Into the Woods-- Baker's Wife

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 3:19pm

Hi all! I am in an acting class, and for our character study I was assigned the Baker's Wife from Into the Woods! It is also one of my dream roles, so I'm excited. But I am posting because I want to know what you know of her (besides the basics-- she's married, she wants a child, and is determined to get what she wants) and maybe some tips from those here who have played her or been in a production of ITW?
Thanks all!!!!!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 3:24pm

Study the lyrics of the songs she sings. They are full of information about her.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 3:29pm

I agree, Gotham; the songs have been very helpful!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 3:48pm

I think one of the things is that she's not completely satisfied with her life. Even though she has a husband and eventually a baby, she still goes in search of something more.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 5:52pm

To me the most telling song about the Baker's Wife is "Maybe They're Really Magic." We see her fierce pursuit of what she wants at any cost, and we also see her being the smarts of the couple. The Baker is not very bright, he's good natured, and kind, and safe. She's filled with passion, or at least the desire to pursue her passion and find something she believes will fulfill her, and she's very smart and resourceful in ways that he just isn't. She thinks she wants a baby and the Baker, and she loves them deeply but I don't think these things are satisfying for her, as we see at the beginning of Act II, IMO because they can't really satisfy her desire. The fairy tale ending wasn't nearly as exciting, fulfilling, or blissful as she thought it would be (and obviously this is a motif that runs across the various characters of the show). When she sees Cinderella running away from the Prince, she doesn't get Cinderella's lack of excitement about the Prince (and it's such a shame they cut their interaction during "He's a Very Nice Prince" heard on the OBCR); in many ways, I think if she were in Cinderella's shoes (no pun intended), she'd know what to do, she wouldn't stay "stuck in the goo" and leave the decision to the Prince the way Cinderella does, she'd go after it. These are just some random thoughts about her character, a character I consider one of the most complex female characters in musical theatre, though this is not as apparent at first--partly because I don't think anyone starring in one of the major revivals has gotten the character the way Joanna Gleason did (who'd have thought that'd be a more challenging role for actresses to pull off than say Momma Rose or Mrs. Lovett or Joanne).

Updated On: 9/16/14 at 05:52 PM

[cinderfella]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 6:10pm

wow, i love that analysis of her character! I have always thought she is such an interesting role and i think you hit the nail right on the head!

[peerrjb]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 6:14pm

I agree that going back to the lyrics and studying them will be helpful. Also, study them backwards (that is, in terms of back-mapping her character development with a new set of eyes/ears). I think two of her most telling moments are lines around music. One, towards the end, when she's dead and speaks to her husband's concern about not having children: "Nonsense. Of COURSE you were meant to have children." The other, which of course is aided by Ms. Gleason's wonderful delivery, is after her dalliance with the Prince: "WHAT....was THAT?"

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 1:08pm

I've always believed that any aspiring musical theatre performer MUST watch Joanna Gleason's rendition of 'Moments in the Woods'. Theatrical perfection.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 4:06pm

Congratulations. You are playing one of the greatest and best -written characters in American musical theater.

Open your eyes wide and let her breathe and think. And let the audience SEE your thoughts.

This is a character who works through a great many complicated and contradictory ideas and feelings in an unusually verbal way. Use Sondheim's words to go on a journey--many journeys--and take the audience on those journeys with you. The audience is your friend, your therapist, your non-judging confidante.

Relish all the contradictions she experiences, like in the first act when she notices something about her husband that delights her but is nevertheless completely different from what she has known:

You've changed.
You're thriving.
There's something about the woods.
Not just
Surviving.
You're blossoming in the woods.

This is a woman who embraces contradiction. She is tickled by it. It delights her.

At home I'd fear
We'd stay the same forever.
And then out here-
You're passionate
Charming,
Considerate,
Clever...

Or in the second act, where she is questioning herself--with an astonishing series of question after question after question. In many ways, this song is the Sondheimian equivalent of the great Shakespearean questioning soliloquies like Viola's ring speech in Twelfth Night ("What means this lady?...How will this fadge?") or Hamlet's "To be or not to be."

What was that?
Was that me?
Was that him?
Did a Prince really kiss me...?
And kiss me...?
And kiss me...?
And did I kiss him back?

That last question ("Did I kiss him back?") may just be my favorite line in all of Sondheim because, well, never mind. It may very well be your favorite too someday...but never mind that either.

Suffice it to say that despite the cleverness of that question, this next series of questions is deadly serious.

Was it wrong?
Am I mad?
Is that all?
Does he miss me?
Was he suddenly
Getting bored with me?

So serious that she has to snap herself back to reality with a rat-a-tat series of commands:

Wake up! Stop dreaming.
Stop prancing about the woods!...

Just like later in that song, when she goes from another rat-a-tat series of commands back to more and even deeper questioning:

Face the facts, find the boy,
Join the group, stop the Giant-
Just get out of these woods.
Was that him? Yes, it was.
Was that me? No it wasn't,
Just a trick of the woods.

Don't worry about getting tripped up by the contradictions. Revel in them. Exult in them. Explore them. Enjoy the the sweet agony of the ping-ponging back and forth. Feel completely comfortable confiding in that audience/therapist/best friend.

Just a moment,
One peculiar passing moment...
Must it all be either less or more,
Either plain or grand?
Is it always "or"?
Is it never "and"?

Savor those words "or" and "and"--because they come back to you in the glorious finale of that song:

Let the moment go...
Don't forget it for a moment, though.
Just remembering you've had an "and"
When you're back to "or"
Makes the "or" mean more
Than it did before.

Whatever that sentence means to you now, I guarantee it will mean something different to you next year and something different to the you of 10 years from now and something different when you're my age. But whatever it means to you right now, at the moment when you're singing it, is true, and you get to exultantly proclaim:

Now I understand!
And it's time...
To leave the woods.

Have a ball.

Updated On: 9/17/14 at 04:06 PM

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 5:17pm

PalJoey, that was wonderful and so, so beautiful. Thank you so much for taking the time to write that out and for putting so much thought into it.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 6:03pm

Paljoey, you made me tear up a bit. :)

"Congratulations. You are playing one of the greatest and best -written characters in American musical theater."

She really is and so many never realize it. I really am hoping the best for Emily, but something tells me she won't be anywhere near as great as Joanna. Not that she necessarily needs to be....