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annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
3.0
Sondheim and I have a complicated relationship. There are songs and musicals I love. There are at least as many songs and musicals I hate. Into the Woods is one of the musicals I love, containing quite a lot of songs I would love to sing myself one day. So, when one of the prompts in a reading challenge asked me to read a book published in my birth year and I saw the script of into the woods was among those I knew what to read.
Finding that script however? Nightmare. There are loads of high school versions, only including parts of the first act. But finding a full version felt impossible and then I stumbled upon this book. I wasn't aware that it was an adaptation of the script, but I was also a little tired of looking and finding nothing, so I decided to just grab this one, read it and mark the prompt as read. Maybe it's a little cheating, but all is fair in reading challenges, right?
I quite liked how readable this version of the script was and yet it still contained loads of original lines. There were parts of songs included. There were parts of the dialogue included and all of these were connected by little bits of proza describing the scene and emotions of the characters. To make the book even more beautiful a lot of atmospheric drawings were added. In a way this book now truly reads like a fairytale.
There were also pieces of the original text that I really missed. Most of all it were the songs I know things now, On the Steps of the Palance and Giants in the sky. I understand that maybe those songs don't add much to the story, but Agony doesn't either and both the first act and second act version were in there. However, if you're not as looking forward to these songs as I am you might really prefer reading this version instead of the script.
Finding that script however? Nightmare. There are loads of high school versions, only including parts of the first act. But finding a full version felt impossible and then I stumbled upon this book. I wasn't aware that it was an adaptation of the script, but I was also a little tired of looking and finding nothing, so I decided to just grab this one, read it and mark the prompt as read. Maybe it's a little cheating, but all is fair in reading challenges, right?
I quite liked how readable this version of the script was and yet it still contained loads of original lines. There were parts of songs included. There were parts of the dialogue included and all of these were connected by little bits of proza describing the scene and emotions of the characters. To make the book even more beautiful a lot of atmospheric drawings were added. In a way this book now truly reads like a fairytale.
There were also pieces of the original text that I really missed. Most of all it were the songs I know things now, On the Steps of the Palance and Giants in the sky. I understand that maybe those songs don't add much to the story, but Agony doesn't either and both the first act and second act version were in there. However, if you're not as looking forward to these songs as I am you might really prefer reading this version instead of the script.
bythecover's review
5.0
I think that this has to be by far my favorite piece Sondheim has ever written. Does the tone change suddenly in act 2? Yes, but that’s the whole point. That’s life, sometimes people die and things change and there isn’t a happy ending, how do we deal with that? Cohesive themes, great humor, some of the best songs and rhymes written for any musical. Is this show without flaws? Probably not, but it touches me, humors me, and makes me think far too much for me to notice them.
caffeinatedfae's review
4.0
Trigger Warnings: Cheating, murder, dark humor & inaccurate use of the word rape
I've owned the play transcription of Into The Woods for about five years now, but I never seemed to find the time to read it. This was one of the three picks I pulled out of my TBR jar for the Clearing The Hoard Bookwyrm Challenge I created. I couldn't pick what book, but this book was mentioned in David Levithan's newest book, 19 Love Songs, so my choice was easy to make.
I first picked this book up right before the movie adaption was released. I was planning on reading it after I saw the movie, but then it sat on my shelf gathering dust. I finally picked up the play script, and I'm glad that I did. I will say, I'm so happy that I saw the movie before I read the script because that meant I was able to see the humor that was present.
This play is not your typical disneyfied fairytale. It's dark, outrageous, and will make you do a double-take at times. I'm glad that I went back and read this script because it brought back the joy and amusement I felt when watching the play.
This play is not going to be for everyone, but if you enjoy the social commentary and dark humor, it might be the perfect fit for you. All in all, I enjoyed it, and I need to make sure to listen to the soundtrack for the thousandth time.
I've owned the play transcription of Into The Woods for about five years now, but I never seemed to find the time to read it. This was one of the three picks I pulled out of my TBR jar for the Clearing The Hoard Bookwyrm Challenge I created. I couldn't pick what book, but this book was mentioned in David Levithan's newest book, 19 Love Songs, so my choice was easy to make.
I first picked this book up right before the movie adaption was released. I was planning on reading it after I saw the movie, but then it sat on my shelf gathering dust. I finally picked up the play script, and I'm glad that I did. I will say, I'm so happy that I saw the movie before I read the script because that meant I was able to see the humor that was present.
This play is not your typical disneyfied fairytale. It's dark, outrageous, and will make you do a double-take at times. I'm glad that I went back and read this script because it brought back the joy and amusement I felt when watching the play.
This play is not going to be for everyone, but if you enjoy the social commentary and dark humor, it might be the perfect fit for you. All in all, I enjoyed it, and I need to make sure to listen to the soundtrack for the thousandth time.
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