INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

L.A.D.S. at The Tractor Shed

26.08.2017

A good summer for Sondheim. Sunday in the Park with George from NYMT earlier this month, Follies at the National next week. And out at Latchingdon, my seventh Into the Woods, staged for the first and probably only time in a barn, with vintage tractors lining the stalls.

It's a popular show with amateur groups, despite the challenges presented by the staging and the score. A further challenge here was the absence of an MD to conduct – the accompaniment is karaoke style, which, to my surprise, works well, even for Sondheim. Though it has to be said that balance and acoustics conspired to rob us of some of his lovely lyrics.

The design had a charmingly naïve simplicity – trees were carried on and off, the birds were suspended from a stick, Granny's little cottage acted cleverly as a screen to spare us the worst of the Wolf's depredations. The garlands of flowers extended onto the apron, a useful acting area where the orchestra pit might have been.

Carole Hart's production combined music and movement to excellent effect, especially in Act Two, where numbers like No One Is Alone and Children Will Listen had a huge emotional impact. The Giant was well suggested by heavy footsteps and falling leaves, the beans by firecrackers. The choreography was by Aimee Hart, who also made a splendid Witch, hook-nosed before her transformation, strikingly elegant thereafter.

Many more first class performances: a lovely Baker's Wife from Carol Richardson, letting her hair down for a tumble with her Prince in the woods, her Baker Matthew Bacon, very strong in the “No More” sequence, Ben Braden's sunny Jack, Yasmin Lisa Sharp's Cinders, Freya Brown's Little Red Riding Hood [“I Know Things Now” very nicely done] and Tasha Gooderham's Rapunzel. There was a good deal of doubling – Cinderella's Prince and the Wolf, as is the custom [an impressive Adam Hart], but less usually Scarlette McSean gave us both Snow White and a particularly emaciated Milky White, and Rapunzel's Prince [Jacob Dawes] was given a Wolf of his own, plus Three Little Pigs as his prey. Notable contributions too from Daniel Tunbridge – striped blazer, panama – as the Narrator, Judi Embling as the wicked Stepmother, and Robin Warnes as a Chekhovian Mysterious Man.

A thought-provoking mix of fairytales – the Grimm and the gory never far away – the ending especially moving, with the stage peopled by the quick and the dead, a stylishly simple routine ending with everyone turning upstage, save for that one wistful “I wish”.  

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Firebirds at the Brentwood Theatre

21.07.16


Into The Woods with Firebirds and Sondheim – an up-close and magical production on the intimate Brentwood stage.
The creative team behind last year's Secret Garden triumphantly enter the more challenging world of Sondheim's tricky tunes, witty lyrics and twisted fairy tales.
The classic quality of the show is only one of the key ingredients here. Production values are high: the costumes, the band and the set, which cleverly uses minimal detail for Cinders' hearth, Rapunzel's tower, Jack's cottage, the baker's shop, where rolls and baguettes give way in Act Two to diapers and bootees.
On opening night, an otherwise polished show was tarnished slightly by persistent problems with sound – very difficult to run the mixer desk from backstage, I imagine.
And of course the cast – excellent singing actors called for in this show. All the characters are wonderfully defined in Firebirds' strong, youthful company: the Baker's Wife [Fleur Sumption] and Little Red Riding Hood [Abbie Ward] both combine music and character to perfection. The Witch next door [Charlotte Rayner] and her adopted daughter Rapunzel [Kate Claussen] blend beautifully in duet, as do the two narcissistic Princes [Tom Carswell and Seb Mayo].
As often these days, the Narrator is a youngster [Theo Harris] – as well as an objective observer, he is also a scene-shifter, a dancer, a soloist in Ever After and a scapegoat sacrifice.
A deep, dark piece, with violent death and blindness prominent, Into The Woods is sensitively directed by Liz Gibson and Allen Clark. The Musical Director is Natalie Thurlow, and the Production Manager is Cathy Edkins who also appears as two mothers – Cinderella's from beyond the grave, and Jack's, despairing of her beanstalk boy [Jack Matthews].


Photograph: Seb Mayo's Cinderella Prince and Fleur Sumption's Baker's Wife.

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Chelmsford Young Generation at the Cramphorn Theatre

12.04.2016

Not an easy ride, Into the Woods. Dark themes [blindness, child sacrifice, sterility] and a tricky, intricate score. The cleverly interwoven fairy stories are cosily familiar, but Sondheim's twist is often harsh and cruel.

