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Today I took a lightning trip down to New York so my brother and I could take our parents to go see the Into the Woods Original Cast Reunion at BAM.
The show opened with the host asking who'd seen the original Broadway show ... OK, who saw the original and the 2002 revival ... okay, who saw the revival, the original, and the 2012 Shakespeare in the Park show ... yeah, OK. A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE AUDIENCE, was the answer, so it's not like we're the only ones. (We had to stop raising our hands when they asked about last year's Roundabout production, which we never got to see, and the London production, which was maybe three people in the audience. Three out of five is not bad!)
The reunion was basically song performances mixed with snippets of semi-staged interview chatter -- they had Sondheim and Lapine first, and then Joanna Gleason (Baker's Wife), Chip Zien (Baker), Kim Crosby (Cinderella), Robert Westenberg (Wolf/Cinderella's Prince), Danielle Ferland (Little Red), Ben Wright (Jack), and of course Bernadette Peters (Bernadette Peters.) Chip Zien sounds exactly the same. Tom Aldredge -- the Narrator/Mysterious Old Man -- died a few years ago, so they put Chip Zien against an empty stool and had him sing both sides of "No More," and he knocked it out of the park. Joanna Gleason and Danielle Ferland can't either of them quite hit the same high notes that they could thirty years ago, but Joanna Gleason has phenomenal stage presence so you really don't care, and Danielle Ferland is just adorable. Bernadette Peters is always amazing so, like, why should I even bother mentioning it? but Kim Crosby, Robert Westenberg, and Ben Wright all still have really incredible voices, which is especially impressive given that none of them are really in show business anymore and Ben Wright in particular hasn't sung in about 25 years and is now some kind of finance consultant.
The format was a little awkward at first, but the end -- getting to hear the whole original cast sing Your Fault, Last Midnight, and Children Will Listen -- YES, OKAY, I'M A GIANT NERD, I KNOW.
(My mom: "These guys are actually really lucky, because everyone else in all other Into the Woods productions has to try not to sound like them, but their job here is just to sound as much like themselves as possible!")
Other where-are-they-now cast gossip I was not aware of: Kim Crosby and Robert Westenberg, i.e. Cinderella and the Prince, have been married since the original run!
ROBERT WESTENBERG: I walked into the room, and I asked Tom Aldredge who the beautiful woman across the room was, and he said, "That's your wife!" ...I mean, he meant in the play, but those were literally the first words I ever heard about her.
Yes, OK, fine, THAT IS ADORABLE. Congrats on your textually ironic twenty-fifth anniversary, guys.
(Meanwhile, not brought up in the cast reunion, but noted by us and remarked upon in the playbill: Joanna Gleason is currently married to Chris Sarandon, aka Prince Humperdinck. The Baker's Wife got her prince after all ...?)
As far as stuff about the actual show goes, we got a little bit about stuff that was in early drafts of the production, although I wanted more -- apparently there was one version where the Baker's Wife dies by eating Snow White's poisoned apple, another version where the Baker kisses Cinderella --
(CHIP ZIEN: I think that would've been fun.
JOANNA GLEASON: Come on, I've been dead FIVE MINUTES!)
-- and the Baker's Wife was written back into the final number when Sondheim noticed Joanna Gleason glaring sulkily at everyone onstage at the end during dress rehearsals. Joanna Gleason also provided Sondheim with the "I'm in the wrong story!" line, while trying to figure out what was going on with the seduction scene. Bless Joanna Gleason.
Also everyone greatly enjoyed telling the story of how the Wolf's costume used to be even more, um, protuberant in front.
ROBERT WESTENBERG: During the first preview, I leaped out, and I stopped, but it was so big that it just kept on swinging ... the laughter covered about the first five lines of the song.
DANIELLE FERLAND: I was kind of a late bloomer, and he came out, and I was just like o.O ... everyone was laughing, and I'm wondering, "is that how it's supposed to ...."
BEN WRIGHT: It definitely gave me some insecurities.
My favorite little snippet of interview-let was probably Bernadette Peters', though, when she talked about how the fact that Sondheim is the composer as well as the lyricist means you can trust that consistent musical beats will tell you something about the character. Yes, please! I want to know more about that!
(My least favorite snippet was when the interviewer made an awkward and borderline racist joke about the Chinese Into the Woods production and we all cringed awkwardly in our seats. LESS OF THAT, PLEASE. MUCH LESS.)
Nobody mentioned the movie except once, when the interviewer asked Sondheim if people wanted him to make it more upbeat and happy.
SONDHEIM: I think it's a very upbeat show!
It got a laugh, but, I mean ... considering ... in the grand scheme of things ... like, when you're up against Sweeney Todd, Assassins, and Passions in a happy-off, I'm just saying, it's not hard to come out the winner.
The show opened with the host asking who'd seen the original Broadway show ... OK, who saw the original and the 2002 revival ... okay, who saw the revival, the original, and the 2012 Shakespeare in the Park show ... yeah, OK. A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE AUDIENCE, was the answer, so it's not like we're the only ones. (We had to stop raising our hands when they asked about last year's Roundabout production, which we never got to see, and the London production, which was maybe three people in the audience. Three out of five is not bad!)
