Nina Arianda, Victoria Clark, Patrick Wilson, Cheyenne Jackson, James Corden Part of Into the Woods Film Reading

By Adam Hetrick
02 Oct 2012

Nina Arianda
Nina Arianda
Photo by Joan Marcus

A reading of James Lapine's screenplay for the Rob Marshall-helmed film of Into the Woods took place Oct. 1 in Manhattan. Tony Award winners Nina Arianda, Victoria Clark, James Corden and Donna Murphy were among the enchanted cast members.

As previously reported, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Into the Woods book writer Lapine authored the screenplay based on his own book for the 1988 musical. Marshall directed the reading of the film musical that has a score by Tony and Pulitzer winner Stephen Sondheim. Disney is behind the project.

John DeLuca, who also produced Marshall's screen adaptations of "Nine" and "Chicago," is working on "Into the Woods."

The cast featured Arianda (Venus in Fur) as the Baker's Wife, Clark (The Light in the Piazza) as Cinderella's Mother/Granny/Giant, Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors) as the Baker and Murphy as the Witch. Murphy, a veteran of Sondheim's Passion, recently played the Witch in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Into the Woods.

The cast also included Christine Baranski (Boeing Boeing) as Cinderella's Stepmother, Tammy Blanchard (How to Succeed...) as Florinda, Ivan Hernandez (SITP Into the Woods) as the Wolf, Megan Hilty ("Smash") as Lucinda, Cheyenne Jackson (The Performers) as Rapunzel's Prince, Allison Janney (9 to 5) as Jack's Mother, Anna Kendrick (High Society) as Cinderella, Michael McGrath (Nice Work...) as Steward/Baker's Father, Laura Osnes (Cinderella) as Rapunzel, Taylor Trensch (Wicked) as Jack, Casey Whyland (Billy Elliot) as Little Red Riding Hood and Patrick Wilson (Oklahoma!) as Cinderella's Prince. David Garrison (Titanic) served as the screenplay narrator.

Paul Bogaev was musical director for the reading.

Into the Woods features a Tony-winning score by Sondheim and Tony-winning book by Lapine, who also staged both Broadway productions of the musical. Into the Woods premiered on Broadway in 1987 at the Martin Beck Theatre starring Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Kim Crosby and Robert Westenberg. The original cast performance was preserved by PBS' American Playhouse in 1991. A 2002 Broadway revival played the Broadhurst Theatre.