Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, directed in its revival by its original director and book writer James Lapine, twists popular fairy tales, infusing them with an adult sense of what happens after the "Happily Ever After." Jack's murder of the giant (of beanstalk fame) provokes the wrath of his giant wife. Cinderella's prince is a hopeless philanderer. The witch, played by recording star Vanessa Williams, is not wicked but overprotective of her daughter. And a slightly psychotic Little Red Riding Hood proudly wears the grey skin of the wolf she cut up.
— By Christine Ehren