Late last month we were treated to our first glimpse of Meryl Streep singing in Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. The video showed the Oscar-winning actress in character as The Witch, singing a few bars from “Stay with Me,” the ballad she uses to plead with her daughter Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) in hopes that she won’t leave home for the Prince (Billy Magnussen).

And now we get a more powerful excerpt from the ballad, which Streep belts out with such force that it’s easy to close your eyes and imagine her performing the number on Broadway. Sondheim fleshes out the context of the number in the featurette (which was posted on Playbill), explaining, “It’s about parents and children. And that’s of course what fairytales are about.” He adds, “Meryl Streep is so remarkable. She is able to find colors in lyric that I’ve rarely come across. She can do a number of takes on the songs in the recording studio. And every take is different in some way.”

Screenwriter James Lapine also reveals that the number is his favorite in the film. “I love all of the score,”he says, “But [the song] that touches me the most is ‘Stay with Me,’ when the Witch, who has been such an abrasive character sings to her daughter about not wanting to let her child go.” Streep, in turn, modestly credits Sondheim for giving her such wonderful material to perform.

“There’s no one like Steven Sondheim,” she says, “the wit, the humor, the intelligence and the daring that is in his music is unparralleled.

The much-anticipated adaptation arrives in theaters this Christmas.