When the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim arrived on the scene, the effect was seismic. He challenged and provoked musical theatre into new relevance and startling profundity, crafting shows that asked tougher questions about the nature of life and love. He made musicals that united the head and the heart with sophistication, hyper-lexical intelligence, and daring musicality.
By the time his fractured-fairytale musical Into the Woods debuted on Broadway in 1987, Sondheim was already a force to be reckoned with – but he still managed to surprise. By the end of the first act, he gives all his characters a happy ending. In the second, he looks beyond happily-ever-afters towards what comes next: ambivalence, unfulfillment, the cruelty of loss. It is, tenderly and quietly, a parable about the Aids crisis – represented here by a giant leaving careless destruction in its wake, leaving a world shocked by sudden grief – but it is also an exploration of wanting, loving and our restless drive to find something that will finally make us feel complete. And how we never seem to get there.
