The music man - part 3, Into the Woods

The Story: 4 fairy tales are intertwined around the theme of wish fulfillment and a quest through the woods. Cinderella goes into the woods to commune with her mother's spirit and is found throughout the play stumbling through it escaping from the Prince; Rapunzel's tower is there, her prison and refuge from the world, where the witch keeps a close eye on her to protect her prize from life; Jack heads into the woods to sell his cow Milky White, urged by his mother not to trade less than 5 pounds for the cow; and Little Red Riding Hood sallies forth to pay a visit to her grandmother, and encounters her nemesis. The only undefined fairy tale is the story of the Baker and his wife, but it is the genesis for most of the play.

When the play begins, the audience is faced with three sets, each one pointing towards one of the stories. As the long prologue is sung, we learn that Cinderella is suffering from the abuse of her stepmother and stepsisters and wishes to attend the King's Festival; her stepmother torments her by promising to let her attend the festival if she manages to pick the lentils from the ashes. For those who only know the Cinderella story based on the Disney cartoon, I highly recommend reading the older versions of the fairy tale, the gorier version with eyeballs pecked out, toes and heels cut off. There are no magical speaking/singing mice involved in the play. The middle set is for Jack and his mother; she calls him a fool, and thinks he's touched in the head. He's a bumbling, but kind fellow who loves his cow. These days, he might be considered something of an artisan, but in those days, well, he's just a boy with no social interaction other than a bovine. She tells him to sell the cow as they have nothing left to eat. The last set is for the Baker and his wife, who sing of their inability to have a child. They are interrupted by two visitors, the first is Red Riding Hood buying bread and sweets for her ailing grandma who lives down a long path through the woods. The second visitor is the witch, who tells the Baker and Baker's Wife why they have remained barren.

The Baker turns out to be the never heard of brother of Rapunzel. A long time ago, their father went into the witch's garden to get vegetables for his pregnant wife. He ravishes the garden taking all sorts of greens, and not being very neighborly about it either according to the witch. He also takes beans, magical beans. In return for his actions, the witch takes the baby, Rapunzel, away from the man and his wife, and curses them with infertility for the stolen beans. The curse continues through with the Baker and his wife, but the witch offers them a reprieve. Find her four items by the stroke of midnight three days hence and the curse will be lifted: a cow as white as milk, hair as yellow as corn, a gold slipper, and a cloak as red as blood. She orders them on their quest.

Throughout Act One, the stories converge, mishaps occur, Princes run after maidens or entice them down from their towers, the cow is sold, is lost, refound, reborn. Jack gets beans for the cow, the beans grow into a redwood size-stalk and he steals three treasures from a giant, who dies in pursuit of Jack. Cinderella attends 3 nights of the King's Festival, loses her slipper to a wily Prince and is made into a princess after her sisters are handicapped. Red Riding Hood is eaten by the Wolf, but saved by the Baker. Rapunzel is nearly lost to the world, but finds her prince, all of them babes in arms. The Baker and his wife lift the curse and the witch gets her groove back. All ends happily ever after.

In Act Two, (yes, Virginia, there is an Act Two) we see the same cast of characters, but happily ever after doesn't consider all the after effects of obtaining one's heart's desires. The Witch may be young and beautiful again, but has no powers. Rapunzel may have regained her Prince, but she seems to be a neurotic mess who wants her mommy. Cinderella can't find her footing in the castle, plus her family's decided to move in with her, sort of a hypocritical greek chorus, pandering to her every whim, while her Prince isn't around much, he's got a roving eye that one. Red Riding Hood, the Baker and wife, and Jack plus his mom (and the cow) are the first to find out directly that a Giant is out and about. Soon, life as they know it is in shambles, and everyone can't find a decent hiding place against the marauding giant. Lives are lost, and family bonds break apart. Eventually, the act is completed and satisfaction is achieved, they wish.

The music man - part 2, songs

There are a few Sondheim songs that I love, have a few versions playing on my ipod, and when in need of a song to sooth the soul, turn to. Here are is a shortlist:

Not a Day Goes By - my favorite version of this is sung by B. Peters in the tribute to Sondheim concert. Her call to lost love and the longing for someone who lingers as a painful memory is guttural, piercing, and haunting.

Could I Leave You - From Follies, it has a hysterical chorus close to the end, with an emphatic YES at the punch. One of his twisted love songs!

Everyday a little death - originally in A Little Night Music, along with my not so favorite clown song, this one gets a new lift in the revue Putting it Together. Hear the 1993 version with Julie Andrews, she's no longer Maria or Mary Poppins. She's a wife who has suffered and shares it with the younger gals. "Every move and every breath and you hardly feel a thing, brings a perfect little death."

Losing My Mind - Just one more painful love song, but full of seemingly mundane activity ("I dim the lights") intertwined with the repetitive line "I think about you" makes for a heartbreak song.

