![]() Like before, a glissando premeditates before a new character, however the on beat pulse continues throughout, indicating someone we have already been introduced to. Little Red Riding Hood's solo ends fairly quickly, with a ninth, establishing a quirky feel to the music. An introduction of a new texture - a muted trumpet gives the character a different feel to the other, regardless of the same "A" form. The on-beat accompaniment continues and Little Red Riding Hood starts in the customary way - a swung rhythm. Keeping in constant with the other characters, the introduction of Little Red Riding Hood is introduced with a piano and harp glissando to a different key - Ab major. The woody texture of the clarinet helps set scene in a house, where the cow is currently residing as well as softening the harshness in the spoken texts. When the characters start to speak and not sing, a clarinet solo continues in a syncopated rhythm. As per the original, the voice rises in steps and small leaps, but continues the major seventh pattern, going back to a supposed "A" in the form. The accompaniment returns to the constant on beat with vocals offbeat like the opening. The key returns to g major, with the narrator introducing the next character - Jack. This climaxes in the step-mother/sisters laughing in time, which contrasts to their previous syncopated rhythms. The constant use of perfect fourths in the vocals and the syncopated accompaniment leaves the audience feeling overwhelmed. The instrumentals play a clash of a perfect fifth and minor sixth slowly rising in volume, only to be interrupted by the stepmother again. A sharp pause follows and the accompaniment starts again, creating a tension. The building texture naturally creates a rising dynamic and pitch. However, this is immediately followed by an instrumental interlude that rises in pitch and dynamic until a sudden stop, which character-wise indicates an evil presence, namely the stepmother and stepsisters, which interject with an unpitched harsh voice that is unaccompanied but with the same rhythm. An instrumental and choral buildup also increased the dynamic volume to an forte as well as range of pitches accelerates into a crescendo until we get to a peak in the choral section, which are synchronised words: I wish. The use of canon, while irregular, leads the audience to believe that the tales of the singers are interlocked into the woods, as the repeated phrase goes.Īt bar 18, the mood of the song changes with a sustained legato note held by the Baker, which in turn triggers a modulation to C major, the subdominant. These sevenths continue throughout the piece, creating a cacophony of harsh sounds. ![]() The use of major sevenths also cultures a dynamic interest in the singing and storytelling. The narrator, who cuts into the prologue at regular intervals between the singing, creates a natural changing mood that keeps audiences on their toes. The range of the voices starting are minimal, pitches often moving in steps rather than leaps and all being less than a perfect fifth. She starts the piece on an off beat, which, coupled with the compound triple time, creates a natural swung rhythm. In the opening act, the narrator introduces all the characters one by one into the play, starting with Cinderella, where she expresses her wish to attend the King's Ball. The prologue introduces various difficulties and problems of all the characters and helps the audience connect their deficiencies/problems with the woods, hence the title of the musical, Into the Woods. The prologue is split into 4 parts each representing a different character's tales, notably Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk as well as Rapunzel. This technique is used by Stephen Sondheim to help familiarise the characters and associate them with their respective personalities on stage while the actors play the roles of their respective characters. An overture typically sets the scene and introduces characters into the plot. The prologue of Into the Woods is a musical adaption on a traditional overture, or introductory sequence that is played before the curtains rise. ![]()
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