"Into the Woods" combines suspense, excitement, and a fascinatingly realistic set design to captivate the audience. Halfway through the play, I found myself and my classmates thinking "Wow! What a play! How could anyone dream up such a crazy idea and turn it into production?" I think this is the first time that I have been taken to this level of astonishment; a kind where it just grabs you and throws you. Steven Sondheim, the creator of the play, had obviously mastered the skills needed to make me say this. His style was was like a vinegar in the tomato sauce, a present yet unidentifiable hint, which reminds you of the crafter's care. Even if you could not quite grasp it it was there. His good sense of humor and wit and his superior plot development were blended subtly so that it wasn't to conglomerate. But most importantly, his use of well known characters which made the audience feel as though their family was up on stage. The characters were extremely realistic and were an ideal image of the thoughts they seemed to "discharge."
             The catalyst of the plot were the main characters which were the Baker and his wife, Jack, the Witch, Red Riding Hood, the Wolf, and Cinderella. It is this kind of interdependency that adds so much to this play. It was fascinating to me how much relied upon each character's actions. There was more of a co-operative "essence" about this play than most. The minor characters in this play( the two princes, the giantess, Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the baker's father) were also well done, which I have found in other plays to be "half rate" or quickly whipped up to add a twist which really wasn't a twist at all, but something everybody knew was going to happen to a certain extent. But this thing had been thought about and thought about until it was so there was hardly any way to improve upon it without actually being there with Rapunzel and the baker. There was a sense of excitement with every w...