Into the Woods (2002 Broadway Revival Cast) [Cast Recording]

Stephen Sondheim, John McMartin, Into The Woods (Related Recordings), Vanessa Williams | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 25, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000067G5Z
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,767 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Prologue: Into the Woods

2. Cinderella at the Grave

3. Hello, Little Girl

4. I Guess This Is Goodbye / Maybe They're Magic

5. Our Little World

6. I Know Things Now

7. A Very Nice Prince / First Midnight / Giants in the Sky

8. Agony

9. It Takes Two

10. Stay with Me

11. On the Steps of the Palace

12. Ever After

13. Prologue: So Happy

14. Agony (Reprise)

15. Lament

16. Any Moment / Moments in the Woods

17. Your Fault / Last Midnight

18. No More

19. No One Is Alone

20. Finale: Children Will Listen

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing!!, June 29, 2002

By 

M (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Into the Woods (2002 Broadway Revival Cast) (Audio CD)

This recording is wonderful and was worth every penny. It's quality is good and besides that, it comes with the full libretto along with the synopsis and some color pictures from the production. The orchestrations are beautiful and, as far as I can tell, haven't changed a bit from the original. I've found from past experience that it's hard for me to evaluate something in a paragraph, so this might be a little long...

-Vanessa Williams is fine as the Witch, but she lacks "witchyness" that the character needs. She is, without a doubt, an amazing performer, but her interpretation doesn't quite fit the character. She HAS grown on me quite a bit from when I first heard the recording, and I have to respect the fact that she is not Bernadette Peters, but a whole other Witch. She is a bit more haughty and sarcastic, maybe. But I still do think she needs to be more witchy. Other than that, she does a great job.
-Marylouise Burke as Jack's Mother is fine--it's shocking the first time you hear her go so low to sing, but you totally get used it. There are a couple of times in the prologue where she gets off tune, but for the most part, she does fine. It's not like she has any huge solos or anything.
-Laura Benanti is great as Cinderella. She has got to be one of the most beautiful sopranos I've ever heard. Wonderful take on the character... There are times when she reminds me of Kim Crosby, but there are others when she is a totally different Cinderella.
-I loved Stephen DeRosa as the Baker. He's got a deep, strong voice that fits the Baker's character, as opposed to Chip Zien's original "nervous" Baker. Chip Zien was good, but I have to say that I loved Stephen DeRosa's voice much better. He gives a wonderful performance.
-In my opinion, the best thing about this recording is Kerry O'Malley and her fresh new take on the Baker's Wife. I honestly never thought anyone could be so different from Joanna Gleason and at the same time, be just as good as her. But Kerry O'Malley has done it. Her Baker's Wife seems a lot more young and naive and she has a sweet-sounding, Eponine type voice. Her "Maybe They're Magic" was one of the best songs on this CD, despite the fact that it is about 50 seconds long. And her "Moments in the Woods" gets me every time I listen to it. I adored Joanna as the Baker's Wife, but I've also come to love Kerry. She's simply amazing.
-Molly Ephraim and Adam Wylie in the roles of Little Red and Jack are fine, but not spectacular. There were times when I felt Molly Ephraim wasn't acting in her role as well as she was singing in it. As far as I could tell from the recording, her Little Red had no personality! She has a nice, simple voice, though, and her "I Know Things Now" is enjoyable. Adam Wylie was OK, I suppose, although there were times when I caught him hitting wrong notes and that annoyed me. Overall, he is a strong singer, though.
-Gregg Edelman is AWESOME as Cinderella's Prince! What a voice.. He kind of reminds me of Robert Westenberg in the original. He's just great. And he's good in "Hello Little Girl" as the Wolf as well. Christopher Sieber as Rapunzel's Prince is also very satisfying.
-Melissa Dye as Rapunzel is incredible. She has a beautiful voice, was great in "Our Little World." Also, she handles those "hysterical" scenes well, she's convincing but doesn't overdo it.

