Into the Woods

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021): The Last Giant, Seen From Our Seats

October 27, 2026

Stephen Sondheim, white-bearded and smiling, in a tweed jacket over a blue open-collar shirt

Stephen Sondheim, the composer and lyricist who reshaped the American musical, died on Friday, November 26, 2021, at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 91. His lawyer, F. Richard Pappas, said that the death was sudden. The day before, he had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and spent Wednesday at two Broadway performances,“doing what he most loved to do.” No cause was given. The news broke twelve days after the Classic Stage Company opened its Assassins, a production TheaterScene reviewed that month. This is a look back at how our critics heard him, which they did in some 40 posts over two decades. [more]

The New York Pops —2025 Opening Night

October 25, 2025

Steven Reineke and The New York Pops opened their Carnegie Hall season with a luminous concert tracing the path of great songs from Broadway to Hollywood. Hugh Panaro and Elizabeth Stanley lent the evening its beating heart, blending theatrical soul with cinematic sweep. [more]

Into the Woods

July 20, 2022

Patina Miller as The Witch in a scene from the New York City Center Encores! Production of “Into [more]

Into the Woods

February 6, 2015

Why another stage production of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine "Into the Woods" while the film version is currently playing? The Roundabout Theatre Company is hosting the ingenious, clever and witty Fiasco Theater production (previously seen at the McCarter Theatre Center in 2014) of this iconic musical using fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm which is the best musical revival in town. This is what every revival should be – a reinvention of the original material making it new enough that it wipes out memories of the original. If you did not see Fiasco’s six-character version of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline which had an extended run Off Broadway in 2011, then you are in for a delightfully surprising treat. [more]

Good Vibrations

December 28, 2004

In the first line of the show, actor David Larsen addresses the audience with the following: "Once upon a time, there was a land called California." A moment later, the electric guitar play strikes up his strings, and the cast breaks out into "Fun, Fun, Fun," the first Beach Boys standard of the evening. This number begins a process that will be repeated throughout the show, one where a song's lyrics will have little or nothing to do with the play's characters. For in terms of "Fun, Fun, Fun," one cannot help but wonder – who is this girl that they are singing about? Where's the T-Bird? Where's her father? Are they somewhere in another musical? [more]