3.10 Into the Woods!

The Gospel of Musical Theatre

Peter & Nathan welcome a very special guest: the Rev’d Ed Bacon: legendary leader of progressive Christian causes, retired rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, and inveterate Sondheim fan. With Ed’s help, we pull apart the spirituality, theology (and the trichology!) of what is probably Stephen Sondheim’s best-known (and arguably best-loved) musical, the 1987 masterpiece Into the Woods.

We talk about:

- The subversive nature of fairy tales, and what we think we’re doing when we tell these stories to children

- What it means to go “into the woods” – and how can we befriend it?

- Being nice, being good, losing our innocence – and what it means to be "white"

- The complicated nature of community, and the promise and threat of the idea that "no one is alone"

- The Gospel as Fairy Tale (with apologies and gratitude for Frederick Buechner’s Telling the Truth, the book that caused at least one of us to become a priest!)

You’ll hear:

- Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason and the cast of the Original Broadway Cast Recording (1987) singing “Prologue,” “Giants in the Sky,” “Hello, Little Girl,” “I Know Things Now,” “No One Is Alone”, “Last Midnight,” and “Children Will Listen”

Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt.