Into the Woods

	?		Consensus
44	17	1

Synopsis

Ganked from Wikipedia.

Plot summary

Act I

A narrator opens the show with the classic words "Once Upon a Time". He introduces us to four people to whom wishes are more important than life itself: Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King's festival; Jack, a lonely, impoverished and simple young man who wishes that his cow, Milky-White, would give milk; and the Baker and his Wife, who wish they could have a child. Little Red Ridinghood enters and buys some bread from the Baker to take to her grandmother in the woods while Jack's weary mother, sick and tired of her son's devotion to the useless cow, begins to nag him into selling the poor creature. Meanwhile, Cinderella's cruel stepmother and vain step-sisters, Florinda and Lucinda, taunt her dreams of attending the festival. The Stepmother throws a pot of lentils into the fireplace, and tells Cinderella if she can pick all the lentils out in two hours, she may go to the festival. Aided by some friendly birds, which she can talk to, Cinderella completes the task, but her Stepmother breaks her promise on the grounds that Cinderella has no suitable clothing.

After Little Red Ridinghood leaves, a knock is heard on the Baker's door, and their neighbor, an ugly old Witch, enters to reveal the source of the couple's infertility. Many years ago, the Baker's father had stolen from the Witch's garden to feed his pregnant wife's craving, and was caught. In exchange for his life and the lettuce, he promised to give the witch his unborn child. She let him go, but did not know that he had also stolen some of her magic beans. When the day arrived, the Witch cursed the family, including the infant Baker, to be barren, and took the Baker's sister, whom she named Rapunzel. 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 day's time. All begin their journeys into the woods: Jack to sell his cow at Market, Cinderella's family to the Festival, Cinderella to her mother's grave to ask for guidance, Red Ridinghood to her Grandmother's house, and the Baker, refusing his wife's help, to find the ingredients ("Prologue").

In the forest Jack encounters a Mysterious Man who says he'd be lucky to trade his emaciated cow for beans, let alone the five pounds he is asking. Cinderella visits her mother's grave and receives a beautiful gown and shoes from her mother's spirit ("Cinderella at the Grave"). Little Red Ridinghood, on her way to her grandmother's house, meets a hungry and lusty wolf, who tempts her into biding her time while he races on ahead to devour her grandmother and lie in wait for the more tender granddaughter. ("Hello, Little Girl"). The Baker, who sees their encounter, is concerned but is frightened by the Witch, who points out the little girl's blood red cape to him and threatens him. He is so frightened that he forgets the ingredients. Luckily, his Wife has followed him into the forest and is able to remind him. They are arguing over her presence when they encounter Jack and his cow... who is white as milk. The pair con the sad Jack into selling Milky-White ("I Guess This Is Goodbye") for five beans that the Baker's father had stolen from the Witch (which the Baker has found in a coat pocket), telling Jack that they're magic (not knowing that they really are). The Baker has qualms about breaking the curse by such unethical means, but his wife attempts to rationalize their crime ("Maybe They're Magic"). He sends her home with the cow, and goes in pursuit of Red Ridinghood's cape.

The Witch has locked Rapunzel, who has hair "as yellow as corn", in a tower to shield her from the outside world ("Our Little World"), but a Prince spies on them and decides to ask Rapunzel to let her hair down for him the next day. When Little Red Ridinghood arrives at her grandmother's house, she is swallowed by the Wolf, who has also feasted on her grandmother. The Baker (who has been following her) slays the Wolf, pulling Little Red Ridinghood and her grandmother from the beast's innards, and Red rewards him with the red cape ("I Know Things Now"). Jack's mother is angry that Jack was duped, returning only with beans, and tosses them aside, not knowing they will grow into a beanstalk that reaches into the clouds.

The Baker's Wife runs into Cinderella as she flees the festival, and misdirects her pursuers, another handsome prince and his steward. The two women catch their breath and the Wife quizzes Cinderella on her time at the ball with the charming Prince ("A Very Nice Prince") when she spots Cinderella's pure gold slippers. She is about to make a grab for them when midnight chimes, Cinderella rushes home, and Milky-White runs away. The wife takes off in pursuit of the cow as the cast enters one by one to state morals and credos as the First Midnight chimes. ("First Midnight")

Jack describes his thrilling but frightening adventure in the clouds and the Giant's house that he has found there ("Giants in the Sky"). He gives the Baker five gold pieces to buy back his cow, but when the Baker, attempting to stall for time, indicates that he wants more, Jack rushes to climb back up the beanstalk. The Mysterious Man emerges and taunts the Baker, stealing the money. The Baker is about to chase after him when his wife appears and confesses that she has lost the cow. Their argument is broken up by the Witch, who threatens them again. They split up to look for the cow.

