Onto the Screen, It’s Time To Go: Sondheim Classic set for movie release

Theatre fans are in for a treat with recent news that Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods is set for movie adaptation.

Sondheim’s musicals are considered to be the creme de la creme in the theatre world, and according to The Hollywood Reporter’s recent article, Into The Woods will be in good hands.

The fairytale characters in James Lapine (book) and Sondheim’s (music) 1986 musical will be handled with care by director and choreographer Rob Marshall, who earned an Oscar nomination for his direction of the movie-musical Chicago starring Renee Zelwegger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is understood that Marshall is teaming with media conglomerate Disney for the production of this movie-musical.

A filmed version of the live production of Into The Woods was released in 1991 for television, starring Bernadette Peters as the Witch, but this new Disney adaptation is set to be more extravagant and magical than the staged version.

The stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and her ugly step sisters, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and Rapunzel (to name a few) intertwine to create a new story involving a baker and his wife, who hope to have a child.

Are we entering a renaissance of movie musicals? With The Drowsy Chaperone, Les Miserables, and now even Jersey Boys (set to be adapted be Oscar-nominated writer John Logan – Gladiator, The Aviator) in the works, it appears we may be heading into a new era of musical film making.