Musicals have made somewhat of a comeback in the last few years after getting swept to the side due to poor production and worse scripts in the years since the silver screen musical glory days.
Just like a number of ventures this movie is one of those overnight successes that took many years to come to fruition.
I recall more than 20 years ago listening to Roy Leonard on WGN radio out of Chicago talk about this stage musical he had seen called Into the Woods. Written by Stephen Sondheim, it combines several fairy tales by the Brothers' Grimm.
Located along the edge of the Woods are a baker and his wife, their neighbor the witch, Jack and his mother, a girl in a red cape, a dirty and dusty girl named Ella, and in the woods trapped in a tower a young maiden with long golden hair named Rapunzel.
You are quickly delivered into each tale - the girl working in cinders for her step-mother wishing for a better life. The girl with the red hood explaining she needs breads and sweets for her grandmother. Jack trying to milk a cow that doesn't have any - then having to sell it to provide food for the table.
The baker and his wife desperately want a child, so when the witch offers them a deal - they take it and set out to find the four things the witch wants. Four things that will make the ugly witch beautiful again.
As with most movies, it requires a suspension of disbelief to follow the characters as they travel down a path you recall from the stories you heard while on your parent's lap.
Jack sells the cow for magic beans. Mr. Wolf gobbles up the girl and her grandma. Cinderella meets the prince, but has to run away. Rapunzel lets down her hair to let a prince into her life.
That's when the stories turn and meld into one and what you thought you knew wasn't what you actually thought.
It's a fun and entertaining movie with a wonderful cast. Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp are the biggest names, but for me it was a fun two hour ride with unexpected twists and turns along the way.
Whether it's over the holidays, or during the winter waiting to unfold in front of many, I suspect you will find your own trip "Into the Woods" to be a delight.
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