Welcome to Feature Fridays! In this series, Music Library staff recommend albums from our collection. This week, student assistant Lindsey McCormack reviews Into the Woods, a musical by Stephen Sondheim.

We are quickly falling into Fall and with this transition of seasons comes a shift in the music many of us want to listen to. Between the spookiness of dark forests, hungry wolves, and evil witches and the coziness of a found family, there is no better Autumn musical than Stephen Sondheim's 1987 hit Into the Woods.

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) was a prolific composer and lyricist that helped shape the modern musical. Sondheim had a rocky childhood and a difficult family life. He ended up finding his family and joy in musical theatre. These experiences helped to shape many of his musicals and Into the Woods is no different. The production takes on family in many different forms through the medium of classic fairytales. The Baker and his Wife are willing to do anything to have a child. He takes a dive into maternal relationships via adaptations of Cinderella, Jack and Bean Stalk, and Rapunzel. These explorations of family also contribute to the scary parts of the musical. Without spoiling too much they feature death, abuse, and curses. This horror is balanced out by the cozy feeling of the found family that forms throughout the musical. Even if you are wishing the leaves could refill the trees and you could once again wear a t-shirt outside without ending up covered in goosebumps there is most likely something in Into the Woods that you will find fascinating or relatable.

Outside of the lyrics and story Into the Woods remains strong. The composition fills the listener's chest and gets stuck in their head. The musical features a mix of classic ballads and more modern upbeat and experimental sounds. Additionally, for my orchestra lovers, it relies on a variety of instruments to make it what is. There are strings, horns, percussion, and woodwinds (including a bassoon!). Not only does this make the musical an interesting listen it also provides musicians who might want to learn how to play the songs with a variety of mediums to do that through.

If you want to check out this fall-tastic musical, the American University Music Library has you covered. We have the score, the cast recording (on CD and streaming), and live performances (on DVD and streaming) available.

If you like Into the Woods, you might be interested in many other Sondheim musicals, available in the Music Library and streaming.