Having played the pivotal role of The Baker on stage in 92 and co-directed a high school production in 2006, The Hawk knows the late Stephen Sondheims Broadway musical INTO THE WOODS better than any other that hes ever seen, and was extremely concerned about the reported changes being made to the complex (and often dark) storyline of the original source material being made in order to bring it to the big screen adaptation. Plans to give the musical a cinematic treatment had been in the works (but then subsequently dropped) time and time again for the past 25 years, with a variety-pack of studio executives deeming the task as impossible to pull off. However, Disney Studios, coupled with director Rob Marshall (best known for CHICAGO, the 2002 Oscar-winner for Best Picture) inherited the project in late 2012 and the film finally opened two years later on Christmas Day. Due to my unusual familiarity with this particular musical, The Hawk (a former high school humanities and film studies teacher) offers a specialized review format for this one by providing a peek into his INTO THE WOODS Gradebook: ACTING - The Stand-out Performances : Meryl Streep as The Witch : absolutely crushes the role, especially on the songs Stay With Me and The Last Midnight. Streep even outdoes Bernadette Peters from the original Broadway production, and clearly deserves an Oscar nom for her work here. Grade = A+ Anna Kendrick as Cinderella : like Streep, Kendrick surpasses all other actresses that have played this role in the musical, and hits a bases loaded home run with On The Steps of The Palace. Grade = A ACTING - The Rest of the Leads: Chris Pine - Cinderellas Prince (A) James Corden - The Baker (A-) Emily Blunt - The Bakers Wife (A-) Lilla Crawford - Little Red Riding Hood: Looks the part and sings well but misses the comic timing required of the role. (B-) Johnny Depp - The Wolf : terrible casting choice; way too physically small and unthreatening; strictly thrown in the mix for marquee value, and brings nothing of value to the role. (D+) Mackenzie Mauzy - Rapunzel (B) Billy Magnusson - Rapunzels Prince (B+) Daniel Huttlestone - Jack (A) Tracy Ullman - Jacks Mom (B+) Adaptation from Stage to Screen = A Direction = A- Production Design = A+ Hair/Make-Up = A Costuming = B ( wouldve been an A, if not for The Wolfs goofy get-up which is a total fail) Scoring = A Editing = A- ******** COMMENTS - With the lone exception of casting Depp as The Wolf, director Rob Marshall and his team have done a marvelous job of adapting the beloved Tony-winning Broadway musical from the stage to the screen. However, I do wish that he wouldve taken director Tom Hoopers cue from his big screen adaptation of Broadways LES MISERABLES (2012), and had all of the songs recorded live, rather than going old school with prerecord soundtrack. Only Streeps rendition of Stay With Me is given the live treatment in INTO THE WOODS, and the difference of allowing the actor to be able to control the pacing and spontaneity of the phrasing at the moment is astounding. ******** OVERALL GRADE = A- ******** A SPECIAL NOTE TO THOSE IN THE LANCASTER, PA area - LadyHawk and I were THRILLED with the major upgrade recently to the Manor 16 Regal Cinema with their new reserved seating policy (pick your seats in advance) and brand new full recliner seats for all 16 screens. These huge improvements have quickly catipulted the local theater to the king of movie-going experiences in Lancaster County. Here’s hoping that these upgrades will eventually reach most Regal theaters and that its competitors will soon see as well that such improvements are going to be what it takes to bring audiences back to the theaters and out of their home theater environments.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:58:57 +0000
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