But Chelmsford's Young Gen are always up for a challenge, and their intimate Cramphorn production, directed by Jimmy Hooper, brings freshness and vitality to the show.

A triple challenge, in fact. The actors have to bring audibility, clarity and humanity to their roles, and that's before they tackle the intricate rhythms and tangled tunes. Not all the boxes are ticked all the time. The random proverbs have only mixed success. But the overall effect is polished and exuberant, with some cleverly choreographed production numbers, filling the very limited stage space with dancing princes, aides, ugly sisters, goodies, baddies and in-betweens. The music is very well served; Bryan Cass the MD joined in his tiny sylvan nook by Richard and Phil Langstone.

A big cast, with strength in depth, and many memorable performances. The cut-glass narrator is the excellent Sam Wolstenholme, smoking jacket and quizzical eyebrow. The baker and his wife, around whom the fairy-tale quest revolves, are done with experienced aplomb by Jack Martyn and Eve French. Outstanding work from Jessica Higgins as Red Riding Hood, bringing a cheeky characterization to the role, and enjoying a pas de deux with Jack Toland's lairy Wolf. And from Katie Salter as the Witch; her Last Midnight superbly crafted. Paul French makes a nerdy, nice-but-dim Jack, of beanstalk fame. The Agony brothers, Princes to Phoebe Walsh's tuneful Rapunzel and Lois Chapman's assured Cinderella, are engagingly guyed by Matt Barnes and Jack Harlock. 

Good to have a human Lyre [Virginia Hampson] and a properly characterized Milky White [bovine resignation from Millie Parsons], actors for the birds and the trees, and even the Baker's table [uncredited, as far as I can see, but surely a shoo-in for best supporting role].

The set is impressive, with a useful upper level and a prominent spiral staircase, converted by brollies into a beanstalk for the giant-killer. Well used too: the exemplary Your Fault ensemble followed by the quartet looking aloft at the Witch for her big solo. Another striking ensemble for No One Is Alone, Sondheim's philosophical summing-up: Witches can be right,/ Giants can be good./ You decide what's right,/ You decide what's good.

photograph: Barrie White-Miller

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Little Theatre Company

at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff

15.10.15

for Sardines

Photo: © GP Photography

“Children will listen,” sings the Witch in the finale of Sondheim's twisted fairy-tale. And, at the Thursday matinée, the stalls are full of listening children, drawn by the Disney movie perhaps.

Their attention is skilfully held by an accomplished company; the production looks and sounds impressively professional.

The set starts out as a triptych on trucks, disappearing to reveal a deep wood – cut cloths and two-dimensional trees that look very at home on these hundred-year-old boards. But it's left to sound and lighting to create most of the magic – the Giantess's demise, the Witch's transformation. The scene in Granny's cottage is appealingly if underwhelmingly done in shadow-play.

Sondheim's tricky score makes huge demands on the singers – without exception they rise to the challenge, and manage to make rounded characters from the story-book figures.

Sarah Pettican is a superb Witch, with and without her hooked nose and chin; she has great presence and a real understanding of the idiom. The two Princes – straight out of Viennese operetta – are a constant delight, too, guying the dialogue just enough, and relishing the Agony. Chris Lidgard is suitor to Rapunzel [Hannah Allwright]; Louisa Strachan's excellent Cinderella is wooed by Simon Bristoe, who also makes the most of the big, bad, sexy Wolf.

The boy Jack - “sunny but vague” - is played by Tobias Smith; his mother a lovely warm characterization from Carla Cater. Sally Lightfoot juggles three roles, including an endearing Granny and a formidable, if faceless, Giantess. And an outstanding Little Red Ridinghood – though not especially “pink and plump” - from Rebecca Perry-Gamble.

The Baker and his Wife – whose longing for a child is the motor for the convoluted plot – are played to perfection by Jamie Redgate and Victoria Tewes – her “Moments in the Woods” is one of many musical highlights.

The genial, suited Narrator, and the melodramatic Mystery Man in beard and tatters, are, maybe meaningfully, doubled by Julian Cottee.

In part two – an ironical happy-ever-after – the story is less Disney, more Grimm. There's infidelity, forgiveness, a morass of moral issues. The Baker's Wife's lusty romps behind a handy tree providing much-needed light relief for the Upper Juniors in the audience.

But some of the best operatic moments are kept for this second act: the “Your Fault” quintet and the “No One Is Alone” quartet both impeccably done.

