It was revealed last year that Stephen Sondheim had written a new song for Meryl Streep as the Witch in the upcoming musical Into the Woods at Disney. Streep told Extra!, “I have a new song that Sondheim wrote for me, so it’s all very, very… He gave me the manuscript of it and he wrote, ‘don’t f**k it up!'” Well, no words on whether or not Streep did in fact eff it up, but director Rob Marshall tells Entertainment Weekly the song won’t actually make the final film saying, “It was beautiful and spectacular, but it was very clear, as good as the song was, that [the movie] was stronger without.”
As for Streep’s performance, Marshall adds, “I don’t think people will be remotely ready to hear her sing this material. The power from her is off the charts.”
Marshall also says the song “Rainbows”, written by Sondheim for a scrapped adaptation back in the ’90s, also won’t make the cut as it was never expected to be in this film at all. “We’ve been incredibly faithful to the original,” Marshall said. “We built this thing using the best parts of Into the Woods, which is so much of it. So much of it is there and make it work on film… It’ll all be very clear when people see it. They’ll understand, it’s all there.”
Streep’s new song, however, could still possibly play over the film’s credits and if it just so happens to be the first musical cue it could be considered for Best Original Song.
Into the Woods hits theaters on December 25.
