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 enlarge | Artists: Stephen Sondheim, Vanessa Williams, John Mcmartin, Gregg Edelman, Stephen Derosa, Laura Benanti, Christopher Sieber
Label: Nonesuch
Category: Music
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $6.25
You Save: $13.73 (69%)
New (26) Used (19) Collectible (2) from $6.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 30229
Format: Cast Recording
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 79686
UPC: 075597968620
EAN: 0075597968620
ASIN: B000067G5Z
Release Date: June 25, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 An Open Letter to Sondheim, Lapine, and anyone else responsible for this disasterpiece: July 17, 2005
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
To Whom it Does Concern,
I will never understand the choices that were made for the revival of this show, one of the cleverest of scores in all of musical theatre.
Lyrics that were just perfect are changed for no real reason. Characters are inserted into songs where they never had been before. Entirely new characters have been added. Some songs have been excised of entire verses. And are those new vocal arrangements I hear?!?
Was it just to be different? To show that this musical needn't be staged as a carbon copy of the much beloved original Broadway production? Mr. Sondheim, you're doing this to a lot of your shows lately, even the outright masterpieces, and it's a bit disconcerting.
I'm very much the type to applaud old pieces interpreted in new ways (for example, Merrily We Roll Along seems to get better with each revision), but there needs to be a line somewhere. Had this version of this show been the one that premiered on Broadway in 1987, the world would have promptly turned away disinterested and forgotten all about it.
The cast is bland and unappealing. Vanessa Williams was a mistake. Did she even audition? How could you be so unaware that she didn't have the chops to do her role? You had to transpose most of her songs, for crying out loud, and even then, she's singing down the octave and flat. And why does it sound like the Baker is pushing to lower his speaking voice? Why doesn't the Baker's Wife have a funny bone? Why is Jack's Mother's voice lower than Jack's? Where is the chemistry so necessary to bond this ensemble cast together?
Why are all the tempos so exceptionally fast? Why do some measures feel like they're missing half of a beat? Why are the endings all different? Why does the cast recite their lyrics with all the emotional investment of recalling last week's shopping list? Why do the orchestrations (which were never especially thick to begin with) sound so incredibly sparse? Why are the samples so incredibly obvious? Why is the contrabass so overamplified?
Moreover, why did you feel the need to re-record this score, considering the weaknesses of your cast and the revisions? There are at least two better and more complete recordings of this material to be had out there in the marketplace. Was this recording, which sounds like something ABC might air as a movie of the week, necessary?
Signed,
Musical Lover
 A worthy revival of a great classic June 9, 2005
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a good CD. Of course, my case lies in the assumption that you already like "Into The Woods" (if you don't, get it and watch it NOW!!!). I hold it equal to the original cast, and my argument follows:
Characterization is different here, admittedly, than the origonal cast, but the quality of a performance (in my humble opinion) all depends on how the actors play off of each other. And this cast acheives that wonderfully. In some places, there are improvements, too. I thought that Bernadette Peters' witch was completely and utterly annoying and monotonous in her opening monlogue; Vanessa Williams had me in stitches. Vanessa Williams' rich, full contralto also held me more spellbound in such songs as the lament than Peters'. No one could match Johanna Gleason's performance as the baker's wife, obviously, but I did not find this one too shabby. The voices here are generally stronger, too. Cinderella's voice was lamentably weak in the original, but here it is almost operatic at times. Little Red Ridinghood is a whole lot less bratty & Annie-ish than the original.
Another plus is the added song, "Our Little World" which offers a lot of insight into the relationship between the Witch and Rapunzle, introduces you better to Rapunzle, and is a good forewarning to the haircut episode ("Don't You know What's out there in the World?").
Please give this a try!
Into the Revival--an excellent one! May 26, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Being a huge fan of Sondheim and other Broadway standards, I was intrigued back in 2002 that "Into the Woods" would be revived with pop-star Vanessa Williams and "Swing" star Laura Benanti as the Witch and Cinderella respectively. I had been familiar with the OBC Recording and video-cassette of ITW, and felt that the new actors in the incarnation would perhaps have to work very hard to overcome comparisons with the original performers, especially Joanna Gleason and Bernadette Peters's. I can actually say that since I had seen the show in December of 2002, that I felt this cast recording, as well as the interpretation that Vanessa Williams gave as the witch was quite excellent and wonderful to have seen. She brings new light to the witch, transforming a highly comedic role into a more complex and scary one, a meditation on the dangerous and overprotective mother-figures in all of us human beings. Her being menacing is only her defense mechanism because she has lost her powers, and she needs to cope with her losses (i.e "Last Midnight") because she has lost everything all around her (her home, Rapunzel, etc). I think people just criticize her too much because her voice isn't Peters's rendition. But if she was Bernadette Peters, then we wouldn't have Vanessa Williams. Theater roles aren't set in stone, they're meant to be interpreted over and over. As for Bernadette Peters, I loved her in "Gypsy", though there are many people out there who claim to love Lansbury and Merman much more---without admitting that half who love their incarnations never got to see their performances on stage!
Get Over it Guys May 15, 2004
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
I understand and respect everyones loyalty to the original production, but the point of putting out a revival this soon after the original production is to convey something different with this show, which actually contains rather powerful messages.The issue that seems to come up the most is Vanessa Williams performence as the witch. I agree that Ms. Peters was wonderful, the role was written for her. But Vanessa is just as wonderful. Personally I think vocally there is no competition between the two. Vanessa just simply has a better voice, not "pop-voice", voice period. To be honest i'm not a big fan of Ms. Peters, Into the Woods is the only work that she's done that I have enjoyed. I agreed with one reviewer that said that Sondheim shows are MUCH BETTER live than on recording, which is ashame. Vanessa is fantastic live. NOT TO MENTION ABSOLUTLY GORGEOUS!!! Her witch is much more seductive and serious than Ms. Peters more humorous take on the role. As for transposing the score, WHO CARES. It's done all the time. And trust me, it's not because Vanessa can't hit the notes. If you listen to many of her cd's you hear that she belt's considerably higher than Ms. Peters on a regular basis. The lower key fits better with what she was doing with the role. People don't realize that key does make a big difference with how a piece is conveyed. Composers think about it quite a bit before they choose one. I agree, overall this cast doesn't come across as well as the original, so those of you that didn't get a chance to see this production don't really care what it's like live. I'm just writing this because I don't want it to deter you from Mrs. Williams, she really is rather brilliant, in everything she does: actress, model, Ms. America, broadway, Grammy nom, mother, wife, etc... Anyone that knows anything about Musical Theater knows Into the Woods. It's a staple in the literature. But I ask you to drop all your preconceived notions now, and just go along for the ride, it's different, but just as fulfilling.
I love this musical April 11, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I realize that many people think that this cast is much worse than the original, but I think they both have strengths. I actually found that I enjoy this version of Into the Woods much more. I find that this CD has a cleaner sound, wonderful voices and the addition of funny lines are a real plus. Some differences I think that are well created were the harmony in 'on the steps of the palace' and I thought that 'A very nice prince', 'It Takes Two', 'Hello Little Girl' and 'Your Fault' were better in this version of the musical. This album is wonderful (and don't get me wrong, that original is too) and I wouldn't suggest passing it up. The songs are moving and an amazing feat in musical theater.
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