Prologue: Into The Woods

Once upon a time...
 I wish
 In a far off kingdom
 More than anything
 Lived a fair maiden
 More than life
 A sad young lad
 More than jewels
 I wish
 And a childless baker
 I wish
 With his wife
 More than anything, more than the moon
 I wish
 The King is giving a festival
 More than life
 I wish
 I wish to go to the festival
 More than riches
 And the ball...
 I wish my cow would give us some milk
 More like than anything
 I wish we had a child
 Please pal...
 I want a child
 Squeeze pal...
 I wish to go to the festival
 I wish you'd give us some milk or even cheese
 I wish we might have a child
 I wish
 You wish to go to the festival?
 The poor girl's mother had died
 You Cinderella, the festival?
 What you wish to go to the festival?
 The festival? The king's festival?
 And her father had taken for his new wife
 The festival
 A woman with two daughters of her own
 Look at your nails,
 Look at your dress,
 People would laugh at you
 Nevertheless
 She still wants to go to the festival, and dance before the prince
 Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
 All three were beautiful of face, but vile and black of heart
 Jack on the other hand had no father, and his mother
 I wish...
 Well she was not quite beautiful
 I wish my son were not a fool
 I wish my house was not a mess
 I wish the cow was full of milk
 I wish the walls were full of gold
 I wish a lot of things
 'Knock knock'
 Why come in little girl
 I wish
 It's not for me it's for my granny in the woods
 A loaf of bread, please
 To bring my poor old hungry granny in the woods,
 Just a loaf of bread, please
 Cinderella's stepmother had a surprise for her
 I have emptied a pot of lentils into the ashes for you
 If you have picked them out again in two hours time
 you shall go to the ball with us
 And perhaps a sticky bun... Or four...
 Birds in the sky,
 Birds in the eaves and the leaves and the fields and the castles and ponds...
 And a few of those pies
 Come little birds,
 Please
 down from the eaves and the leaves over fields out of castles and ponds...
 No squeeze pal...
 Ahhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhhh Ahhhhhh
 Quick little birds, flick through the ashes, pick and peck but swiftly,
 Sift through the ashes, into the pot
 listen well son,
 Milky white must be taken to market
 But mother no!
 He's the best cow
 Look at her!
 There are bugs on her dugs,
 There are flies in her eyes
 There's a lump on her rump big enough to be a hump!
 But...
 Son,
 We've no time to sit and dither
 While her withers wither with her
 And no one keeps a cow for a friend!
 Sometimes I fear you're touched
 Into the woods, it's time to go
 I hate to leave, I have to though
 Into the woods, it's time and so
 I must begin my journey
 Into the woods and through the trees
 To where I am expected mam
 Into the woods to grandmother's house
 Into the woods to grandmother's house
 You're certain of your way?
 The way is clear
 The light is good
 I have no fear, nor no one should
 The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood
 I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?
 Into the woods and down the dell,
 The path is straight, I know it well
 Into the woods, and who can tell
 What's waiting on the journey
 Into the woods to bring some bread to granny who is sick in bed
 Never can tell what lies ahead
 For all that I know, she's already dead
 But into the woods,
 Into the woods
 Into the woods to grandmother's house and home before dark.
 Fly birds,
 Back to the sky
 Back to the eaves and leaves, and the fields, and the cas-
 Hurry up and do my hair, Cinderella
 Are you really wearing that?
 Here I found a little tear, Cinderella
 Can't you hide it with a hat?
 You look beautiful
 I know
 She means me
 Put it in a twist
 Who will be there?
 Mother said be good, father said be nice,
 That was always their advice
 So be nice Cinderella, good Cinderella, nice good good nice
 Tighter
 What's the good of being good
 If everyone is blind, and you're always left behind?
 Never mind Cinderella, kind Cinderella,
 Nice, good, nice, kind, good, nice
 Oh!
 Not that tight!
 Sorry
 Clod.
 'Knock Knock Knock'
 Who might that be?
 It's the witch from next door!
 The old enchantress told the couple that she had placed a spell on their house
 What spell?
 In the past, when your mother was with child, she developed an unusual appetite
 She took one look at my beautiful garden,
 And she told your father, that what she wanted more than anything in the world was
 Greens, greens, and nothing but greens,
 Parsley, peppers, cabbages and celery,
 Asparagus and watercress and fiddle ferns and lettuce
 He said 'all right'
 But it wasn't quite
 Cause I caught him in the autumn in my garden one night
 He was robbing me
 Raping me
 Rooting through my rutabaga, raiding my arugula and ripping up the rampion, my champion, my favourite
 I should have laid a spell on him right there
 I could have turned him into stone
 Or a dog
 Or a chair
 But I let him have the rampion, I'd lots to spare
 In return however, I said fair is fair
 You can let me have the baby that your wife will bare
 And we'll call it square
 I had a brother?
