Stephen Sondheim was born on 22nd March 1930 and celebrated his 75th birthday this year. He wrote Into The Woods in 1987 with James Lapine who has also successfully collaborated with him in 1984 in Sunday in the Park with George,a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Having originally wanted to write an original quest fairy tale, the final piece is very true to the darker Grimm's fairy tales and the plot enables several well known characters to cross paths on their various journeys and tasks.

As the narrator begins:
"Once upon a time
in a far off kingdom
lived a fair Maiden" (Cinderella)

"A sad young lad" (Jack, and the Beanstalk)

"and a childless baker with his wife" (introducing the story of Rapunzel and the witch). Later on we meet the two stepsisters and stepmother of Cinderella ..

"All three were beautiful of face but vile and black of heart"
and also Red Riding Hood who goes into the woods to Grandmother's house.

The tale can be enjoyed and considered at many levels. We all know that Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf and that the mean stepsisters, blinded to Cinderella's beauty within, have their eyes pecked out by birds. The story is dark and seemingly moralistic but sudden unexpected twists occur. Vain Princes who lament their struggle to rescue damsels and fear dwarves; witches who tell the truth and overprotect their children; Giants who give you food and rest and draw you close to their giant breast.

Sondheim tells a good tale and is drawn to paradox and the hard lessons we learn when we go into the woods of life (as in the heart rending songs of Follies or Sweeney Todd)

"You go into the woods,
where nothing's clear,
Where witches, ghosts
and wolves appear.
Into the woods
and through the fear,
you have to take the journey."

And this is where another, deeper level of listening and understanding the story comes in.

Bettelheim explored the meaning and importance of Fairy tales in his book The Uses of Enchantment (1976). He writes that in order to master the psychological problems of growing up - over-coming narcissistic disappointments, oedipal dilemmas and sibling rivalries; relinquishing dependency; gaining a sense of self worth and moral obligation - a child needs to understand what is going on in his conscious self to cope with that which is going on in his unconscious.

"It is here that the fairy tales have unequaled value, because they offer new dimensions to the child's imagination... Even more important, the form and structure of fairy tales suggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams and with them give better direction to his life."

Sondheim's music is a chamber music piece and has many repeating refrains to emphasise the different characters and a very catchy title tune that has a marching beat as each character goes Into the Woods.
The witch too has an identifiable tune with her wistful lament that "children won't listen". At times Into the woods is similar in its deceptive simplicity to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, but there are underlying mournful and threatening melodies that point us to the deeper meanings and metaphors.

As you watch the show you will form your own ideas and references to the Giants or wolves (predators) in your own life. Some of us are about to go into the woods to face our fear as we make diffcult choices and changes in our lives.

Another way of looking at this journeying tale is that it gives examples of all the stages of growing up through the life cycle. Jack has to sell Milky White (which could represent weaning psychoanalytically) and leave his mother to explore the world and Giants at large. He acquires a sense of self esteem and independence through his ventures and risk taking (stealing the hen and harp).

Red Riding Hood is eaten by a wolf after straying off the path (defying her mother's advice and learning its wisdom too late). This could symbolise learning about moral obligation. The child knows that there is nothing wrong with picking flowers; what is wrong is disobeying mother when one has an important task to carry out serving the legitimate interests of granny.

Red Riding Hood perhaps represents the danger to young women from seductive male predators who are exciting and scary. She learns about sexuality and has to face her dark "secrets that I never want to know". Or this story could be about re-birth after facing one's fears (as Red Riding Hood is 'reborn' through cutting open the Wolf's stomach (along with grandmother)). This character out of all the characters has strong ambivalent feelings that are shared in her song about the wolf and his swallowing her up; feelings that children have about their budding sexuality and their parents (girls for father; boys for mother).

The Baker and his wife are for me the grown ups who deal with ethical dilemmas like whether the ends justify the means; and how in life one can be touched by pleasure and bliss for "one moment", perhaps with a prince (hero, teacher, guru) and that this moment makes all other moments seem different. The baker in particular has to face his parental obligations towards his baby and the equally strong urge to run away

"let's do it
free from the ties that bind."

I will leave you to follow the show and to find your own stories within stories; triggers to your day dreams and dilemmas that you face. The show ends on a hopeful note with the theme tune (having reassured us that No-one is Alone)

"Into the woods
you have to grope
but that's the way
you learn to cope.
Into the woods
to find there's hope
of getting through the journey."

Catharine Humphrys.