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Is "Into the Woods" appropriate for kids?


PeterPan
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They're going to be performing it near us and I'm trying to figure out if it's appropriate to take ds10. I'm not even sure why I would think it wasn't, but I'm just checking. Pirates of Penzance I knew was ok, but I don't know about Into the Woods. I have some vague memory of sleeping through a dvd of it and that's all I know. Did your kids like it? :biggrin:

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I have not seen the stage show, but I saw the movie when it came out five years ago. So my kids would have been about the age of your son then. And I thought the first 2/3 (perhaps) of the movie was cute and clever. But then it took a strange turn, and I left the theater glad that I had not taken my kids with me. You could rent the movie and watch it privately before deciding if the play right for your son. I would vote no.

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1 minute ago, Storygirl said:

I have not seen the stage show, but I saw the movie when it came out five years ago. So my kids would have been about the age of your son then. And I thought the first 2/3 (perhaps) of the movie was cute and clever. But then it took a strange turn, and I left the theater glad that I had not taken my kids with me. You could rent the movie and watch it privately before deciding if the play right for your son. I would vote no.

 

OH thanks for that.  I just got this from the library.  I think we will skip it. 

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It's not for kids. Whether it's appropriate for kids depends on the kid and the parents. The movie is supposed to be a bit tamer than the play, so you may be able to gauge from movie reviews. 

There's infidelity: Have a child for warmth, And a baker for bread, And a prince for whatever - 

The sexuality of the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood isn't exactly subtext: 

The wolf: Mmmh...Unhh...
Look at that flesh, pink and plump
Hello, little girl...
Tender and fresh, not one lump
Hello, little girl...
This one's especially lush
Delicious... Mmmh...

And Little Red: And he showed me things, many beautiful things
That I hadn't thought to explore
They were off my path, so I never had dared
I had been so careful, I never had cared
And he made me feel excited..
Well, excited and scared  

 And Rapunzel dies. 

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I would have been fine with my kids seeing it at age 10... but I can totally imagine some parents not feeling that way. The movie and the stage show are really different in some ways. The stage show is much darker, the sexual themes are there (even if it's nothing super explicit - it would go over the heads of a lot of kids), the romances don't work out, everyone dies... it's just a darker show. But on the other hand, it keeps coming full circle and at the end, everyone is back on stage... It just depends.

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2 hours ago, Seasider too said:

Is your local show a youth theater or adult community/professional company? I ask because there is a “junior” version of the show that youth theater companies perform. It’s basically act one of the adult show. That’s okay for kids (though it’s far from my favorite show, tbh).

The full version is definitely so full of innuendo and not-happily-ever-after that I wouldn’t take a kid under 13. Honestly, I wouldn’t take anyone to that show, except a theater geek who wants to check it off her seen-it list. You can watch the witch’s rap on YouTube, it’s the high point imo. 

It's a light opera group that does professional productions all through the summer. So no, not youth. And it's about 1 1/2 hours drive (if that's near, haha), so I don't want to go and leave. 

It sounds like it's not at all appropriate for my ds. He's been to other productions there and done well, but they were light, jovial, easy to follow. This doesn't sound appropriate for him at all. They're doing some others so I'll look at the rest of the list. South Pacific is good, but it's also kinda weird for kids I guess. I remember finding it bizarre when I was his age, lol.

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If he has any inflexibility about how fairy tales "should" go, then I would definitely say to skip it regardless of age. Kids with ASD are so individual that I don't know if that would be a concern for yours but I wanted to give you a "heads up".

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