ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the most important productions of the fairy tale musical in both the US and the UK. It discusses the different interpretations of the show. The chapter provides the critical response to the show itself and its various major incarnations. Like all Sondheim musicals, Into the Woods (ITW) has continuously attracted exceptionally talented performers. The major difficulty with ITW is to find a consistency of mood between the show's two halves as they have often been criticized for being incompatible. The first important revival of ITW was staged just eight years later, in London's tiny Donmar Warehouse, which seats only 251 and which after highly successful runs of Assassins and Company for (re)discovering Sondheim musicals in small-scale productions. The 2010 Regent's Park Theatre production was the first major open air staging, and the show began during daylight and three hours later ended in the dark under the stars enriched one of the musical's most pertinent themes.
