Stephen Sondheim at 80

Fairy Tale
Sondheim's Into the Woods, which opened on Broadway in 1987, once again re-enforced the composer's reputation as an artist who trafficked in difficult themes, atypical for American musicals. The play re-imagines classic fairy tale characters like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Jack, whose adventures lead to a loss of innocence, betrayal, boredom, pain and death. Many audiences and critics loved it; just as many thought it terrible.

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