The reunion was basically song performances mixed with snippets of semi-staged interview chatter -- they had Sondheim and Lapine first, and then Joanna Gleason (Baker's Wife), Chip Zien (Baker), Kim Crosby (Cinderella), Robert Westenberg (Wolf/Cinderella's Prince), Danielle Ferland (Little Red), Ben Wright (Jack), and of course Bernadette Peters (Bernadette Peters.) Chip Zien sounds exactly the same. Tom Aldredge -- the Narrator/Mysterious Old Man -- died a few years ago, so they put Chip Zien against an empty stool and had him sing both sides of "No More," and he knocked it out of the park. Joanna Gleason and Danielle Ferland can't either of them quite hit the same high notes that they could thirty years ago, but Joanna Gleason has phenomenal stage presence so you really don't care, and Danielle Ferland is just adorable. Bernadette Peters is always amazing so, like, why should I even bother mentioning it? but Kim Crosby, Robert Westenberg, and Ben Wright all still have really incredible voices, which is especially impressive given that none of them are really in show business anymore and Ben Wright in particular hasn't sung in about 25 years and is now some kind of finance consultant.
The format was a little awkward at first, but the end -- getting to hear the whole original cast sing Your Fault, Last Midnight, and Children Will Listen -- YES, OKAY, I'M A GIANT NERD, I KNOW.
(My mom: "These guys are actually really lucky, because everyone else in all other Into the Woods productions has to try not to sound like them, but their job here is just to sound as much like themselves as possible!")
Other where-are-they-now cast gossip I was not aware of: Kim Crosby and Robert Westenberg, i.e. Cinderella and the Prince, have been married since the original run!
ROBERT WESTENBERG: I walked into the room, and I asked Tom Aldredge who the beautiful woman across the room was, and he said, "That's your wife!" ...I mean, he meant in the play, but those were literally the first words I ever heard about her.
Yes, OK, fine, THAT IS ADORABLE. Congrats on your textually ironic twenty-fifth anniversary, guys.
(Meanwhile, not brought up in the cast reunion, but noted by us and remarked upon in the playbill: Joanna Gleason is currently married to Chris Sarandon, aka Prince Humperdinck. The Baker's Wife got her prince after all ...?)
As far as stuff about the actual show goes, we got a little bit about stuff that was in early drafts of the production, although I wanted more -- apparently there was one version where the Baker's Wife dies by eating Snow White's poisoned apple, another version where the Baker kisses Cinderella --
(CHIP ZIEN: I think that would've been fun.
JOANNA GLEASON: Come on, I've been dead FIVE MINUTES!)
-- and the Baker's Wife was written back into the final number when Sondheim noticed Joanna Gleason glaring sulkily at everyone onstage at the end during dress rehearsals. Joanna Gleason also provided Sondheim with the "I'm in the wrong story!" line, while trying to figure out what was going on with the seduction scene. Bless Joanna Gleason.
Also everyone greatly enjoyed telling the story of how the Wolf's costume used to be even more, um, protuberant in front.
ROBERT WESTENBERG: During the first preview, I leaped out, and I stopped, but it was so big that it just kept on swinging ... the laughter covered about the first five lines of the song.
DANIELLE FERLAND: I was kind of a late bloomer, and he came out, and I was just like o.O ... everyone was laughing, and I'm wondering, "is that how it's supposed to ...."
BEN WRIGHT: It definitely gave me some insecurities.
My favorite little snippet of interview-let was probably Bernadette Peters', though, when she talked about how the fact that Sondheim is the composer as well as the lyricist means you can trust that consistent musical beats will tell you something about the character. Yes, please! I want to know more about that!
(My least favorite snippet was when the interviewer made an awkward and borderline racist joke about the Chinese Into the Woods production and we all cringed awkwardly in our seats. LESS OF THAT, PLEASE. MUCH LESS.)
Nobody mentioned the movie except once, when the interviewer asked Sondheim if people wanted him to make it more upbeat and happy.
SONDHEIM: I think it's a very upbeat show!
It got a laugh, but, I mean ... considering ... in the grand scheme of things ... like, when you're up against Sweeney Todd, Assassins, and Passions in a happy-off, I'm just saying, it's not hard to come out the winner.
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That sounds amazing. If footage surfaces, please let me know.
Joanna Gleason also provided Sondheim with the "I'm in the wrong story!" line
HURRAH THAT WOMAN.
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According to Sondheim, "wrong story!" is the only time in his entire career he's taken a line from an actor.
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Thank you! Chip Zien is one of the weird cases where I have seen an actor in only one role proper (The Baker) and heard him in a handful of other original cast recordings (mostly William Finn) and it seems to have made me fond of him for life. I don't even hold Howard the Duck against him.
According to Sondheim, "wrong story!" is the only time in his entire career he's taken a line from an actor.
It was the right call.
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(My dad, in contrast, thinks Chip Zien looks nothing like him and everything like one of the Three Stooges.)
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OUCH, RIGHT IN THE HEART.
I'm glad you had a good time! :D
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I was gonna text you and tell you that your best friend is alive and well and married to Prince Humperdinck!
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they put Chip Zien against an empty stool and had him sing both sides of "No More,"
GAHHHHHHHH.
Then again, he has played both roles at this point, so that's fair, lol.
Yes, OK, fine, THAT IS ADORABLE. Congrats on your textually ironic twenty-fifth anniversary, guys.
LOL I actually knew that bit of ITW trivia! I also once saw a production where the Baker's Wife and Cinderella's Prince were played by a married couple, which I also found ironic/adorable.
Joanna Gleason is THE VERY BESTEST.
Also, Bernadette Peters is an ACTUAL VAMPIRE, is she not? HOW HAS SHE NOT AGED?
Also possibly relevant to your interests: Jason Robert Brown presenting Stephen Sondheim an award and basically gushing all over him hilariously. ETA: And dropping some badass music/lyric theory bombs in the process, btw.
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Chip Zien singing both sides of "No More" oh god leave me here to die