The Baker's Wife stumbles upon a clearing in which Cinderella's and Rapunzel's Princes, who are revealed to be brothers, meet up. The Princes brag about their new-found loves, the mysterious girl who ran from the ball and the beautiful maiden in the tower with hair as yellow as corn (of which the Wife takes note) before beginning a very musical contest over which is suffering more ("Agony"). The Baker's Wife fools Rapunzel into letting down her hair and yanks out a braid of her hair. Meanwhile, The Mysterious Man appears and gives Milky-White back to the Baker. The Witch appears, and injures the Man with magic for interfering.

The Wife and Cinderella meet up yet again, and the Wife makes a desperate grab for her shoes, almost succeeding before the maiden flees. The Baker and his wife reunite, now with three of the four items. The Baker realizes that his wife has helped considerably, and admits the need for them to join together in their quest ("It Takes Two").

Jack arrives with a hen that lays golden eggs and attempts to buy Milky-White back, but as the three squabble, the cow suddenly keels over dead as midnight chimes. Again, the characters enter one by one and exchange morals. ("Second Midnight".)

The Witch discovers that the Prince has been visiting Rapunzel and begs Rapunzel to stay safe in the tower with her ("Stay with Me"). When she refuses, the Witch angrily cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her to a desert, and her Prince is blinded while trying to escape from the Witch. The Mysterious Man gives the Baker money to buy another cow, and Jack, goaded on by the sarcastic Little Red Ridinghood, who is now sporting a wolf skin cape and a knife for protection, returns once again to the Giant's home to steal a magical harp.

Cinderella's Prince is giving the last night of the festival, but this time, spreads pitch on the stairs to try to capture and identify his lady love. She escapes, but passive-aggressively leaves one of her slippers as a clue to her identity ("On the Steps of the Palace"). The Baker's Wife arrives and attempts to trade her remaining bean for Cinderella's one remaining slipper; Cinderella throws the bean aside but, needing more suitable running footwear, trades shoes with the Wife and flees. The Baker arrives with another cow, and they have now found all four items sought by the Witch before the end of the third day. The Prince's steward appears and attempts to wrest the shoe from the Baker's Wife when a great crash is heard and the forest shakes. Jack's mother runs in, reporting that a Giant has fallen from the beanstalk in her backyard and is dead. As the third midnight approaches, the Witch discovers that the new cow is not pure white—it has only been covered with flour. However, the Witch revives Milky-White, and the items are fed to her by the Baker and his Wife. Jack milks her, but when he turns the goblet upside down, he reveals that it is empty. The Baker's Wife reveals that she plucked the hair from Rapunzel. The Witch furiously explains that the magic will not work because the Witch had touched Rapunzel's hair that they had used in the potion, and she cannot have touched any of the ingredients. The Mysterious Man appears and tells the Baker to feed the hair-like strands on the ear of corn to the cow. Now Milky-White gives milk, and the new potion works. The Witch reveals that the Mysterious Man is the Baker's father, who had abandoned him instead of being "killed in a baking accident", but the Man dies before the Baker can talk to him. The curse is broken, and the Witch is restored to youth and beauty, which were lost when her magic beans were stolen.

Cinderella's Prince searches for the maiden whose foot will fit the golden slipper. The stepsisters mutilate their feet trying to cram them into the slipper, but the prince finds Cinderella, whose foot fits the slipper, and she becomes the Prince's bride. Rapunzel, who has borne twins, and her Prince are reunited and his sight is restored by her tears. The witch attempts to regain Rapunzel's affections, but when the girl refuses she attempts to curse the couple, only to find that her Power has been lost when her youth was regained.

At Cinderella's wedding to the Prince, the stepsisters are blinded by birds as they try to win Cinderella's favor. The Baker's Wife, visibly pregnant, thanks Cinderella for the slipper. Everyone but the Witch and the stepsisters congratulate themselves on being able to live happily "Ever After", though they fail to notice another beanstalk growing sky-high in the background.

Act II

Once upon a time, later, in the same far-off kingdom, everyone is still wishing: the Baker and his Wife have their precious baby boy but wish for more room, Jack and his mother are rich and well-fed but Jack misses his kingdom in the sky, and Cinderella is living with her Prince Charming in the Palace but is getting bored. Still, they are all happy despite these minor inconveniences ("So Happy").

