The musical is BACK! Right...?
You're watching Beyond The Trailer's review of Into the Woods...
In 2001, Baz Luhrmann's cult favorite seemed
to revive both the movie musical and Nicole
Kidman’s career. Fast forward to today though,
and neither comeback seems to be as concrete
as we’d previously thought. Kidman? Well,
after Moulin Rouge, The Others and her Oscar
for The Hours, her painfully slow downward
spiral seems to have finally hit bottom. But
the musical’s current status is harder to
pin down. Sure there have been countless misfires
since Moulin Rouge like The Phantom of the
Opera, Rent, The Producers, Sweeney Todd,
Nine, Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys. However,
while the hits are much fewer, they’ve been
big. Chicago. Dreamgirls. Hairspray. Mamma
Mia. And of course, Les Mis. So now Disney
- which is currently succeeding in every single
division - will try to see if they can dominate
the musical as well. Interestingly, the Mouse
House’s last serious musical was Evita and
since then they’ve only done - well - Mickey
Mouse musicals like the new Muppet movies
and the High School Musical franchise. But
Into the Woods is legit. In fact it’s so
legit, only true fans of musical theater are
familiar with it - which could prove to be
a bit of a problem. See, while Stephen Sondheim
did write the lyrics for two big Natalie Wood
hits West Side Story and Gypsy, he’s never
had the mainstream crossover appeal of Rodgers
and Hammerstein or Lerner and Loewe. He’s
more of a Kander and Ebb. So to make Into
the Woods a little more palatable to the masses,
Disney has done what they do best. This film
adaptation is tricked out visually as only
a live action Disney fairy tale can be, plus
it features an all star cast including Meryl
Streep, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and - of
course - Disney poster man-boy Johnny Depp.
But in this case, Depp is actually doing a
favor for his Pirates 4 director Rob Marshall,
who Disney is finally letting direct Into
the Woods as a reward for Pirates 4. Basically,
make sure you thank everyone who saw Pirates
4 for making Into the Woods happen. But does
the director of Pirates 4 really know anything
about musicals? He sure does, as Marshall
started out directing musicals on TV in the
1990s before breaking into the movie business
with Chicago. But then, he also later directed
Nine... It’s worth noting though that Disney
and Marshall have tried to honor Into the
Woods’ theatrical roots, casting several
theater actors. If you don’t recognize someone?
They’re from Broadway. But while true musical
theater fans will recognize everyone in the
cast, those fans are worried they won’t
recognize the musical itself! As you might
recall, this adaptation was plagued with rumors
that Sondheim had allowed some changes - and
that some further changes were beyond his
control. So far The Hollywood Foreign Press
Association seems to love the result, as Into
the Woods has been nominated for three Golden
Globes, including Best Picture Comedy or Musical.
But will musical theater fans be impressed?
And perhaps most importantly, at least to
Disney’s bottom line, how about non-fans
- like this one...?
