Amazingly, Joanna Gleason is *not* the final case of a performer winning a Best Actor prize for an original Sondheim work.
Donna Murphy won for "Passion."
"Assassins" did not make it to Broadway until 2004, and Michael Cerveris won the Tony for "originating" the role of John Wilkes Booth.
But people tend to think of "Into the Woods" as the last "major" Sondheim work. Both "Passion" and "Assassins" have a "minor" quality.
Joanna Gleason's astonishing performance--which helped her to snatch a Tony from the hands of Patti LuPone--is centered on the song "Moments in the Woods." For this song, it's helpful to hear "wood" as "would."
Was I wrong? Am I mad?
Was that all?
Does he miss me?
.....Wake up! Stop dreaming!
Stop prancing about the woods...
It's not beseeming...
What is it about the WOULDS?
The Baker's Wife is trapped in her own head, second-guessing herself, antagonizing herself. She is lost in "woulds" -- alternate endings. It's appropriate that Sondheim uses "beseeming," with its slightly archaic flavor. This matches Lapine's writing.
The other great element of this number is its ending; having "made peace" with life, with its craziness, the Baker's Wife promptly dies. The sudden death is like a torch; it sheds light backwards on the words that have preceded it. The Baker's Wife thinks she has mastered her own confusion and fright? She should think again.
Though Joanna Gleason "owns" this song, Shoshana Bean does a fine version, as well.
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