The Baker's Wife

The Baker's Wife is a character in Into the Woods. She is a very determined person, and a voice of reason for the Baker.

Act I
In the Prologue, the Baker and his wife are wishing to have a child. Their wish is heard by the Witch who tells them how to make a potion that will grant them a child. The Baker and his wife need to collect a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold in order to have a child. The Baker's Wife insists that she go along to help the Baker complete his quest, but the hardheaded Baker orders her to stay home.

When the Baker becomes frustrated with his lack of luck, the Baker's Wife surprises him in the woods by bringing him his scarf, but secretly hoping to help him on the quest for a child. In the middle of their quarrel, Jack finds them and agrees to sell his cow to them for a sack of beans (which, unbeknownst to the characters, were magic), giving them the first item needed. After Jack leaves, the couple argues more about the wrongful decision to sell the cow for a sack of beans.Deeper in the woods, the Baker's Wife notices Cinderella coming back from the King's festival that she attended that evening.

The Baker's Wife tries to convince Cinderella to give her Cinderella's slipper as pure as gold, but fails in the process and loses the cow somewhere in the woods. In search of the cow, she overhears Cinderella's Prince and Rapunzel's Prince talking about hair as yellow as corn, and she runs to Rapunzel's tower and pulls her hair for the potion.

Later, the Baker's Wife runs into the Baker with the hair, while he has the other two items needed, and they sing about how they have changed as a couple. Shortly after their proclamation of their change, Milky-White dies, but she manages to get the slipper as pure as gold from Cinderella. The Witch meets up with her and the Baker to present to her all of the objects, but the Witch quickly discovers that the cow they gave to her was covered with flour to seem as white as milk. The Witch brings the dead Milky-White back to life, and the potion is created.

Act II
In the second act, the Baker and his wife are seen with their newborn son, where they sit wishing for a larger cottage for their new family. All of their wishes have been crushed as a giant stomps on the kingdom and causes their cottage to collapse. A knock on the door is heard as Little Red Ridinghood enters their house, talking about how her house was destroyed, too. The Baker's Wife decides to venture back into the woods with her husband and Little Red to try to find her mother.

In the woods, the Baker, his wife, and Little Red run into the Witch and the Royal Family, investigating news of a giant. Suddenly, they all tremble and fall to the ground as the Giant, who is a woman, reveals herself and asks for the boy who killed her husband, Jack. After killing both Rapunzel and the Narrator, the Giant proves herself a force to be reckoned with and the Baker and his wife split up in opposite directions to look for Jack.

When looking for Jack, the Baker's Wife ends up talking to Cinderella's Prince, where he falls in love with her and tries to seduce her. She feels wrong, knowing that she is cheating on the Baker, and he on Cinderella, and he leaves her starstruck with the idea of being loved by a member of the Royal Family. Continuing her search for Jack, she jumps off of a cliff in her escape from the giant and falls to her death.

The Baker's Wife returns for the finale of Act II as a spirit to help guide the Baker and his newborn son go through life without her, teaching him that she always be beside him, even though she is not there.

Act I

 * Act I Prologue
 * The Spell is On My House (Reprise)
 * Maybe They're Magic
 * A Very Nice Prince
 * First Midnight
 * A Very Nice Prince (Reprise)
 * It Takes Two
 * Act I Finale

Act II

 * Act II Prologue
 * Any Moment (Parts One and Two)
 * Moments in the Woods
 * Act II Finale

Character & Personality
The Baker's Wife is the opposite of the Baker. While he is skittish, uncertain, fearful, slightly dim and moral, The Baker's Wife is frank, certain, determined, intelligent and somewhat immoral. She is also very comical, delivering arguably the shows funniest line ("This is ridiculous, what am I doing here, I'm in the wrong story!"). The Baker's Wife deeply cares for her spouse and will do anything for him, including disobey his orders to keep him safe.