SUPPLEMENTARY TEACHER’S GUIDE
With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine,
this one-act version of the classic musical brings together favorite fairytale
characters such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack (of
beanstalk fame), and many others as they find “happily ever after,” learning
valuable lessons along the way!
SPECIAL STUDENT MATINEE!
Adapted content suitable for grades 3 and above
FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 at 10:00 a.m.
at The O’Shaughnessy
Presented by the St. Catherine University Department of Music and
Theater, in cooperation with the University of St. Thomas
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How to be a Good Audience Member!
We suggest the following guidelines:
Take time with your class before the performance to look at some of the links and
content provided in these supplementary teaching materials. Familiarity with the
events of the play enhances the experience, minimizing the potential for confusion
and the resulting lack of attentiveness.
For many of your students, this may be their first live theatre event. Discuss with
them some of the differences between their roles as a television audience
(passive) and a theatre audience (active).
Highlight their responsibilities:
1. BEING QUIET: If it is noisy, the performers can't do their jobs. Actors can
see and hear the audience just as much as the audience can see and hear
the actors.
2. SHOWING SELF-CONTROL: If they are squirming in their seats, they
disturb their neighbors.
3. APPLAUDING: This is their way of giving back the good feelings they
received from the performers. They should also feel free to laugh and react
when appropriate.
All of the guidelines, coupled with your own enthusiasm and attentiveness, should
create a most positive attitude for experiencing a play. Above all, ENJOY!!!!!
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The fairy tales of INTO THE WOODS
Into the Woods’ clever, original plot entertwines three Grimm fairy tales – Little Red Riding Hood,
Cinderella, and Rapunzel – along with the English folk fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk (while
adding an originally devised tale about a baker and his wife). Although the Youth Version has
tempered the stories’ most graphic moments, the actual tales are much darker than the versions
usually told today, especially those by the Grimm Brothers -- Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm
Grimm (1786–1859) – which were originally published in the early 1800s. For your students’
information and for sake of comparison with the musical they are about to see, they might like to
read or listen to the stories in their original form. Links are provided below:
Little Red Riding Hood
http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairytales/little_red_cap
Cinderella
http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/aschenputtel
Rapunzel
http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/rapunzel
Jack and the Beanstalk
http://fairytales4u.com/story/jackand.htm
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Stephen Sondheim
composer/lyricist of Into The Woods
Stephen Sondheim is considered to be the master of the modern musical
and reigning composer/lyricist on Broadway today. His list of awards
includes 8 Tony Awards (including one for Lifetime Achievement in the
Theatre), a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Academy Award, and numerous
Grammy Awards.
Into the Woods is one of his most popular works and won a Tony Award for
its musical score (by Sondheim), as well as its book (by James Lapine)
when it debuted in 1987. For more background information about
Sondheim and his seminal career, please refer to the following link:
http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-sondheim-9488709
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Plot Synopsis:
The Narrator begins the story by guiding the company through
each character’s wish. Cinderella wishes to go to the King’s
Festival; Jack wishes his cow, Milky-White, would give him milk;
and the Baker and Baker’s Wife wish to have a child. Jack’s
Mother wishes for gold and a less foolish son. Since their cow
won’t produce any milk, she insists that Jack sell the cow.
Cinderella’s Stepmother and her stepsisters, Florinda and
Lucinda, laugh at Cinderella’s wish. With Cinderella’s Father, they
ride off to the ball without Cinderella, leaving her behind in tears.
After stopping at the bakery for sweets, Little Red Ridinghood
prepares to travel into the woods to see her sick Granny. At their
home, the Baker and his Wife are visited by the Witch next door.
She reveals that the Baker’s father is the reason the couple’s wish
will never come true. She explains that in the past, the Baker’s
father stole magical beans from the Witch’s garden. To punish
them, the Witch placed a curse on the family, guaranteeing none
would ever bear children again, including the Baker and his Wife.
The Witch also took the Baker’s baby sister – a sibling he never
knew existed – and hid her in a tower far, far away. In order to break the spell, the Witch tells the Baker he
has three days to bring her four items: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as
corn and a slipper as pure as gold. As the Baker prepares for his journey, he puts on his father’s old jacket
and finds six beans in the pocket. All begin their journeys into the woods — Jack goes to the market to sell
his beloved pet Milky White; Cinderella's family goes to the Festival while Cinderella goes to her mother's
grave to ask for guidance; Little Red goes to her grandmother's house; and the Baker, refusing his wife's
help, goes to find the ingredients ("Prologue").
On her journey, Little Red Ridinghood meets a Wolf who targets her for his next meal (“Hello, Little Girl”).
We hear the voice of the Baker’s lost sister Rapunzel singing in the distance. As the Baker struggles with
his task, his Wife joins him and persuades Jack to sell Milky-White to her for five of their beans. After
Jack’s sad farewell to Milky-White, the Baker’s Wife tries to insist that the couple did Jack a favor (“I Guess
This is Goodbye/Maybe They’re Magic”). The Witch visits Rapunzel at the tower where she is kept
prisoner. Rapunzel’s Prince sees the Witch climb Rapunzel’s hair and decides to try it himself the next day.
Meanwhile, the Baker meets Little Red in the woods and unsuccessfully tries to take her cape. She then
enters her Granny’s house to find the Wolf in bed, pretending to be the old woman (whom he has eaten).
