Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s modern classic Into the Woods ends with a song that encapsulates all that’s gone before: “Children Will Listen”.

The musical mashes together fairytale characters, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Jack, to explore the relationships between parents and children, the stories we tell each other, and how our actions have consequences far beyond what we can see.

The show’s finale explains that children are shaped by every experience their parents and mentors expose them to. “Careful the things you say, children will listen,” goes the song. “Careful the things you do, children will see and learn.”

Tamsin Carroll and Peter Carroll in rehearsals for Belvoir’s Into the Woods. Photo © Daniel Boud/Belvoir

It’s a number with universal resonance, but its message lives through the relationship between Peter and Tamsin Carroll, the father and daughter duo appearing together in Belvoir’s new production.

Peter, a well-loved veteran actor, synonymous with Australian theatre, plays the Narrator and the “mysterious man” who pops up throughout the story.

Tamsin, who has had an impressive career in plays and musicals at home and abroad, plays a witch whose actions bring...