If you’ve never had the chance to see Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy Into The Woods on Broadway, it’s now on Blu-ray for the first time. The wacky play was filmed during a performance on Broadway and stars Bernadette Peters in the lead role. Nicely framed for optimal viewing the play features its original cast, music and stage sets. Originally released on DVD, the film has been remastered in Blu-ray for a clear, clean presentation.
Into the Woods follows four main stories featuring a baker and his wife who are childless, Jack and his mother who are penniless, Cinderella who has been relegated to the chores of a wicked mother and her two daughters and Little Red Riding hood needing bread to take to her grandma. Cursed by the wicked Witch (Bernadette Peters) the baker heads for the woods in search of four things that will break the spell on his wife so they can have siblings.
The Baker needs to collect a white cow, a red cape, hair of gold and a pair of golden slippers and deliver them to the Witch. She will then reverse the spell and allow the baker’s wife to have a child. The only thing the baker has for bartering are some magic beans that happen to be lying around his bakery.
The production gets very lively with a lot of situation comedy laced with music. The actors are very talented and look like they are having a wonderful time on stage playing the interesting characters as they go on their own quests into the woods.
The costumes are bright and the sets are very colorful. The story line includes many storybook characters that fit nicely into the chaotic stage show. It’s a production that the whole family will love and plays on several age levels. The children will love their Grimm’s fairy tale characters that they will recognize immediately including Rapunzel, Jack, Cinderella and Riding Hood. The adults are treated to a bawdier story entwined within the trials of the baker, but not to fear the youngsters will shouldn’t catch on a bit.
The Blu-ray does its best to make the presentation as bright and clear as possible. I did find that there’s some distortion at times and it gets a little grainy during the less lighted scenes. But overall the showing from the disc allows for a fun time that should not be missed.
The sound quality is very good using the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo setting. With over 25 musical numbers in the play, not one has any distortion. Nice use of stage microphones allow for even the quietest conversations between the characters and timely special effects.
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg
Director: James Lapine
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Genre: Broadway Play, Musical, Comedy
Running Time: 153 min
Video Release Date: December 2, 2014
Language: English
Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
Video: 1080p HD, Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RJL Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
