ReadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2025

Into the Woods

Stephen Sondheim author James Lapine author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Nick Hern Books

Published:11th Dec '25

Should be back in stock very soon

Into the Woods cover

Desperate for a child, a baker and his wife journey into the woods to reverse a curse and change their luck. As the couple venture into the unknown, their story collides with Cinderella, Jack, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, witches, princes and giants.

Featuring such classic songs as 'Giants in the Sky', 'Moments in the Woods', 'No One is Alone' and 'Children Will Listen', Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's audacious and beloved musical intertwines the Brothers Grimm's most famous fairy tales and reckons with the realities of 'happy ever after'.

Into the Woods was first staged at the Old Globe Theatre, California, in 1986, and opened on Broadway the following year. That production went on to win three Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical.

This edition was published alongside the 2025 revival at the Bridge Theatre, London, directed by Jordan Fein and with set and costume design by Tom Scutt. It features an exclusive introduction by David Benedict, Sondheim's authorised biographer.

'A sparkling, bittersweet and magical show... one of the great works of the American musical theatre'

* Sunday Times *

'It is that joyous rarity, a work of sophisticated artistic ambition and deep political purpose that affords nonstop pleasure'

* Time Magazine *

'Spellbinding... a Sondheim classic that interweaves different fairy-tales in a witty act of deconstruction compounded by tart aperçus about life's thorny journey'

* Telegraph *

'Sondheim's extraordinary collaboration with James Lapine... a classic, jokily wise, intelligently absurd musical fantasy... spiky Sondheim music and arresting lyrics you take away for ever, wild wit, looming menace, dry jokes... a harshly wise, hilariously serious reflection on the vanity of wishes and the power of childlike imagination in a world of flawed adults... an absolute five-star marvel'

* TheatreC

  • Winner of Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical 1990
  • Winner of Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical 1988

ISBN: 9781839045387

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 13mm

Weight: 199g

176 pages

New edition