunt_reviewed.html |url-status=live |magazine=Slate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121071131/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2014/12/into_the_woods_starring_meryl_streep_and_emily_blunt_reviewed.html |archive-date=January 21, 2015 |access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref> In this interpretation, the Giantess is a metaphor for HIV/AIDS, killing good and bad characters indiscriminately and forcing survivors to band together to stop the threat and move on from the devastation, reflecting the devastation AIDS wrought on many communities.<ref name="slate" /><ref name="suffolk">{{Cite news |date=March 30, 2010 |title=Sondheim's Into the Woods Comes to Suffolk |publisher=Suffolk.edu |url=http://www2.suffolk.edu/41412.html  |access-date=January 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118104717/http://www2.suffolk.edu/41412.html |archive-date=January 18, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="TPM">{{Cite news |last=Bloom |first=Ester |date=January 2, 2015 |title=Before ''Into the Woods'' Was a Disney Movie, It Was an AIDS Parable |publisher=Talking Points Memo |url=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/into-the-woods-disney-aids-parable |url-status=live |access-date=January 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118085845/http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/into-the-woods-disney-aids-parable |archive-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="FCNP">{{Cite news |last=Benton |first=Nicholas F. |date=January 7, 2015 |title='Into the Woods' is An AIDS Parable |publisher=Falls Church News-Press |url=http://fcnp.com/2015/01/07/into-the-woods-is-an-aids-parable/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118104545/http://fcnp.com/2015/01/07/into-the-woods-is-an-aids-parable/ |archive-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref> When asked about the connection, Sondheim acknowledged that initial audiences interpreted it as an AIDS metaphor, but said that the work was not intended to be specific.<ref name="slate" />

The score is also notable in Sondheim's output because of its intricate reworking and development of small musical [[Leitmotif|motifs]]. In particular, the opening words, "I wish", are set to the interval of a rising major second and this small unit is both repeated and developed throughout the show, just as Lapine's book explores the consequences of self-interest and "wishing". The dialogue is characterized by the heavy use of [[Syncopation|syncopated]] speech. In many instances, the characters' lines are delivered with a fixed beat that follows natural speech rhythms, but is also purposely composed in eighth, sixteenth, and quarter note rhythms as part of a spoken song. Like many Sondheim/Lapine productions, the songs contain thought-process narrative, where characters converse or think aloud.

Sondheim drew on parts of his troubled childhood when writing the show. In 1987, he told ''Time Magazine'' that the "father uncomfortable with babies [was] his father, and [the] mother who regrets having had children [was] his mother."<ref name="master">{{Cite magazine |last1=Henry |first1=William A III |last2=Bland |first2=Elizabeth L. |date=December 7, 1987 |title=Master of the Musical (subscription required, abstract) |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966141,00.html  |magazine=Time Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930120011/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966141,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |access-date=July 28, 2012}}</ref> <!--cannot verify this quote, the link is to abstract only-->