Why is Cinderella's Prince so sick upon the sight of blood in the slipper? It's his thing about blood.
Or, alternatively, how did the Prince develop a phobia about blood? Because of his experience with the stepsisters.
Why did it take the Giant's wife so long to seek revenge as Act 2 takes place at least 9 months after the third midnight in Act 1? The first beanstalk grew from 5 beans which increased the potency of the magic and power. There was only 1 bean for the stalk that the Giant's wife took. It took a while for it to become strong enough to grow that tall.
The timeline is compressed in the movie, since the Baker's Wife gets a magically advanced pregnancy when the curse is lifted.
In the film, Little Red keeps calling the baker "Mister Baker." Although this could be an affectation of hers (she also calls the Wolf "Mister Wolf"), many surnames originated in an individual's profession. It's entirely possible his last name really is Baker.
Connected to the Fridge Horror below, at the end of the play The Baker begins to tell the story of the play to his son, beginning with what the Narrator words from the start of the play. And how does the film open? With The Baker narrating the events of the movie. This could mean that the film is taking place after the play and given that The Baker is not killed in the events of the films could mean that the characters are not trapped in a time loop. This would also explain the plot holes in the film as well as the various changes such as Rapunzel surviving, The Baker is deliberately changing key parts of the events so as to not scare his son any more then he has to.
In the open air productions, where the Narrator is a boy, it makes even more sense for the cast to sacrifice him to the Giantess - she's looking for a 'lad', and they're hoping they can trick her.
In the film the Baker's Wife suddenly becomes very pregnant almost immediately after the curse is lifted. How did that work? She was already pregnant all along, and the baby was trapped in some sort of limbo. Becomes Fridge Horror when you consider what might have happened to the baby had their plan not worked.
The lyrics that the Witch sings to Rapunzel in "Stay With Me": "Princes wait there in the world, it's true/Princes, yes, but wolves and humans too" never made sense to me until I realized that the Witch was talking about Rapunzel's parents who gave her up for a plant. Her father didn't offer himself up in exchange, so she made them infertile and their son and only broke the curse until she saw how they treated Little Red Riding Hood.
The potion doesn’t work the first time the Witch tries to make it because she’s touched Rapunzel’s hair, but it also serves as a punishment to the Baker and his Wife when you realize that the one ingredient that didn’t work was the only one not obtained honestly. The Baker and his Wife bought the cow (albeit through telling a half truth, but Jack did agree to the sale), the Baker earned the cape through a good deed, and the Baker’s Wife made a trade for the shoe. The hair was ripped right off of Rapunzel’s head after the Baker’s Wife lied about being the prince, so not only did using the corn’s silk follow the rules of the spell, but it also taught the Baker and his Wife a lesson about not hurting others to get what you want.
I was watching the scene in the film where the Witch tries to curse the prince for taking away Rapunzel but she can't because she lost her powers after drinking the potion This did kind of baffle at me at first, but then I realized that the Witch never drank the potion with the right ingredients! She drank with corn hair, not hair as yellow as corn.
In the musical, it's made clear that the witch actually gained her powers from the curse, and then lost them when it was lifted without realizing that that would be the deal.
A more common interpretation is that she's still being punished for losing the beans, and the punishment was always that she could have power or beauty, but never both. Such an interpretation plays into the play's theme of choices and accepting consequences.
In "Agony," Rapunzel's Prince tells Cinderella's Prince he is "everything maidens could wish for." This takes on a deeper meaning in the second act when we discover the princes are less than loyal to their wives. They are literally what maidens wish for and have no identity outside of that, unable to exist as stable partners in a "real" relationship. This adds to the running theme of the difference between simple childlike wishes and complicated reality.
The characters are trapped in a circular time loop. At the end of Act 2, the Baker begins to tell the story to his son, using the same words the Narrator used in Act 1. In essence, he becomes the Narrator. This does not bode well for his future happiness - or that of his son, who would of course, become apprenticed to work in the Bakery, when he becomes old enough. They're all condemned to repeat the same story, over and over again, for ever.
Averted in that they can avoid the mistakes of the past and atone for them. The Baker, for one, isn't abandoning his child unlike what happened with him.
Interestingly, in the 2012 Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park production, the Mysterious Man is played by Chip Zien, who played the Baker in the original cast.
When Red Riding Hood offered Mr. Baker the red cloak she commented on how her grandmother could make her a new cloak from the wolf that Mr. Baker slain. Anyone who has followed Werewolf folklore would see that isn't a good suggestion.
During "Last Midnight," the Witch throws more magical beans to the ground, and naturally, everyone scrambles to dig them back up. Can we be sure they got them all?
The movie even adds something into the scene to when the Witch vanishes or is swallowed up by the ground. If you listen closely to the audio, a mysterious voice asks "Where are my beans?" or "Where are the beans?" Given the Witch is addressing her mother in "Last Midnight", her mother certainly did come back down to meet her daughter and punish her, likely in person this time.
Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Wolf in the film is notable in that he looks less like an anthropomorphic animal and more like a regular human with some animal features. This actually makes the song a whole lot creepier. It's bad enough to see a scary fairy tale animal singing about devouring a little girl, but when a normal adult man sings it? *shudder*
The lyrics of Red’s next song about (unwanted) knowledge already carry that strong undercurrent. This really is not a high school musical (though there is a condensed version.)
While Rapunzel's age is never explicitly stated, in the original fairytale she was 14 years old when she first met the Prince and the lyrics of "Our Little World" (an optional duet between Rapunzel and the Witch) suggests this to be the case for the musical - at most, she's generally assumed to be somewhere between 15-18. Similarly, we're never explicitly told the Baker's age either, but in the Witch's first appearance, she tells him that he was "no more than a babe" when his family moved into the cottage and it's implied that the Baker's mother was already pregnant at that point with Rapunzel. Logically, the Baker should be no older than his early-to-mid-twenties at the start of the show, yet in all professional productions, he is clearly over a decade older than his sister. Which makes no sense considering he doesn't remember any of his family drama...
If the Witch is so determined to keep Rapunzel away from the rest of the world, why is she okay with everyone in the woods being able to hear her voice? It could be maternal pride in her beautiful voice clouding judgement, but it’s still a surprising oversight on the Witch’s part, considering how shrewd she is.
It may have been a concession to keep her from rebelling earlier.
If humans are nothing but insects to a giant, and the Giantess can’t even tell them apart without her glasses, how is she able to hear every word they’re saying, even in whisper? Do giants have supersonic hearing, but not superoptic sight?
