Film of Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods

Oscar-nominated director Rob Marshall is working with Disney on a film adaptation of Into the Woods.  The musical was last presented in London at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park in 2010.

Into the Woods is based on stories of the Brothers Grimm which Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine have adapted to give a dark and humorous twist.  The famous tales of Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Rapunzel (who lets her hair down) are interwoven with the story of the Baker and his Wife who are trying to have children.  

This tale goes way beyond the usual “happily ever after” we have come to expect as the characters find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances and their hopes and dreams are shattered.

Lapine is workibg on the script which Marshall expects to feature new songs by Sondheim who Marshall has worked with as a choreographer in the 1990s on ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' and 'Company'.

Marshall at one point had thought of directing Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd but the timing wasn’t right and it was made as a film by director Tim Burton with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter starring.

There have been other attempts to bring Into the Woods to the screen: in 1994 with Robin Williams, Goldie Hawn and Cher and later at Columbia Pictures with director Rob Minkoff attached  with Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan and Susan Sarandon.