 No
 But you had a sister
 But the witch refused to tell him any more of his sister
 No even that her name was name was Rapunzel
 I thought I had been more than reasonable
 But how was I to know what your father had also hidden in his pocket
 What?
 Beans
 Beans
 The special beans
 I let him go, I didn't know he'd stolen my beans
 I was watching him crawl back over the wall
 When bang! Crash! A lightening flask!
 Oh well that's another story
 Never mind, anyway
 At last the big day came,
 I made my claim
 Oh don't take away the baby! They shrieked and screeched
 But I did, and I hid her where she'll never be reached
 Your father cried and your mother died
 When for extra measure, I admit it was a pleasure
 I said, sorry, I'm still not mollified
 And I laid a little spell on them
 You too son
 That your family tree would always be a barren one
 So there's no more fuss, and there's no more scenes
 And my garden thrives, you should see my nectarines
 But I'm telling you the same I tell kings and queens
 Don't ever never ever mess around with my greens
 Especially the beans
 Now listen to me jack,
 Lead milky white to market and fetch the best price you can
 Are you listening to me?
 Jack, jack, jack,
 Head in a sack
 The house is getting colder
 This is not a time for dreaming
 Chimney stack, starting to crack
 The mice are getting bolder, the floor's gone slack
 You're mother's getting older, your father's not back
 And you can't just sit here dreaming pretty dreams
 To wish and wait, from day to day
 Will never keep the wolves away
 So into the woods the time is now, we have to live, I don't care how
 Into the woods to sell the cow
 You must begin the journey
 Straight through the woods and don't delay,
 We have to face the marketplace
 Into the the woods to journey's end
 Into the woods to sell a friend
 Meanwhile the witch, for purposes of her own,
 explained how the baker might lift the spell
 You wish to have the curse reversed?
 I'll need a certain potion first
 Go to the wood and bring me back
 One, the cow as white as milk
 Two, the cape as red as blood
 Three, the hair as yellow as corn
 Four, the slipper as pure as gold
 Bring me these before the chime of midnight in three days time
 And you shall have, I guarantee,
 A child as perfect as child can be
 Go to the wood!
 Ladies! Our carriage waits!
 Now may I go to the festival?
 The festival?
 Darling those nails, darling those clothes
 The lentils are one thing but darling with those,
 You'd make us the fools of the festival,
 And mortifying the prince!
 The carriage is waiting
 We must be gone
 Goodnight father
 Ah goodnight
 I wish
 Look what I found in Father's hunting jacket
 Six beans, we'll take them with us!
 No the spell is on my house
 Only I can lift the spell the spell is on my house
 No, no the spell is on our house,
 No, you are not to come
 We must lift the spell to-
 Now what am I to return with?
 You don't remember?
 The cow as white as milk
 The cape as red as blood
 The hair as yellow as corn
 The slipper as pure as gold
 The cow as white as milk
 The cape as red as blood
 And so the baker reluctantly set off to meet the enchantresses demands
 The hair as yellow as corn
 The slipper as pure as gold
 As for Cinderella
 I still wish to go to the festival
 But how am I ever to get to the festival?
 I know I'll visit mother's grave
 The grave at the hazel tree
 And tell her I just want to go to the king's festival
 The hair
 Into the woods it's time to go
 It may be all in vain I know
 Into the woods but even so I have to take the journey
 Into the woods the path is straight
 I know it well, but who can tell?
 Into the woods to lift the spell
 Into the woods to visit mother
 Into the woods to fetch the things
 to make the potion
 to go to the festival
 Into the woods without regret
 The choice is made, the task is set
 Into the woods, but not forgetting why I'm on the journey
 Into the woods to get my wish
 I don't care how, the time is now
 Into the woods to sell the cow
 Into the woods to get the money
 Into the woods to lift the spell
 To make the potion
 To go to the festival
 Into the woods to grandmother's house
 Into the woods to grandmother's house
 The way is clear, the light is good
 I have no fear, nor no one should
 The woods are just trees
 The trees are just wood
 No need to be afraid there
 There's something in the glade there
 Into the woods without delay, but careful not to lose the way
 Into the woods, who knows what may be lurking on the journey
 Into the woods to get the thing, that makes it worth the journeying
 Into the woods to see the King
 To sell the cow
 To make the potion
 To see, to sell, to get, to bring, to make, to lift, to go to the festival
 Into the woods,
 Into the woods,
 Into the woods then out of the woods...
 And home before dark!