Into the Woods is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood" (spelled "Ridinghood" in the published vocal score), "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of the Grimm Brothers' "Rapunzel"), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.
The musical debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986 and premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987, where it won three major Tony Awards (Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical for Joanna Gleason), in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera (1988). The musical has since been produced many times, with a 1988 US national tour, a 1990 West End production, a 1997 tenth anniversary concert, a 2002 Broadway revival, a 2010 London revival, and in 2012 as part of New York City's outdoor Shakespeare in the Park series.
A Disney film adaptation, directed by Rob Marshall, was released in 2014. The film grossed over $213 million worldwide, and received three nominations at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. A second Broadway revival began performances on June 28th, 2022 at the St. James Theatre.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
The cast only appeared at the 1987 Parade and the 1988 Parade. The latter year is when the actors who played Red and Jack sang "I Know Things Now" and "Giants in the Sky"