Suddenly, everyone in the Kingdom is knocked over by an enormous crash, and enormous footprints have destroyed the Witch's garden, sparing only a few beans. The Baker and his Wife decide that they must tell the Royal Family, although the Witch says that the Royal Family can't do anything about it, and they safely escort Little Red Ridinghood to her grandmother's house after her mother was killed by the Giant. Jack decides that he must slay the Giant (as he knows how, from his previous experiences), and Cinderella learns from her bird friends that her mother's grave was disturbed and decides to investigate. ("Into the Woods" Reprise)

While everyone else is drawn back into the woods to deal with the new threats, the two Princes have grown bored with their marriages and now lust after two new princesses: Snow White and Sleeping Beauty ("Agony" Reprise). Rapunzel, overcome with post-partum depression, becomes hysterical, and flees from the Witch.

The Baker, his Wife and Little Red get lost in the Woods and find the Witch, who brings news that their houses have been destroyed, and the Royal Family and their steward, who reveal that the castle was set upon by the Giant. The Giant then appears, and everyone realizes that this Giant is a woman, the widow of the Giant that Jack killed by chopping down the beanstalk. The Giant's booming voice proclaims that she wants Jack's blood in revenge. To satisfy the Giantess, everyone offers her the narrator as a sacrifice, until they realize how lost they would be without him. Nevertheless, the Witch throws him into the Giant's arms and he is killed. Jack's mother finds the group and aggressively defends her son, angering the Giant's widow, and the steward clubs Jack's mother to make her be quiet, inadvertently killing her. The Giantess leaves to search for Jack, and Rapunzel runs underneath her and is trampled, to the horror of the Witch and her Prince ("Witch's Lament").

The Royal Family leaves to hide in a Hidden Kingdom. The Witch declares she will find Jack and sacrifice him to the Giantess, and the Baker and his Wife decide they must find him first and split up to search. The Baker's Wife meets Cinderella's Prince, and he seduces the willing Wife ("Any Moment"). Meanwhile, the Baker discovers Cinderella at her mother's destroyed grave and convinces her to join their group for safety. The Prince, satisfied, leaves the The Baker's Wife with a few platitudes, and she realizes her error and decides to return to her happy life with the Baker and their son ("Moments in the Woods") just moments before being accidentally crushed by the angry Giantess.

The Baker, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella anxiously await the return of the Baker's Wife when The Witch drags in Jack, whom she has found burying the Baker's Wife. The Baker, grief-stricken, agrees to give him to the Giantess, causing an argument. The characters first blame each other for their predicament, Jack for stealing from the Giant, Little Red for goading him on, The Baker for giving him the beans for the cow, Cinderella for throwing away the bean that raised the last bean-stalk, until finally they all decide to blame the Witch for growing the beans in the first place ("Your Fault"). Disgusted, the Witch curses them, purposefully throws away the rest of her magic beans, reactivating her mother's curse and making her vanish ("Last Midnight").

The Baker, grieving after his Wife's death, leaves his child with the others and flees. He does not get far before he is visited by his father's spirit, who convinces him to face his responsibilities ("No More").

The Baker returns to the group and helps them plan to kill 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 confronts her unfaithful Prince, and they take a tearful but necessary good-bye. Little Red returns with the news that her grandmother has been killed by the Giantess as well. Meanwhile, the Baker, perched in a tree with Jack, tells Jack that his mother is dead. Jack vows to kill the steward in revenge, until the Baker convinces him that killing the steward wouldn't benefit anyone. Cinderella comforts Little Red and tries to answer the young girl's qualms that killing the giant makes them no better than she is, while the Baker explains to Jack his inability to say what is really morally correct ("No One Is Alone").

The four remaining characters slay the Giant, and each of the previously deceased characters returns to describe the lesson they learned. The survivors plan to rebuild their lives together, and The Baker's Wife returns (in the form of a spirit) to give her husband one final lesson: tell their child the story of the Woods—actions have consequences, even for future generations. The Baker begins to tell the story, as the Witch appears, leading the company in the show's final moral: to be careful what you pass on to your children. ("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, before Cinderella lets out a final "I wish." ("Finale")

Characters

Primary characters are the 40 characters necessary to the game. Secondary characters are 25 more characters that enhance the game and make it even better. Both primary and secondary characters wil be fuly playable and meaningful to the game Second tier characters will be added to the game if we get more than 65 players and will be moved to primary or secondary as appropriate. Backup characters will be given to players as a "second character" so players can attend events their primary characters wouldn't be at.

Dream Casting

Have you ever seen a show and started casting your friends into the parts in your head? Well, now you can vote on who you would cast into whom. The only caveats are that you and your targets must be registered in the Lullaby of Broadway database, although they don't have to be signed up for the event.

Note: Dream Casting is just a fun exercise and is *not* a guarantee of casting for the game.

Want to dream cast? Log in then select the red Dream Cast link from the Player Menu tab!

External Media

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