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Monday, November 07, 2022
How Into the Woods' Milky White Became the Toast of Moo-sical Theatre
Playbill: Never work with children or animals goes the common stage idiom; the original wordsmith clearly never met actor Kennedy Kanagawa, who is currently starring in Broadway’s Into the Woods as the audience favorite: the cow Milky White.
5 comments:
Jordan Pincus
said...
Into the Woods is decidedly my favorite show of all time. I know the whole thing by heart, and I’ve seen a lot of different Milky Whites. In many ways, I’m a purist for the original 1987 production. I do love the comedy of the static, plastic-y Milky White. It lends itself to two of the best bits in the show: 1) when the Mysterious Man returns her to the Baker, he gives up on coaxing her and just picks up the cow by the handle; and 2) her death, when the cow just tips on its side. When I played the Baker’s Wife, our Milky was a gigantic costume reminiscent of the 2002 revival. With that, you can leverage the comedy of a cow that is truly alive - most notably, she becomes a character. When we did it, we implied that she fully understood English and would “speak” with or wave to characters, and used that for jokes. However, I find this visually to be clunky and odd, especially since she is supposed to be so ill. I saw this new production of Into the Woods three times - twice at City Center and once at the St. James. The puppet hit me like a slap in the face - how had I not thought of this?!? It’s the PERFECT marriage of the comedy of an inanimate object, but still giving her the life of her own character. For those two bits, you still get the effect - the Baker takes the puppet, and the puppet is thrown on the ground. It’s fantastic. And more than that, having a human puppeteer her, she herself gains the humanity of the actor. Kennedy is brilliant, which is crucial to this. This Milky is one of the only things that I truly believe could be improved from the original production.
When I heard about this puppet, I didn’t imagine to be as captivated by it as I was. I truly think that it is charming that she is so versatile. It truly reminds me of the winnie the pooh puppets. I love the ingenuity of this puppet. I also do commend Kennedy Kanagawa for making this character so lovable and life like that audiences are captivated by milky white. I think that is the joy of things like this. There is something so wonderful and house about the use of puppets. The way that a performer can funnel in emotions to a puppet is outstanding. When my friend saw the show they noted how their concentration through various parts of the show was the puppet and Kennedy. The show’s bits with milky white lend itself for her charm. I am personally quite glad that this version of into the woods is a true revival and not a replica production.
This take on Into the Woods looks so interesting, and I would have loved to have seen it. The best feedback I heard about this show was on Milky White and his puppeteer, Kennedy Kanagawa. Based on what I have heard, his performance was absolutely incredible, and an amazing testament to how much an active and reactive puppeteer can transform the puppet. I had no idea that the puppet for Milky White was so different and complex compared to many other puppets, but this totally makes sense as it looks so unique and dynamic. “James was clear from the beginning that he didn’t want “all black concealed ninja” style puppeteering that some puppet shows utilize. He very much wanted the puppeteer to be their own character that was a part of the story, and a part of the world.” I absolutely love this idea, and I always value when you are able to see the puppeteer as a part of the character, and I am so happy that this was a choice they decided to make.
Into The Woods is a show that has followed me through my childhood and adolescence including all the many interpretations of milky white involved in the productions I have worked on and seen. I was hoping to see the revival of Into the Woods this summer and one of the things I was looking forward to seeing most was actually the puppet version of Milky White. I find how the puppet was so expressive to be captivating as many puppets especially when managed by inexperienced pupaters. Of the times I saw Into The Woods was at a statewide theater conference and the Milk White was 2 people in a modified horse costume and was the most memorable and iconic part of the show to the point where you can go up to anyone who saw this show years later mention this cow and they will know exactly what you mean. Theo
I am a big fan of Into The Woods, definitely up there in the list of my favorite musicals. One of my favorite things about Into The Woods is just how many theaters do it because I just love seeing how people design everything for this show. But the one thing that really interests me in every single production is how they design Milky White because there are just so many different ways to design this cow. The real people playing Milky White also sends me every time because this person is fully dressed up as a cow. Sometimes though they do not have anything that suggests that they are a cow and they are just in an all white outfit. Then there are the puppets that are all very interesting to look at. And finally there is the design of Milky White just being a cut out or solid and/or inanimate object that just gets moved around when necessary. The wildest one that I have seen is from the tumblr page linked in the article and it is where Milky White is just a helium balloon cow with black spots. I just really like seeing how people put Milky White on stage for their production of Into The Woods.
