Essay Examples on Into the Woods

1st Essay Sample on Into the Woods

“Into the Woods” “Into the Woods was simply an amazing theatrical performance! The play combined suspense ,excitement, and fascinatingly realistic set design to captivate the audience. Half way through this play I found myself and my classmates thinking “Wow! What a play! How could anyone dream up such a crazy idea and turn it into a production?” I think this is thefirst time that I have been taken to this level of astonishment. A kind where it just grabs you and throws you.

And it knocks the wind out of you! Steven Sondheim, creator of the play, had obviously mastered the skills needed to make me say this. His style was was like a vinegar in the tomato sauce, a present yet unidentifiable hint, which reminds you of the crafter’s care.

Even if you could not quite grasp it it was there. Something that made it stand out. His good sense of humor and wit and his superior plot development were blended subtly so that it wasn’t to conglomerate.

But most importantly, his use of well known characters which made the audience feel as though theirfamily was up on ! stage. The characters were extremely realistic and were an ideal image of the thoughts they seemed to “discharge”.

The catalyst of the plot were the main characters which were the baker and his wife, Jack, the witch, Red Riding Hood, the wolf and Cinderella were all major. It is this kind of interdependency that adds so much to this play.

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It was fascinating to me how much relied upon each character’s actions. There was more of a co-operative “essence” about this play than most.

2nd Essay Sample on Into the Woods

Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim, blends various familiar fairy tales into an original story of a childless Baker and his Wife, who catalyze the action of the story by attempting to reverse a curse on their family in order to have a child.In thefirst act, the characters set out to achieve their goal of living “Happily Ever After” through familiar routes and at the end of Act I, all characters seem poised to live “Happily Ever After”.Act Two, however, deals with the consequences that traditional fairy tales conveniently ignore.As they face a genuine threat to their community, they realize that all actions have consequences, and their lives are inescapably interdependent, but also that that interdependence is their greatest strength. Act one begins with an introduction of the main characters, many of whom need little or no introduction. Henry Austin Bragg and Emily Gatesman are comically wonderful as the Baker and the Baker’s Wife, which are the two central characters, and Wendy Fox plays the Wicked Witch, who splendidly portrays the motherly side of a witch.Erin Sauter plays Cinderella, who is terribly confused about what she wants, Kevin Quillon plays Jack, whose greed starts to take over what little common sense he has and Tina Ghandchilar plays Little Red Riding Hood, whose hunger for food turns into a hunger for blood. The play is based on the different obstacles the characters face in achieving their wish and how they work through them to reach a happy ending. The main conflict is between the Baker and his Wife who desperately want to have a child and the Wicked Witch who sends them on a journey into the woods to break the spell she has placed upon their family.

The Baker and his wife need four things to break the spell, and each have a connection to one of the other main characters.