Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for theInto the Woods stage show and movie.
The Into the Woodsmovie is one of the better adaptations of a Broadway showin a long time. Butwhile it's faithful to the Stephen Sondheim musical, there are some significant changes to the characters, plot and structure. Many of the changesactually helped the adaptation be more cinematic. (Some things are better on stage and some are better on screen, who knew?) Herethe five biggest changes we saw:
5. The Giant crashes Cinderella's wedding
In the original stage show everyone gets their happy ever after at the end of Act I, and they all sing a song about how happy they are. After intermission we see all the characters in their new happy lives, but even before the Giant shows up we can see that they're nottotally happy.
In the movie the Giant shows up right in the middle of the happy ever afters -- duringCinderella's wedding to the prince. While it's a good way to keep the story moving forward without the help of an intermission, it does make most of what happens in the back half of the film feel a little rushed.
4. There are special effects!
The magic of the movies and the magic of the stage are two very different kinds. While the Witch's spellsin various stage productions was well and good, it was pretty exciting to see Meryl Streep actually disappear in more than just a puff of smoke.
3. You see Jack on the beanstalk, Little Red get eaten and more
The way the stage show is structured, much of the action -- Cinderella at the ball, Jack with the Giants, etc -- happens offstage (the audience onlysees the character return to the woods afterward and sing about it). Since film is more of a show-don't-tell medium, the movieflashes back to some of these off-camera events during the songs. So duringI Know Things Now we see Little Red get eaten, and duringGiants in the Sky we see Jack climbing that big old beanstalk.
For Cinderella's big number, On the Steps of the Palace,the movie actually stops time while she sings so she can literally be on the stepsof the palace. It's an interesting take and similar to what director Rob Marshall did with the fantasy numbers in Chicago.
2. Rapunzel doesn't die
Rapunzel's story in general is significantly less dark than in the stage show. Granted, it's still pretty dark, but this Rapunzel neither bears twins in the desert nor is crushed to death by the Giant, so she has that going for her. She basically disappearsafter her confrontation with the Witch in the second half of the film.
1. There's no on-screen narrator
In the stage musical the narrator is a characterwho stands onstage, sings a decent number of songs and is dragged into the action by the rest of the characters in Act II and killed by the Giant. In the movie we just get a voiceover who helps to fill in some plot gaps. Considering the fact that someone standing there and just talking to the audience is inherently a theatrical device (hey, it's called a monologue!) we get why this had to be changed. But no onscreen narrator means no narrator death,which was just one more way the movie was a little less dark.
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