Into the Woods

Disney Into The Woods

 A great movie that teach us to be careful 
"Beware of what you wish for"  

The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by an original story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.

Starting with the words "Once Upon a Time," the Narrator introduces four characters who each have a wish: Cinderella, the daughter of a wealthy man who has been reduced by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters into becoming their skivvy, wishes to attend the King's festival; Jack, a simple poor boy, wishes that his cow, Milky White, would give milk; and a Baker and his Wife wish they could have a child.

While Little Red Ridinghood^[2] wishes for bread from the Baker to take to her grandmother's house, which they reluctantly give, Jack's weary mother, who wishes for gold, nags him into selling the cow, and Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda tease her about wanting to attend the King's festival.

The Baker's neighbor, an ugly old witch, reveals the source of the couple's infertility is a curse she placed on the Baker's line after catching the Baker's father in her garden stealing six "magic" beans. In addition to the curse, the Witch took the Baker's father's newborn child Rapunzel. She explains the curse will be lifted if the Baker and his Wife can find the four ingredients that the Witch needs for a certain potion; "the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold," all before the chime of midnight in three days' time. All begin their journeys into the woods — Jack goes to the market to sell his beloved pet Milky White, Cinderella's family goes to the Festival while Cinderella goes to her mother's grave to ask for guidance, Little Red goes to her Grandmother's house, and the Baker, refusing his wife's help, goes to find the ingredient.

-After the Baker and his wife found all the ingredients the witch made the potion with a help from the Baker father's spirit and be able to make the potion, the curse is broken, and the Witch is transformed into a beautiful young woman.All the characters got their "Happy Ending"  though they fail to notice another beanstalk growing sky-high.

All the characters seem happy but are still wishing: The Baker and his Wife have their precious baby boy, but wish for more room and bicker over the Baker's unwillingness to hold his child; Jack and his mother are rich and well-fed, but Jack misses his kingdom in the sky; Cinderella is living with her Prince Charming in the Palace, but is getting bored 

Suddenly, everyone is knocked over by a loud crash, and enormous footprints from a Giant have destroyed the Witch's garden, sparing only a few beans. The Baker and his Wife decide that they must tell the Royal Family, and the Baker travels to the palace. His news is ignored by the Prince's Steward, and also by Jack's Mother when he stops at her house to ask Jack's aid. When he returns home, Little Red Ridinghood arrives on her way to Granny's: her house has been destroyed and her mother is missing. The Baker and his Wife decide to escort her. Meanwhile, Jack decides that he must slay the Giant and Cinderella learns from her bird friends that her mother's grave was disturbed and decides to investigate, dressed in her old clothes. Once again, everyone heads Into the Woods, but this time the mood is somber and the birds have stopped singing.

------

The Baker, Little Red, and Cinderella await the return of the Baker's Wife when The Witch drags in Jack, whom she found weeping over the Baker's Wife's body. The Baker, grief-stricken when he learns of his wife's death, unwittingly agrees to give Jack to the Giantess, causing an argument. The characters first blame each other for their predicament, until finally they all decide to blame the Witch for growing the beans in the first place ("Your Fault"). Disgusted, the Witch curses them and throws away the rest of her magic beans, reactivating her mother's curse and making her vanish ("Last Midnight").

The grieving Baker flees, but is visited by his father's spirit who convinces him to face his responsibilities ("No More"). The Baker returns and helps plan killing the Giantess, using Cinderella's bird friends to peck out the Giant's eyes at an area smeared with pitch, where Jack and the Baker can finally deliver a fatal blow. Cinderella stays behind to protect the Baker's child and when her Prince passes by, he nearly fails to recognize her. She confronts him, having learned of his infidelity from her birds and he explains his feelings of unfulfillment  She asks him to go, and he sorrowfully leaves.

Little Red returns with the news that her grandmother has been killed by the Giantess. Meanwhile, the Baker tells Jack that his mother is dead. Jack vows to kill the steward in revenge until the Baker convinces him that killing the steward will not benefit anyone. Cinderella comforts Little Red and tries to answer her qualms that killing the Giant makes them no better than she is, while the Baker explains to Jack his inability to say what is morally correct. ("No One Is Alone")

The four remaining characters slay the Giant and the deceased characters now including the Royal Family (who have lost their way and starved to death in the woods) and the Princes (who have their new paramours, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, on their arms) return to share one last set of morals with the audience. The survivors resolve to band together and rebuild. The spirit of the Baker's Wife appears to comfort her mourning husband advising her husband to tell their child their story. The Baker begins to tell the story using the same words as the narrator did at the beginning of the play as the Witch appears with the final moral: "Careful the things you say, 'Children Will Listen'." All join in on a last reprise of the title song, surmising that we all must venture Into the Woods, but never to forget the past ("Finale"). As the characters conclude the song singing, "Into the woods, and out of the woods and happily ever after" Cinderella closes the show with one last "I wish..."

from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Woods