This is one of the last plays I saw in Stratford. Therefore this is one of the plays I remember best. Other than watching Shakespeare, one of our favorite things to see were musicals. And this one is a good one. I love plays/stories where they take something that I (or we) all know and love, and either provide the "back story" or another prospective. Another way to see the worlds and characters we know and love. (Examples: Wicked - the Musical not the book, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead)
This play is just that. It takes all these fairy tales and bedtime stories that everyone knows so well, and creates this other world. The other side of the "Happily Ever After" that we as children don't see or as adults we don't want to see. The play is a little hard to read because so much of it is placed to music which is not provided in the book. But I still have some recollection of the melodies so it is like seeing the play all over again.
This story really touched me when I saw it. I was about to go off to college the next year, and so the shelter of home was no longer a constant for me. I was about to leave all that I knew to be safe. In the play there is a witch of course (what good fairy tale doesn't have one?) - who, in this play's light is only a mother trying to protect her daughter from all the evil in the world. After this play my mother looked at me and bemoaned the fact that she was my "wicked witch". That she had tried so hard to protect me from the world, that she feared my 'entering' it. I called her (lovingly of course) my "wicked witch" from then on. Luckily I did not end up like the Rapunzel in the play, so it's okay.
I just really enjoyed this play because, now in this stage of my life, I'm wishing for a lot of things. And sometimes we don't always see the consequences of those wishes. This play, to me is a reminder of that. That I should be grateful for what I have and not wishing for a castle in the clouds - because it will always cost more than you bargain for, and it will never be as beautiful when you're staring right at it.
So if you can SEE this play first, before reading it ... or somehow listen to the music first ... then read the play, I think you will enjoy it too.
Final Score: 4 out of 5 stars
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