1. Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Inspired by Bruno Bettelheim's 1976 book, The Uses of Enchantment, the musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them further to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from the stories of Little Red Ridinghood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, tied together by a more original story involving a Baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family, most likely taken from the original story of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. It also includes references to several other well-known tales. 2. Into the Woods is also South London's addition to the world of female-fronted rock/metal acts. Originally founded in 2006 by college friends, Mike Watchorn (Bass) and Alex Goodwin (Drums), as an attempt to create a fresh, new and exciting band. Due to both members being previously involved in many male-fronted groups, mostly in the death metal genre, they settled on having a female singer fronting the band and got down to nearly a year of song writing and rehearsing. By the summer of 2007 ITW were finally ready for the stage, and with a well received debut show and a few magazine live reviews under the belt the band had already started to make a mark in the unsigned UK circuit. Throughout their first year of shows and promotion, various members were in and out of the recording studio on a regular basis to piece together all the material for the self titled debut mini-album. With all the usual rock band curses, the album went through many complications (holding it back from its originally planned synchronisation with the first string of shows) and became a physical form in the fall of 2008, in time for the group’s successful first full UK tour with established Manchester based band Liquid Sky. 3. Into the Woods are a Melbourne folk band from another time… Likened to Wilco, Midlake and Okkervil River, the band’s folk sound results from slight surprises on traditional formulas. Musically, four-part harmonies fill out classic chord progressions, country moments mutate into big band anthems, and all seven members wander the stage like minstrels, switching instruments as they go. Lyrically, the songs consider morality, mortality, loss and redemption; all of this tempered by the character-driven conventions of true folk music. Formed in 2006, Into the Woods have played with some of Melbourne’s finest including Little Red, Institut Polaire and Grizzly Jim Lawrie. The band are currently putting some finishing gloss on their debut EP ‘The Willow Tree’.