Some other comments...
-The new ending to "On the Steps of the Palace" is fine but not necessary. The only impact I feel that it has is that it's no longer Cinderella's big solo. I guess it's nice finish to this song, but it steals the spotlight from Cinderella. We really don't need Jack and Little Red coming in and telling us they learned something too, in my opinion. I think we all get that. I prefer the original ending.
-"No One is Alone" is beautiful. I ADORE the new ending. It makes the song even more touching than it was before. I do NOT, however, like when Little Red sings her line, "I wish..." and in reply Cinderella SINGS, instead of just plain speaks, her line ("I know"). Very annoying, and it felt to me like Cinderella was taunting or mocking Little Red. Bad idea. It even takes away the beauty of the song for a minute there.
-"Your Fault" is done wonderfully--much better than how it was done in the original. The original casts' Your Fault seemed choppy and uneven, but this time it's done swiftly and consistently. I also like the way the music starts slow in the beginning, but speeds up for the Baker's first line. Good touch.
-As I said above, I loved "Moments in the Woods." For some reason, it's one of my favorite songs of all time, and I love it when Joanna Gleason sings it, but now I love it just as much when Kerry O'Malley sings it. She has a BEAUTIFUL voice.

Overall a wonderful recording and definitely worth buying. :)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the original...that makes better and worse, September 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Into the Woods (2002 Broadway Revival Cast) (Audio CD)

Overall this recording is quite good. The addition of a second wolf coming back after following the Three Little Pigs was amusing. I had always wondered why only one of the Princes was a wolf. I also enjoyed the new ending to "Steps of the Palace". To me it had always been a song much too long for only Cinderella to sing.

I am quite partial to some of the casting of this revival as well. Molly Ephraim is the perfect Little Red in my opinion. Danielle Ferland was a fantastic actress but her voice tended to get on my nerves. I enjoy the fact that Molly does not belt everything.

Stephen DeRosa is also wonderful. Chip Zien I found to be too whiney of a Baker.

John McMartin I found to be a much more interesting Narrator than Tom Aldredge. Tom put me to sleep.

There were some casting mistakes, however. Vanessa Williams is nothing compared to Bernadette Peters as the Witch. She sounds beautiful when she is supposed to be mean and she sounds less beautiful when she is supposed to be beautiful. I cannot understand it.

Kerry O'Malley has a beautiful voice and I am thankful that she belts the end of "Maybe They're Magic". My one complaint with the original, Joanna Gleason was that she could not belt those notes. Despite Kerry's beautiful voice, I feel that she is a little too young for the role. Give her a few years and I think she'd be perfect!

Adam Wylie makes an interesting Jack. He took a much more animated approach to the role. I prefer Ben Wright's youthful voice to Adam's nasal voice, though.

Marylouise Burke I believe to be fine in the role of Jack's mother. Barbara Bryne was not much of a singer, either, in my opinion. The two women took very different appraoches to the role so much so that they even sang in different octaves. Had Burke been in the original and Bryne in the revival, I think everyone would be complaining as well. Both women are equally good in my opinion.

All of the other actors and actresses I consider to be equal (though possibly different) to the originals.

This recording is a triumph. Small bits of the actual music and lyrics that were not "perfect" in the original have been fixed. Though some cast members are not as good as the originals, none are lacking. This recording is well worth the money (as is the original).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Into the Woods (2002 broadway revival cast), June 26, 2002

By 

C. Shipley "phantomsb5" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Into the Woods (2002 Broadway Revival Cast) (Audio CD)

The new Into the Woods is a must have! This new cast of Into the Woods took me completely by surpirse. The new cast is almost as good as the original cast and Vanessa Williams shines as the witch, but lacks some of the power that Bernadette Peters used to make the witch come alive. I was afraid when I heard that Sondheim had made a few changes to the show. I believe that the original cast album is a gem. The changes include 3 little pigs, a second wolf, minor alterations of words to a few songs like "On the Steps of the Palace", and the editon of "Our Little World" in act one. The song was cut from the Broadway production but appears on the London cast album. These changes enhance the show which I thought was already perfect. This is a must purchase if you love the original cast album. You will not be disappointed!