God Is In the Details ~ Sondheim

                                 

 

After taking in the Broadway production of  "Into the Woods" last December, I was hesitant to see the Disney film version.

Don't get me wrong, Disney's great. But this production was so creatively satisfying that I feared,  you know what I'm going to say, anything else would be a let down. The tickets to the show were a Christmas gift from my grown children, adding more sentiment to the occasion. Elbowing our way down Broadway during the impossibly crowded Holiday tourist season, winter chill on our cheeks, only intensified the allure and adventure.

The production was pared down to one upright piano and ten actors who doubled parts, hilariously at times, like when two guys acting as Cinderella's step-sisters held a curtain rod at shoulder height with cinched double panels that hung in front of them to look  like dresses. Ha. So funny!

What resulted was a most magical, organic and sardonically Sondheim experience. Take a look for yourself and Watch here.

Long burly ropes strung from floor to ceiling formed the backdrop resembling the criss-cross of piano strings and hinting at a forest. Stage left held a wall of piano harps from uprights and grands of all sizes creating the look of woods to the rear and woods to the side. The show did not disappoint.

The entire production corroborated Sondheim's writing philosophy that

God is in the Details. 

Other Sondheim-isms are 
                                                             'less is more'
                                                                                           'content dictates form.' (Take note writers.) But my favorite is 'god is in the details.'

I'm certain Sondheim didn't mean this as a faith statement. For Him, the essence of a well-written play is in the details of craft, lyric and song making a work transcend into high art and excellence.
So true, Stephen.

On the stage and more true in real life. For there the small events of the day are the shadow of God.Quite often it's not the epic miracles, but the small revelations that display the Creator's character and personal touch in our every day.

Couched in comedy and satire of four familiar fairy tales, Sondheim weaves a poignant message of longing, satisfaction and the universal 'fight in the forest' to secure our happiness.
In the the midst of the beautiful and ugly, the ordinary and strange, it's revealed that our deepest "I wish"-es are fleeting and disappointing at times.

Look for the divine in the details in Into The Woods and everyday moments. Your happy-ever-after may be in the very present, rather than in pined-for future things.
 
Alas, because of the sheer perfection of this masterful musical, I may just have to see the movie, after all.