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 enlarge | Director: James Lapine
Actors: Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg
Studio: Image Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.98
Buy New: $14.92
You Save: $10.06 (40%)
New (38) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $14.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  257 reviews
Sales Rank: 1054
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 153
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D5967D
UPC: 014381596724
EAN: 0014381596724
ASIN: B00001PE59
Theatrical Release Date: March 20, 1991
Release Date: August 27, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Peters is great. March 26, 2008
Bought this DVD just to see the play before my child auditioned for it locally. Funny and witty play. Peters was great!
Into the woods February 2, 2008
It is an excellent family play filmed live at a theater. Bernedette Peters is very good and funny as the Witch. Little Red Riding hood is also very good. Her deadpan humor is hillarious.
 I really, really hate this show January 27, 2008
2 out of 41 found this review helpful
I saw this production on Broadway the week it opened. It made no sense then, it makes no sense now. I defy anyone who hasn't listened to the album with the lyrics in his hand to say what the heck is going on at any particular point. The lyrics are unintelligible in the theater. I've seen this show a half-dozen times, trying against all hope to figure out what makes it popular, and I still can't even begin to figure out what the plot is. I've asked other people, normal, non-show people who've seen it and supposedly enjoyed it, if they could tell me the story. Nope, not a single one could. All they knew was it was about some fairy tales. Yet they liked it. That makes me despair as much for the state of our audiences as for the Sondheim groupies.
The libretto - well, there are so many things wrong with it, where to start? First, the utter disrespect for the original fairy tales, twisting them to fit the potted theme - excuse me, gentlemen, Cinderella does NOT go "into the woods"! Jack does NOT go into the woods with the cow. Second, the inability to use the original fairy tales for a through-line, having to invent the lame story of the Baker and his Wife. So why not just stick to the Baker story, or the fairy tales? Well, because Sondheim isn't happy until he's crapped all over stories that have enchanted the West for hundreds of years with his own perverse maunderings. Third, the incessent, whiny moralizing. Sondheim has turned into a twisted version of Hammerstein; first he rebelled by being seemingly amoral ( I stress the seemingly, he has always been moralistic in his work), now he moralizes but only after making you sick to your stomach. His shows have to "mean" something, something "deep," something "profound," like Be careful what you wish for (like a new Sondheim show), or Art isn't easy (no, but the best art looks that way). On top of all that, Sondheim breaks all his own rules for lyric writing in this piece, stuffing it with off-rhymes, assonance, etc. It is simply sloppy.
What stuns and amazes me is that the more outrageously bizarre he got, with Sunday in the Park, Into the Woods, and the worst of all, Passion, the more esteemed he became! Why do people worship this man who celebrates illness and neurosis? Are we so desperately unsure of ourselves that we automatically esteem something that makes us queasy or that we don't understand?
Now, if anyone reads this, I'm sure I'll receive hate mail. Too bad. When people praise the unpraiseworthy, I don't mind being the voice in the wilderness. Anyway, if I've had to listen to people applaud this mishmash, then I get to say something in return.
wonderful introduction to Sondheim's work, superb production January 19, 2008
About six weeks ago, I watched this DVD of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods." It happened to be on my Netflix queue because I was curious about Sondheim's work. What a delightful surprise to discover this piece of work (which is not even considered Sondheim's best.)
The story melds several traditional fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella) into one with the addition of three new characters: the Baker, the Baker's wife, and the witch. One aspect I really enjoyed was the ensemble nature of the work. No one character dominates and pretty much every major player has at least one great song. The casting was terrific; everyone acted superbly (the standout being Joanna Gleason as the Baker's wife). I also really liked the fact that each character had a unique voice (not chosen just to be beautiful and melodic, but to fit the character). The book by James Lapine was also very funny and witty, matching Sondheim's clever lyrics.
None of the songs are really show-stopping with the exception of "Giants in the Sky" and "Children Will Listen" in the Act II finale. But that's fine because "Into the Woods" is an ensemble work and you really have to watch the whole thing to appreciate it. Unlike the other musicals I've seen (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, etc), the acting was more important than the singing. Not that the singing was bad, but I really enjoyed the fact that the actors and actresses put so much effort into being the characters. The most amazing song is Joanna Gleason's performance of "Moments in the Woods." It was wonderful to see her express different moods with slight movements of her head and facial expressions and even do little things like fix up her hair while singing.
What I really like about the songs in Into the Woods is that they're tied to a character's thinking and slightly ambiguous. Little Red wonders whether she did the right thing "straying off the path." Cinderella debates whether she should tell the Prince who she really is. Perhaps that is why some people find Sondheim unusually cerebral for a songwriter. The ambiguous nature of "Into the Woods" is fitting since the woods are a metaphor for our journey through life.
Bernadette Peters is the main attraction and she does a wonderful job with the witch, but I find the character of the witch to be a little shallow compared to the Baker and the Baker's wife. As an example, I really loved the song "It Takes Two" where the Baker and Baker's wife sing about how they need each other.
To sum up, "Into the Woods" was a wonderful introduction to Sondheim's work and I look forward to more!
Additional note: I just read a Sondheim interview where Sondheim summarized "Into the Woods" as a Bronx couple (the Baker and his wife) living in a world of fairytale characters. What an apt and succinct characterization! It makes the show seem even funnier.
great price special show January 12, 2008
thank you this shows the original cast on broadway CD is unavailable but DVD was wonderful to have
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