Brace yourselves, Into the Woods fans: It seems the upcoming movie will be markedly different from the show in a few key ways. “You will find in the movie that Rapunzel does not get killed, and the prince does not sleep with the baker’s wife,†Stephen Sondheim told a group of teachers at a recent master class. Pure madness! From The New Yorker:
A teacher asked what would happen to the song “Any Moment†if the baker’s wife remained chaste. “Don’t say the song is cut.â€
“The song is cut.â€
The teachers cried out in despair.
“I’m sorry, I should say, it’s probably cut,†Sondheim said.
“Stick up for that song!†a teacher called out.
“I did, I did,†Sondheim said. “But Disney said, we don’t want Rapunzel to die, so we replotted it. I won’t tell you what happens, but we wrote a new song to cover it.â€
Sondheim also says that Disney objected to the predatory sexual awakening story between the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, so maybe Johnny Depp creeping on the little girl who played Annie won’t be quite so grotesque. Even though life itself is grotesque and that is the whole point.