Another Hundred People - from Company, sung by Marta, the hip, New York girlfriend of the protagonist. The city is full, crowded, dirty, but fantastic. Sang at a pace you wonder where she takes a breath.

Art and music come together in It's Hot up Here, from Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim studies the technique of painter George Seurat, and even if you have never seen the painting (or the musical), you know there's something underpinning the composition. Staccato = pointillism.

Perhaps Sondheim was in the mood to show the other side of Madame Butterfly when he created Pacific Overtures. Set in Japan at the time American naval ships entered Yokohama, it's a dissonant, sometimes atonal musical (Chrysanthemum Tea), with a few lyrical pieces I enjoy (Someone in a Tree, and Pretty Lady). According to the online write up, PacOvertures had the shortest run for a Tony Award's Best Musical.

Tomorrow is the premiere of New Voice Company's Into the Woods; I might post one more chapter about the songs from that particular musical (I have a few favorites there too), and highlight some plot twists, of the many that take place throughout Acts 1 and 2.

The music man - part 1 of ... a few parts

Does it feel like we're in the middle of an upsurge of musical theater? Avenue Q, Fiddler, now Into the Woods. It's good to see the local talents showing off their singing/dancing/acting chops. I enjoyed Avenue Q, and am looking forward to the New Voice performance of Into the Woods. Am not sure I'll watch Fiddler, even if a friend told me that about the guy playing the part of the Fiddler (a christian minister playing the part of a russian jew.... hmmm).

A friend wondered what Into the Woods was all about. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the show, since some people think it's a fairy tale, some people only know of the short one act version (the kiddie edition). And most have never heard about it. I'm not fully immersed in musical theater and can't spout the entire history of one genre over another, but having been brought up watching my share of broadway shows/musicals, here's a short intro and background brief on Stephen Sondheim, the composer and lyricist of Into the Woods. The next post will probably about my favorite Sondheim songs, followed by a review of the musical after I watch it this weekend.

How do I begin to encapsulate in a few paragraphs the genius of Sondheim? Let me start by saying this: I hated "Send in the Clowns" and didn't think much of the composer for a long time till the late 90's. I remember hearing the seemingly ubiquitous Judy Collins version of the song in the 70's and 80's and found it sappy. Her voice was never one I liked, sort of like a comfy velvet sound mixed with hokey folk timbres. Bored me to tears. Years later, I heard other versions of the song sung by other singers, both popular and cabaret artists and realized the song had merits. And through copies of Sondheim revues like Putting it Together and Side by Side, I realized I knew a lot of his music but never related it to him.

It's been said (on countless reviews, websites, etc. Go ahead, google it!) that Sondheim is an acquired taste. I wholeheartedly agree. See above. Definitely not one for younger tastes unless the person can take the dissonant tones, sung over dialogues, jarring verbal imagery, sexually driven story lines, and an attitude that might be construed as very New York. Even his more sappy songs are not straightforward love songs, the words will usually have a twist, send a shiver of humor or discomfort down your back. And for the most part, he writes without trying to date the music to a particular era. Many of his musicals are considered cult favorites; they may have been flops when they were premiered, but given the growing interest in his music by the cognoscenti, new audiences are delighted with exploring his oeuvre. He may have the most number of revivals over the last 20 years, and very popular touring shows.

Consider Sondheim's compositions - they are paeans to Mozart, Ravel, Schoenberg, rap, operetta, Bach, Hammerstein, Gershwin. His lyrics are ambiguous, witty, and never amateur. Many of his best songs allow his female stars (Strich, Massel, Peters, LuPone, Lansbury, etc) to shine with raw emotion. They are not songs for ingenues, they speak to those age old learning moments of heartbreak, destruction, torment, delusional love. Even if you've never had to suffer as much as they have on stage, you're let in on the pathos of it all.

Is there an intro to Sondheim? I think most people know his songs even if they don't know it's a song he wrote or composed. Start with Send in the Clowns (although that still gives me pause), but realize that he wrote the songs to West Side Story and Gypsy, plus the songs from the movie Dick Tracy. I think the revues, Putting it Together, Side by Side, or one of the tribute concerts lets new listeners pick up a song or two to love, if not the entire list. Then take one or two opportunities to listen to more of the songs sung by different performers, and if there's time and interest, buy a ticket to Into the Woods, presented by New Voice Theater Company at the Music Museum in Greenhills this November till the first week of December. Here are some details for interested parties:

Playdates:
09, 16, 23 & 30 Nov and 07 Dec 2007 Friday 8pm
10, 17 & 24 November and 01 & 08 Dec 2007 Saturday 8pm

Ticket prices:
*Balcony Php 700
**Orchestra Side Php 900
***Orchestra Center Php 1200
Tickets are available through Ticketworld or contact the New Voice Company. Lorna Lopez, the Bachelor Girl, is also promoting the show, so check out details on her site.