He devours Little Red and falls asleep. The Baker, hoping to get the cape, kills the Wolf, releasing Little
Red and her Granny from his belly. After the ordeal, Little Red realizes how naive she was (“I Know Things
Now”) and gives the Baker her cape as a gift for saving her life. Jack’s mother is furious with him for selling
their cow for five worthless beans and throws them away. The Baker’s Wife leads Milky-White through the
forest and encounters Cinderella, who is running from Cinderella’s Prince. Cinderella isn’t sure she wants
the Prince, and the Baker’s Wife thinks she is a fool (“A Very Nice Prince”). Seeing Cinderella’s gold
shoes, the Baker’s Wife tries to take one but is forced to chase after the runaway cow as the final chime of
the first midnight is heard.
The next morning, it seems a beanstalk has grown overnight and Jack appears with an oversized sack full
of money, singing about giants (“Giants in the Sky”). Jack’s Mother, delighted by his acquisition, lets him
keep five gold pieces, which he uses to try and buy back Milky-White, but the Baker cannot sell the cow
because he needs it for the Witch. Jack, thinking the Baker wants more money, goes back up the
beanstalk in search of additional funds. The Baker’s Wife appears, confessing she has lost the cow.
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Meanwhile, Rapunzel’s Prince and Cinderella’s Prince exchange tales of woe (“Agony”), comparing their
romantic difficulties. The Narrator returns the cow to the Baker. The Baker’s Wife, recognizing Rapunzel’s
hair as the perfect shade of gold, pulls out one of the girl’s tresses and runs into Cinderella, who is on her
way home from another night at the Festival. The Baker’s Wife fails again to take Cinderella’s shoe. The
Baker finally agrees to accept his Wife’s help, realizing it will take both of them to accomplish their goal (“It
Takes Two”). Jack returns to the Baker with a golden egg that he offers in exchange for Milky-White, when
all of a sudden, Jack discovers that the cow has died from old age.
With two midnights gone, the Baker goes in search of another cow, while a rebellious Rapunzel tells the
Witch that she wants to see the world. After warning Rapunzel to obey her (“Stay With Me”), the infuriated
Witch cuts Rapunzel’s hair and exiles her. The Narrator reveals that while pursuing Rapunzel, her prince
fell into a patch of thorns and was blinded. Leaving her third visit to the royal ball with only one slipper,
Cinderella reflects on her indecision to accept the Prince’s overtures (“On the Steps of the Palace”). To
help her run from the Prince, the Baker’s Wife gives Cinderella her own shoes in exchange for the
remaining gold slipper. The Baker and his Wife return to the Witch with their four objects. After rejecting
the new cow, that is not actually white but covered with flour, the Witch restores the dead Milky-White to
life and commands the Baker to feed the cow the other objects, insisting the cow be milked to fill a silver
goblet. Jack tries, but no milk flows. When the Baker’s Wife says she pulled the hair as yellow as corn from
a maiden in a tower, the Witch explains she, the Witch, cannot have touched any of the objects needed to
break the spell. The Narrator suggests feeding the cow the hair from an ear of corn. The cow then fills the
goblet with milk that the Witch drinks, transforming her into a beautiful woman. As the third midnight
strikes, Milky-White is reunited with Jack; the Prince finally finds his Cinderella and Rapunzel, reunited with
her Prince, restores his vision with her tears. The Witch realizes that in exchange for her own youth and
beauty, she has lost her dark magical power over others. Having broken the curse, the Narrator observes
that the kingdoms are now filled with joy. We are reminded there will be times when each of us must
journey into the woods but that we must mind the future and the past (“Finale”).
See more at: http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000189#sthash.ByJJZJzs.dpuf
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Discussion QUESTIONS:
The following questions may help start or steer
post-performance discussions in the
classroom:
1. Into the Woods portrays many different family relationships (especially
between parents and children). These can be discussed as follows:
 What were some of the parent/child relationships that appeared in
the show? How would you describe them?
 Did you see any problems between parents and children that were
solved in the show? How?
 Were the outcomes good for everyone?
2. In most versions of Cinderella’s story, she is eager to marry the
Prince. So why did she repeatedly run away from him in Into the
Woods?
3. After Little Red Riding Hood’s experience in the woods, what did she
learn?
4. Why did the Witch curse the Baker and his wife? Was she just a bad
person, or was there a reason behind her actions?
5. How did the Baker and his wife learn to work as a team in Into the
Woods? Why was this important?
6. After narrowly escaping the Giant, why did Jack go back up the
beanstalk? Was this brave or foolish (or both)?
7. What do YOU think it means for the characters to go “into the woods”?
8. Do you think everyone deserved their stories’ endings in Into the
Woods? Why or why not?
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Into the Woods: One-Act Youth Version is produced by The Department of Music and Theater at
St. Catherine University (https://www2.stkate.edu/theater/home). The performance will take
place at The O'Shaughnessy (http://oshag.stkate.edu/). For further information about the arts at
St. Catherine University, follow this link:
https://www.stkate.edu/menu/arts.php?_ga=1.20511928.1815943886.1434631486
Contents of this supplementary guide prepared by Dr. Pamyla Stiehl, Assistant Professor at St.
Catherine University
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