SCRIPT FOR INTO THE WOODS
Narrator: Once upon a time
Cinderella: I WISH
Narrator: -in a far-off kingdom-
Cinderella: MORE THAN ANYTHING
Narrator: -lived a young maiden-
Cinderella: MORE THAN LIFE, MORE THAN JEWELS
Narrator: -a sad young lad-
Jack: I WISH
Narrator: -and a childless Baker-
Cinderella, Baker: I WISH
Jack: MORE THAN LIFE
Narrator: -with his wife.
Jack: MORE THAN ANYTHING
Cinderella, Baker, Jack: MORE THAN THE MOON
Baker's Wife: I WISH
Cinderella: THE KING IS GIVING A FESTIVAL.
Baker, Baker's Wife: MORE THAN LIFE
Jack: I WISH
Cinderella: I WISH TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL-
Baker, Baker's Wife: MORE THAN RICHES
Cinderella: -AND THE BALL
Jack: I WISH MY COW WOULD GIVE US SOME MILK.
Cinderella, Baker's Wife: MORE THAN ANYTHING
Baker: I WISH WE HAD A CHILD.
Jack: PLEASE, PAL-
Baker's Wife: I WANT A CHILD
Jack: SQUEEZE, PAL
Cinderella: I WISH TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL.
Jack: (overlapping) I WISH YOU'D GIVE US SOME MILK OR EVEN CHEESE
Baker, Baker's Wife (overlapping): I WISH WE MIGHT HAVE A CHILD.
All Four: I WISH...
Stepmother (To CINDERELLA): YOU WISH TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL?
Narrator: The poor girl's mother had died-
Stepmother: You, Cinderella, the Festival? You wish to go to the Festival?
Florinda and Lucinda(overlapping): What, you, Cinderella, the Festival?
Narrator: -and her father had taken for his new wife-
Narrator: -a woman with two daughters of her own.
Florinda: LOOK AT YOUR NAILS!
Lucinda: LOOK AT YOUR DRESS!
Stepmother: PEOPLE WOULD LAUGH AT YOU-
Cinderella: NEVERTHELESS-
Cinderella, Stepsisters, Stepmother: I/YOU/SHE STILL WISH/WANT/WANTS TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL-
Stepsisters, Stepmother: -AND DANCE BEFORE THE PRINCE?!
Narrator: All three were beautiful of face, but vile, and black of heart.
Narrator: Jack, on the other hand, had no father, and his mother-
Jack's Mother (entering): I WISH
Narrator: Well, she was not quite beautiful-
Jack’s Mother: I WISH MY SON WAS NOT A FOOL, I WISH MY COW WAS FULL OF MILK
Jack's Mother: You, foolish child! What in heaven's name are you doing with a cow inside the house?
Jack: A warm environment might be just what Milky-White needs to produce his milk.
Jack's Mother (Beat; flabbergasted): It's a she! How many times must a tell you? Only "she's can give milk.
Baker's Wife: Why, come in, little girl.
Little Red Riding Hood: I WISH, IT'S NOT FOR ME, IT'S FOR MY GRANNY IN THE WOODS.
A LOAD OF BREAD, PLEASE-, TO BRING MY POOR OLD HUNGRY,
GRANNY IN THE WOODS, JUST A LOAF OF BREAD, PLEASE
Narrator: Cinderella's stepmother had a surprise for her.
Stepmother: I have emptied a pot of lentils into the ashes for you. If you have picked them out again in two hours' time, you
shall go to the Ball with us.
Cinderella (Falling into a trance): AHHH
QUICK LITTLE BIRDS,
FLICK THROUGH THE ASHES.
PICK AND PECK, BUT SWIFTLY,
SIFT THROUGH THE ASHES, INTO THE POT
Jack's Mother: Listen well, son. Milky-White must be taken to market.
Jack: But, Mother, no-he's the best cow-
Jack's Mother: Was. Was! She's been dry for a week. We've no food nor money and no choice but to sell her while she can
still command a price.
Jack: But Milky-White is my best friend in the whole world!
Jack's Mother: Son, WE'VE NO TIME TO SIT AND DITHER,
WHILE HER WITHERS WITHER WITH HER-
AND NO ONE KEEPS A COW FOR A FRIEND!
Sometimes I fear you're touched.
Little Red Riding Hood: INTO THE WOODS, IT'S TIME TO GO, I HATE TO LEAVE, I HAVE TO, THOUGH. INTO THE
WOODS-, IT'S TIME AND SO, I MUST BEGIN MY JOURNEY.
Baker's Wife: You're certain of your way?
Little Red Riding Hood: THE WAY IS CLEAR, THE LIGHT IS GOOD, I HAVE NO FEAR, NOR NO ONE SHOULD.
THE WOODS ARE JUST TREES, THE TREES ARE JUST WOOD.
I SORT OF HATE TO ASK IT, BUT DO YOU HAVE A BASKET?
Baker: Don't stray and be late.
Baker's Wife: And save some of those sweets for granny!
Little Red Riding Hood: INTO THE WOODS, TO BRING SOME BREAD, TO GRANNY WHO IS SICK IN BED.
NEVER CAN TELL, WHAT LIES AHEAD. FOR ALL THAT I KNOW, SHE'S ALREADY DEAD.
BUT INTO THE WOODS, INTO THE WOODS (2x), TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE
AND HOME BEFORE DARK.
Florinda: HURRY UP AND DO MY HAIR, CINDERELLA!
(To LUCINDA, and CINDERELLA fusses with her hair.)
