able lesson, Jack climbs the beanstalk and becomes rich, the ugly Witch reveals the beautiful woman within.
  During act two, we are shown the aftermath of all these actions:  Cinderella is not-so-happily married to her womanizing prince, the Baker and his wife have their child but their house is too small and they don't like living next door to a witch, Rapunzel has gone mad, abandoning her prince and their twin babies, and blames her mother (the Witch) for her troubles, Little Red's house is trampled by the wife of the giant Jack killed, sending all of the fairytale village inhabitants "into the woods" to find the answers to their problems.
  These fairytale characters, with their happily-ever-afters, have become subject to real life.  They have problems, just like we do; they have to make their own way, just like we do.  It's a rather safe form of therapy, this amazing Into the Woods.  If you watch and listen--REALLY watch and listen--you will learn incredibly valuable truths and leave the theater with, perhaps, some tools to use in your own life.
  When we produced Into the Woods, we saw a variety of responses from our audience which were fascinating.  Some people took it entirely at face value, laughing at the antics of the characters and their befuddled lives.  Others took the whole thing extremely seriously, as if they were the characters themselves, living out the tales as they went along.  Still others thoroughly enjoyed the familiar silliness of act one, then became very uncomfortable with the deep and dark tones of act two.  As we said, fascinating.  If it hasn't been done already, someone should write a book on the psychology of Into the Woods.