Rachael Plunkett is Musical Director, with Clare Penfold conducting a fine pit orchestra.

So much to enjoy in Dave Lobley's carefully crafted production of a piece that seems to offer more every time I see it. The bird mobile on the end of a fishing rod, with a careless stage hand on the other end, the country dancing at the close, the Uglies in their undies, the radio-controlled Hen, the Cow on wheels. And there must be a mention for the splendid programme booklet, with excellently atmospheric photographs by Jeff Hooker.

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Melabeau Productions at Brentwood Theatre

07.10.15

Sondheim's Into The Woods is such a great choice for a youth group. It's a wonderful show by a master at the height of his game, with loads of wonderful roles.

Sondheim's Into The Woods is not such a great choice for a youth group. It presents huge challenges both dramatically and musically, and is not easy for the audience, either.

Melabeau fielded a very young cast, who successfully managed the style of the piece, with some very promising performances. Lots of dance, with corps-de-ballet trees, a great tap duet from the Wolf [Ellie Mead] and Shayley Robinson's “excited and scared” Little Red Riding Hood. Another impressive duet from the Principal Boy Princes Courtney-Lee Collins and Abigail Bliss.

Alfie Aves had superb presence as young Jack, Ella Catterick made a lovely operatic Rapunzel. The Baker and his wife, whose quest is the heart of the story, were confidently done by Clarke Peek-Pullum and Rosie Griffiths. Outstanding in the ensemble, for all sorts of reasons, Jimmy Fordham-Reed's Little Boy Blue, with his sparkly jazz shoes.

The production looked good, with inventive costumes [Cinderella, for instance] and a stunning reveal as the black tabs opened on a haunted forest with slender trees in front of a spooky back-drop.

Intonation was an issue for some of the young vocalists, and standing still is a skill worth learning. The narrator, Sophie Neal, had a huge task, not only talking us through the complex plot, but also trying to keep the momentum and the excitement alive.

Into The Woods was produced for Melabeau by Nick Campbell, and directed by Elaine Spires with musical direction by Julie Barker.

image by Czech photographer Janek Sedlar

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Gallery Players

at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

29.06.13
for Sardines Magazine

Tea and flapjack in the interval. "… like going back to your childhood, only deeper and darker …" muses the man at the next table. Can't think of a better summing up of Sondheim's Into The Woods.

Often considered a difficult piece, though popular with performers, there was something of a breakthrough in Regent's Park the other summer, when Timothy Sheader had the narrator, usually an older, wiser, character [Nicholas Parsons in the West End back in the Dark Ages], played by a small boy, taking refuge in the woods, with his dolls and his demons. So I was delighted to see Steve Wooldridge borrowing this idea, and extending it in a devised prologue with the child's little friends, playing games in the scary fairy-tale forest – what's the time, Mr Wolf …

Tom Beattie is brilliant as the boy, confidently drawing us into the action, singing along, acting out key confrontations with the aid of the plastic dolls.

But there's not one performer less than excellent in this polished show – it has a very professional feel about it, and not simply because of the Wolsey stage with its technical facilities.

Particularly impressive were Stephanie Brown as the determined, practical mother of The Lad Jack – engagingly done by Jack Brett. Molly Scurrell was Red Riding Hood, a strong character, howling like a toddler, outstanding in her loss-of-innocence number "I Know Things Now". The tormented Baker, ultimately Tom's dad in this version, was compellingly sung and played by Paul Stone – Clare Dungey was almost unbearably moving as his wife, longing for a child; her "Moments in the Wood" was one of many musical high spots. The feisty Cinderella, duetting effectively with Dungey, was Rachel Lucock. The Jedwardian princes, Tom Mayhew and Joe Leat, ridiculously posh with their lace and their fowling pieces, made the most of "Agony". And rising to the challenge of the complex Witch, Shelley Clempson, a memorable incarnation on rustic crutches, giving us a splendid Last Midnight, enhanced by strikingly atmospheric lighting [Dan Scarlett].

The whole ensemble was incredibly secure; I shall long remember the tableau at the end of Act One, with all these Grimm characters looking down on poor Tom in his lonely sleeping bag.

A constantly delightful use of detail – the post-coital cigarette, the tea-cosy hat, the leaves falling from the rafters, the washing line, "Essex Way" [home of Cinderella's TOWIE step-family], the foliage birds, the Baker's Wife's corpse trolleyed off, the bullies finally turned into piglets, not-so-little Red Riding Hood constantly stuffing her face with cakes. And the wonderful Milky White, an expressive bovine puppet, created by Dave Borthwick, who also designed the stylish woodland set.

