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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2025
“And I know things now / Many valuable thing / That I hadn't known before. / Do not put your faith / in a cape and a hood. / They will not protect you / the way that they should. / And take extra care with strangers, / even flowers have their dangers / and though scary is exciting / nice is different than good. / Now I know, don't be scared. / Granny is right, just be prepared. / Isn't it nice to know a lot / And a little bit not.” —Stephen Sondheim.
Into the Woods, one of Sondheim's most popular musicals, debuted on Broadway in 1987. Since then, it has become a cinematic hit, has seen numerous revivals and tours, and is iconic in the musical theatre world. It is a collection of fractured fairytales in two acts. The stories of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, the Baker and his Wife, Jack and the Beanstalk, and a Witch all intertwine to create a complex matrix of wishes. Act One ends happily with all the characters achieving their happy endings. Act Two sees them discontent and longing for wishes they never anticipated. Act One is the fairytale; Act Two is reality. I have had a 35-year relationship with this play, and while it has been a part of much of my professional life and I have written extensively about it, its personal impact is why I have chosen to write about it for this collection.
I first encountered Sondheim's Into the Woods when I was about 13 years old. I had very recently discovered musical theatre and was figuring out that singing was “my thing,” more than cheerleading had ever been. I wanted to see everything that came through Philadelphia, my hometown, on tour, and I was lucky that my family obliged. That was the year of the first National Tour of Into the Woods. My grandparents bought orchestra seats, and off we went. Thirteen-year-old me wanted to melt into the seat when the anatomically correct Wolf strutted onto the stage, as I was seated next to my grandfather. We simultaneously pretended to ignore the situation at hand, but after a minute, I wasn't really interested in the Wolf. I was fascinated by Little Red. That character and her song, “I Know Things Now.”
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