ARE YOU REALLY WEARING THAT?
Lucinda (pointing to her sleeve): Here, I found a little tear, Cinderella!
(To FLORINDA, eyeing her hair)
CAN'T YOU HIDE IT WITH A HAT?
Cinderella: YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL.
Florinda: I know.
Lucinda: She means me.
Florinda (to CINDERELLA): Put it in a twist.
Lucinda: Who will be there?
Cinderella (To herself): MOTHER SAID BE GOOD, FATHER SAID BE NICE, THAT WAS ALWAYS THEIR ADVICE.
GOOD, CINDERELLA, NICE GOOD GOOD NICE-
Narrator: Because the Baker had lost his mother and father in a baking accident-well, at least that is what he believed-he
was eager to have a family of his own, and concerned that all efforts until now had failed.
Baker: Who might that be?
Baker's Wife: We have sold our last loaf of bread.
Baker: It's the witch from next door.
Baker's Wife, Baker: We have no bread.
Witch: Of course you have no bread!
Baker: What do you wish?
Witch: It's not what I wish. It's what you wish. Nothing cooking in there now, is there?
Narrator: The old enchantress went on to tell the couple that she had placed a spell on their house.
Witch: I thought I had been more than reasonable, and that we all might live happily ever after. But how was I to know what
your father had also hid in his pocket?! You see, when I had inherited that garden, my mother had warned me I would be
punished if I were ever to lose any of the Beans.
Baker, Baker's Wife: Beans?
Witch: The special beans, I let him go, I didn't know, He'd stolen my beans!
And the bang! Crash!, And the lightning flash! And-well that's another story,
Never mind-, Anyway,I laid a little spell on them-
You too, son-, That your family tree, Would always be, A barren one.
Jack's Mother: Now listen to me, Jack. Lead Milky-White to market and fetch the best price you can. Take no less than five
pounds. Are you listening to me?
Jack: Yes.
Jack's Mother: How much are you to ask?
Jack: No more than five pounds.
(she pinches his ear hard)
Jack's Mother, Jack: Less! Than five!
INTO THE WOODS, TO SELL THE COW, YOU MUST BEGIN THE JOURNEY.
Jack: INTO THE WOODS TO SELL A FRIEND-
Narrator: Meanwhile, the witch, for purposes of her own, explained how the baker might lift the spell:
Witch: You wish to have, The curse reversed? I'll need a certain Potion first.
Go to the woods and bring me back: the cow as white as milk, The cape as red as blood, The hair as yellow as
corn, The slipper as pure as gold.
Bring me these, Before the chime, Of midnight and, In three days' time, And you shall have, I guarantee, A child as
perfect, As child can be. Go to the wood!
Cinderella: NOW MAY I GO TO THE FESTIVAL?
Stepmother: The festival? DARLING, THOSE NAILS!, DARLING, THOSE CLOTHES!
LENTILS ARE ONE THING BUT, DARLING, WITH THOSE,
YOU'D MAKE US THE FOOLS OF THE FESTIVAL
AND MORTIFY THE PRINCE!
Baker: Look what I found in Father's hunting jacket.
Baker's Wife: The Witch's beans? We'll take them with us.
Baker: No, you are not coming.
Baker's Wife: I know you are fearful of the woods at night.
Baker (overlapping): No. You are not to come and that is final. Now what am I to return with?
Baker's Wife (annoyed): You don't remember? THE COW AS WHITE AS MILK, THE CAPE AS RED AS BLOOD,
THE HAIR AS YELLOW AS CORN, THE SLIPPER AS PURE AS GOLD-
Baker: THE COW AS WHITE AS MILK, THE CAPE AS RED AS BLOOD, THE HAIR AS YELLOW AS CORN, THE
SLIPPER AS PURE----
Narrator (overlapping): And so the baker, reluctantly, set off to meet the enchantress's demands. As for Cinderella:
Cinderella: I STILL WISH TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL. BUT HOW AM I EVER TO GET TO THE FESTIVAL?
Cinderella (DON’T SING): I KNOW! I'LL VISIT MOTHER'S GRAVE AT THE HAZEL TREE, AND TELL HER I JUST WANT
TO GO TO THE KING'S FESTIVAL.
Baker, Cinderella: INTO THE WOODS, IT'S TIME TO GO, IT MAY BE ALL IN VAIN, YOU/I KNOW. INTO THE WOODS-
BUT EVEN SO, I HAVE TO TAKE THE JOURNEY.
Baker, Baker's Wife, Cinderella, Jack, Jack's Mother:
INTO THE WOODS, WITHOUT REGRET, THE CHOICE IS MADE,
THE TASK IS SET. INTO THE WOODS,
BUT NOT FORGET-
TING WHY I'M/YOU'RE ON THE JOURNEY.
All: INTO THE WOODS, WITHOUT DELAY, BUT CAREFUL NOT, TO LOSE THE WAY.
INTO THE WOODS, WHO KNOWS WHAT MAY, BE LURKING ON THE JOURNEY?
INTO THE WOODS, TO GET THE THING, THAT MAKES IT WORTH, THE JOURNEYING.
INTO THE WOODS-
Stepmother, Stepsisters: TO SEE THE KING-
Jack, Jack's Mother: TO SELL THE COW-
Baker, Baker's Wife: TO MAKE THE POTION-
All: TO SEE-, TO SELL-, TO GET-, TO BRING-, TO MAKE-, TO LIFT-, TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL-!
INTO THE WOODS! (3x), THEN OUT OF THE WOODS, AND HOME BEFORE DARK!