The music was directed by Richard Healey, with his classy band high up stage left, next to the Witch's leafy lair.

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS

Witham Music Theatre at the Public Hall

10.09.11

Witham Music Theatre have made something of a specialism of Sondheim's witty, wordy, intelligent entertainments.

On this showing, my only regret is that I've not seen their earlier work. An accomplished young cast made a really professional job of this tricky score, in a production, directed by Philippa Johnson, which used a simple, stylish staging to let Sondheim's moral fairy tale speak for itself.

Black and white line drawings on screens, Pienkowskiesque silhouettes for the tree, climbable hair for Rapunzel, massive specs the only evidence of the Giant.

Very much a family affair, it would seem: patriarch Lewis Marks [Philippa's husband, if I understand aright] making a fine narrator, all from memory, though sometimes not well lit. Luke Marks was a hairy, lairy Wolf, as well as Rapunzel's Prince, while Jacob was Cinderella's Prince – the pair of them duetted brilliantly in Agony, with matching boots, beards, hobby-horses and princely habiliments. Samuel was an engagingly innocent Jack, with his long auburn hair and “sunny disposition”, and Joshua was his cud-chewing Milky White, giving the best “death of a fairy-tale cow” you're likely to see on any stage.

Grace Branch was a wonderful Little Red Riding Hood, “pink and plump”, and Jennifer Branch a powerful Witch, especially after her elegant transformation. She sang her solos with passion and polish.

The Mysterious Man is a difficult role to carry off, and I wasn't entirely convinced by Matt Ashworth's white-clad joker; Zoe Rogers was excellent as Cinderella, and Thomas Holland made a touching Baker, with Matilda Bourne as his wife.

But not a weak link in this large cast - I can only imagine the work that must have gone in to bringing this challenging piece to life. The sympathetically amplified singing was superb, as was the pit band, under the Musical Direction of Hans Montanana.

I loved last year's innovative production in Regent's Park, and was prepared to make allowances for this local amateur version. Absolutely no need – just as enjoyable, and in many ways more immediate, more affecting for being home-grown and made with love.

INTO THE WOODS - REGENT'S PARK

INTO THE WOODS

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

09.09.10

For all its flaws, this Sondheim was made for the forest floor of Regent's Park.

I saw a matinée [no, no rain and some sunshine, though the seats were a little soggy], so lost out on the power of the encircling gloom, but the show was nonetheless incredibly powerful, with a faultless cast, from the voice of Dame Judi to the child who narrates the mashed-up nightmare fairytales.

This interpretation [ director Timothy Sheader ] adds considerable emotional clout to the piece [the original London production had Nicholas Parsons narrating !]. The boy is running away from some sort of family row; on the edge of the woods he unpacks random dolls from his rucksack, and acts out with them the stories we see unfold. He is continually involved in the narrative, until the second act, when the sequel is a mere dream, in which he is finally sacrificed to the giant. He is the only “real” character, with his school blazer and bright red lunch box. The others are all pantomime creatures – this is a very British interpretation.

Hard to single out performances, but I did enjoy Beverley Rudd's gormless “Little” Red Riding Hood, and Michael Xavier's sexy Wolf. He was also a preening Prince, and with Simon Thomas as Rapunzel's swain, brought the house down with one of the strongest numbers – Agony. Great to see Gaye Brown still on top form as the Wicked Stepmother, and Billy Boyle as the Mystery Man, wandering into the action and wilfully smoking, heedless of the risk of forest fire.

But the performance of the afternoon was Hannah Waddington's Witch, beautifully acted and sung, both in and out of her grotesque tendrilled costume with its Sher crutches.

The design, by Soutra Gilmour, blends into the trees of the park – the many platform levels echo the shabby seating. Loved Grandma's bed, and her window, and the scrap-metallic Giant. The hen made out of a lawnmower, and the beanstalk made out of umbrellas, were two more deft touches.

For all the foolery and colourful frocks, this is a dark piece, full of recrimination and blame, blood and blindness. The woods are a metaphor, wouldn't you know, for loss of innocence and the scary grown-up flipside of happy-ever-after.

Not often done, and never again quite like this. Video cameras in evidence when I caught it near the end of the run. Any chance of a DVD, I wonder ...