5 comments:
Into the Woods is decidedly my favorite show of all time. I know the whole thing by heart, and I’ve seen a lot of different Milky Whites. In many ways, I’m a purist for the original 1987 production. I do love the comedy of the static, plastic-y Milky White. It lends itself to two of the best bits in the show: 1) when the Mysterious Man returns her to the Baker, he gives up on coaxing her and just picks up the cow by the handle; and 2) her death, when the cow just tips on its side. When I played the Baker’s Wife, our Milky was a gigantic costume reminiscent of the 2002 revival. With that, you can leverage the comedy of a cow that is truly alive - most notably, she becomes a character. When we did it, we implied that she fully understood English and would “speak” with or wave to characters, and used that for jokes. However, I find this visually to be clunky and odd, especially since she is supposed to be so ill. I saw this new production of Into the Woods three times - twice at City Center and once at the St. James. The puppet hit me like a slap in the face - how had I not thought of this?!? It’s the PERFECT marriage of the comedy of an inanimate object, but still giving her the life of her own character. For those two bits, you still get the effect - the Baker takes the puppet, and the puppet is thrown on the ground. It’s fantastic. And more than that, having a human puppeteer her, she herself gains the humanity of the actor. Kennedy is brilliant, which is crucial to this. This Milky is one of the only things that I truly believe could be improved from the original production.
When I heard about this puppet, I didn’t imagine to be as captivated by it as I was. I truly think that it is charming that she is so versatile. It truly reminds me of the winnie the pooh puppets. I love the ingenuity of this puppet. I also do commend Kennedy Kanagawa for making this character so lovable and life like that audiences are captivated by milky white. I think that is the joy of things like this. There is something so wonderful and house about the use of puppets. The way that a performer can funnel in emotions to a puppet is outstanding. When my friend saw the show they noted how their concentration through various parts of the show was the puppet and Kennedy. The show’s bits with milky white lend itself for her charm. I am personally quite glad that this version of into the woods is a true revival and not a replica production.
This take on Into the Woods looks so interesting, and I would have loved to have seen it. The best feedback I heard about this show was on Milky White and his puppeteer, Kennedy Kanagawa. Based on what I have heard, his performance was absolutely incredible, and an amazing testament to how much an active and reactive puppeteer can transform the puppet. I had no idea that the puppet for Milky White was so different and complex compared to many other puppets, but this totally makes sense as it looks so unique and dynamic. “James was clear from the beginning that he didn’t want “all black concealed ninja” style puppeteering that some puppet shows utilize. He very much wanted the puppeteer to be their own character that was a part of the story, and a part of the world.” I absolutely love this idea, and I always value when you are able to see the puppeteer as a part of the character, and I am so happy that this was a choice they decided to make.
Into The Woods is a show that has followed me through my childhood and adolescence including all the many interpretations of milky white involved in the productions I have worked on and seen. I was hoping to see the revival of Into the Woods this summer and one of the things I was looking forward to seeing most was actually the puppet version of Milky White. I find how the puppet was so expressive to be captivating as many puppets especially when managed by inexperienced pupaters. Of the times I saw Into The Woods was at a statewide theater conference and the Milk White was 2 people in a modified horse costume and was the most memorable and iconic part of the show to the point where you can go up to anyone who saw this show years later mention this cow and they will know exactly what you mean.
Theo
I am a big fan of Into The Woods, definitely up there in the list of my favorite musicals. One of my favorite things about Into The Woods is just how many theaters do it because I just love seeing how people design everything for this show. But the one thing that really interests me in every single production is how they design Milky White because there are just so many different ways to design this cow. The real people playing Milky White also sends me every time because this person is fully dressed up as a cow. Sometimes though they do not have anything that suggests that they are a cow and they are just in an all white outfit. Then there are the puppets that are all very interesting to look at. And finally there is the design of Milky White just being a cut out or solid and/or inanimate object that just gets moved around when necessary. The wildest one that I have seen is from the tumblr page linked in the article and it is where Milky White is just a helium balloon cow with black spots. I just really like seeing how people put Milky White on stage for their production of Into The Woods.
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