Male actor to play Witch in 'Into the Woods'
The Witch in "Into the Woods" has been a plum musical theater role for Bernadette Peters on stage and, in the 2014 movie, Meryl Streep. Vanessa Williams played the role in the 2002 Broadway revival, but there had been another Witch in mind for that production. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine were championing Billy Porter, but producers didn't want to rock the status quo at the time.