Into the Woods - The Butt Report

[+ friendofsheila]

I'm happy to announce that Rapunzel's Prince (Billy Magnussen) has a butt and it has a small part in INTO THE WOODS.

 

Made my Christmas merry!

[armadillo]

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608041647238678412&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0

[TruHart1]

I'm happy to announce that Rapunzel's Prince (Billy Magnussen) has a butt and it has a small part in INTO THE WOODS.

 

Made my Christmas merry!

 

Billy M was an hilarious and fine Spike with perfect comic timing when I was lucky enough to see Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike in its original production on Broadway! I did not realize he was in the Into the Woods film, too!

 

TruHart1

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I heard a cast interview on the On Broadway SiriusXM channel. There was significant conversation about his leather pants. I now look forward to seeing the movie.

[uwsman2]

Yes, the butt is prominently displayed (albeit not undraped). He really fills out those blue pants.

And Chris Pine looks great, too.

[+ Cock Eyed Optimist]

And they both rip open their vests to expose their chests as they sing the song "Agony".

[+ Billsboy4]

Besides the butts (which are great), the movie is terrific. They fixed some of the problems with the second act of the stage musical and the cast is perfect....especially Meryl Streep who steals every scene she's in (no surprise there). Go see it....you get butts and a terrific film all in one!

[foxy]

Having seen a few live productions of Into the Woods I have to say I loved this movie. Terrific cast. Seeing it today in a theater with lots of families with kids i wondered how the reaction would be as it's not really a kids movie despite that it's a Disney production. When it ended the audience applauded which does't happen all that often in a movie theater these days. Would highly recommend seeing it.

[+ purplekow]

Have not seen the movie but i have seen the play and while the first act is light and family friendly, the second act gets quite dark and somber and definitely leaves one with a sense of forboding. No happy ending in this fairy tale.

[bostonman]

Have not seen the movie but i have seen the play and while the first act is light and family friendly, the second act gets quite dark and somber and definitely leaves one with a sense of foreboding. No happy ending in this fairy tale.

 

Oh, I definitely disagree. Yes, Act II does get very dark, but there is most certainly hope at the end - the survivors are able to look toward the future and think about rebuilding, the Baker starts learning how to get beyond grieving for his dead wife and to start raising his son, there's a hint that Cinderella, in fact, might become his new wife...Jack and Little Red seem to start thinking as friends - and even though there's a warning in the final moral ("careful the things you say, children will listen...") there is also a sense of encouragement in taking the responsibility to move ahead ("children will look to you / for which way to turn / to learn what to be").

 

And then there's that final surprise of "I wish" from Cinderella right at the end - which of course brings us full circle right back to the start of the show. Cautionary, yes - after we've just heard everyone sing to be careful what you wish for - but it's also a humorous comment on human nature (are we ever NOT going to resist the temptation to wish, after all?), and it's another way to end on a hopeful/suspenseful note - what will THIS wish bring?

 

I think the show ends on a wonderfully uplifting note. Yes, it's also bittersweet - but I'm not left with a feeling of foreboding at the end, for sure.

[Guest boiworship08]

Billy Magnussen is a god.

[Phil_musc]

I was thoroughly charmed but I don't really think it is a show for the kids either.

[bostonman]

I was thoroughly charmed but I don't really think it is a show for the kids either.

 

Young kids, probably not. The first half would be fine I would think, the 2nd half definitely depends on the age/maturity level of the child. And for a young child, it wouldn't even be only the darkness of the story itself, but the fact that it starts getting more psychologically dark as well, and it might just not make total sense to a young child. (Though the film has left out several of those moments - since there is no real Narrator, the stage version's scene of throwing the Narrator to the Giant is of course gone - and the emotionally cathartic "No More" is gone as well. I would never want to see "No More" missing from a full stage version of the show, but the film clearly wanted to take another path. So be it.)

 

Even for the stage version, there is a "jr" version available, meant for younger performers/audiences, that essentially leaves out Act II entirely, leaving things at "happily ever after" and adding on the "Children Will Listen" finale as a last "moral."

[+ carlos45]

I've been a fan of Billy Magnussen since "As the World Turns", I'm looking forward to seeing "Into the Woods".

[edjames]

Those in the NYC area or coming in to visit should note that the Roundabout Theater Co is doing a production at the Laura Pels Theater by the Fiasco Theater group.

With only 10 actors, one piano and an energetic cast, this is a downsized version of the Sondheim classic. No large orchestration, the cast plays some instruments much in the style of the John Doyle Sondheim sow (Sweeney Todd, Company, and the R&H Allegro) versions of the past.

I saw the original production back in '87, so this was a good opportunity to reconnect with the original story and cast of characters. I now will make arrangements to see the film version.

Given the more intimate size of the Laura Pels theater they did a good job on this production but it comes off more like a community theater production than a Broadway worthy show.

Of note, Jessie Austrian plays the Bakers Wife, she is better know to TV fans as the older college dropout daughter in Madam Secretary.

 

Limited run, opens Jan 22 and ends in March.

 

ED

[shadowcatzxxx]

I agree with ll the raves about the movie (and the princes).

Just saw it and was completely blown out of the water.

And certainly noticed Magnussen's butt in those leather pants. Pine is maturing into an even more drop-dead-gorgeous man.

I would certainly follow either of them into the woods ... giant or no giant.

 

and dramatically, I thought the movie was brilliant. Sondheim is a genius. For any parents out there, I felt that the parent-child stuff was extraordinary. I was in tears multiple times, for multiple reasons.

[namchebaz]

Just saw it today. Yep, Billy's butt was stunning. But it was also a great reminder that:

1. Meryl Streep can do anything, and

2. Stephen Sondheim is a musical storytelling genius. GENIUS!

 

If you're a SS fan and would like to see Sondheim the teacher, check out this link where he coaches a young singer learning "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music.

 

[+ carlos45]

I saw it, I loved it. "No One is Alone" had me a bit misty-eyed. Magnussen, oy! that ass!

[bostonman]

There's a line the Baker's Wife says in the stage show that was not included in the screenplay: "Two princes - each more handsome than the other." I might agree with that given the film casting. Magnussen is more my type, but Pine isn't bad to look at either. :o

 

I was pretty happy with the film overall. Some changes for the good, some things I missed from the original, but I thought it was well-cast, well-filmed, and well-sung and acted. While in its own way it's quite different from the stage version, I think it more than stands on its own as a valid adaptation. Bravo.

[shadowcatzxxx]

But Chris Pine (be still my heart .. and other body parts ... )had the best line "I was raised to be charming, not sincere."

[bostonman]

But Chris Pine (be still my heart .. and other body parts ... )had the best line "I was raised to be charming, not sincere."

 

That is a great line! But again, they left out the rest of it in the film. The full line would be "I was raised to be charming, not sincere. I didn't ask to be born a king, and I'm not perfect. I am only human."

 

As much as that first sentence is a sure-fire laugh line, I missed the rest of it. Even though it doesn't seem to change Cinderella's opinion of him in that moment, it does make him seem like just a little less of an asshole, lol.

[Cooper]

Agony!

 

One of the many highlights from Into The Woods, Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen hamming it up singing, Agony!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLR1uKXNc-M